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While its fairly easy to add a web bookmark shortcut to the home screen on most android systems, there doesn't seem to be a way to do this on the amazon kindle fire. Usually chrome or firefox is used to create the link on other android systems, but the Silk web browser doesn't seem to have this capability. I don't think its possible to install chrome or firefox on a kindle fire out-of-the-box without doing some fancy editing.

What's the simplest way to add a web link to the home page of an amazon kindle fire? Is it even possible?

Preferable I want to avoid doing any kind of jail break on the phone as possible and I'd also like to avoid installing any non-free, invasive apps if possible.

Mark Rogers
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Downloading Chome does not fix this problem. There is still no option to add a bookmark to the home screen. I'm looking at the Fire tablet, next to my Galaxy, both in Chrome. The option in just plain nonexistent on the Fire

Goose Gosnell
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Option 1. To add a web shortcut to the home screen, save a webpage as a bookmark, then go to your bookmarks, press and hold the one you want, and select 'add to home screen' (I'm not sure this works for newer Kindles, though)

Option 2. Download chrome browser. This process is very simple, and doesn't require root, or any code.

First, allow downloads from 'unknown sources'

From the Fire, go to: “Settings” > “Security” > “Apps From Unknown Sources” > “On“.

Then, download the chrome APK from apkmirror.

Open the Silk browser on your Kindle and go to http://www.apkmirror.com/apk/google-inc/chrome/. Select the download icon next to the version you wish to download. It should download right to the memory of your device. Open the notification area (top bar). It should show that the .APK file is downloading. Tap it once the download has finished. Select “Install“.

(Source)

aBochur
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  • Thanks for the answer, I guess this confirms that there's no normal way to do this on a recent fire without doing a third-party web install of another browser. – Mark Rogers Dec 03 '17 at 04:24
  • @MarkRogers correct. Hence the second option, which shouldn't be a big deal – aBochur Dec 03 '17 at 04:26
  • I actually did install the chrome browser via apk and it did not actually add the shortcut to the home page even though it acted like it was doing something – Mark Rogers Sep 05 '18 at 22:57
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I just tried doing this with Firefox, and got the same result as Mark Rogers: Page > Add page shortcut takes you from your Firefox page to the Fire home screen, but does not add a shortcut there. As of November 30, 2018, Chrome doesn’t have a menu choice that would let you add a shortcut. The Silk browser now moves selected bookmarks to your favorites folder on its home tab, will not put them on the home screen. So, no way so far.

David Knapp
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You can get bookmarks on by adding a widget. But, to add widgets, you need to install a new launcher. https://teleread.org/2018/07/07/how-to-install-a-new-launcher-on-amazons-fire-tablet/ describes how to change the launcher to the familiar google now launcher. After you do that, you can long press on the home screen to add widgets. There is a Silk widget which show bookmarks on the home screen. Not exactly simple. But having the launcher and the Play store are nice for other reasons also.

Jeff T
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  • +1 - Interesting, I may give it a shot at some point. – Mark Rogers Apr 06 '19 at 15:05
  • Welcome to Android Enthusiasts! Looks like this answer is already helpful, but it'd be better if you could [edit] and quote (or at least, summarize) from the link on how to change the launcher, so that all info is self-contained on this answer (and also to preserve the content in case the link rots :) – Andrew T. Apr 08 '19 at 14:20