Enable ADB debugging on a Fire TV Stick
Controller Gateway arms your Fire Stick over ADB from your phone — nothing is installed on the stick. To allow that, you switch on Developer options and ADB debugging once. Here's exactly where they are.
Step 1 — Unlock Developer options
Developer options are hidden until you reveal them:
- From the Fire TV home screen, go to Settings → My Fire TV → About.
- Highlight your device name at the top (e.g. "Fire TV Stick 4K Max") and press the Select button seven times.
- You'll see a countdown, then "You are now a developer."
On some Fire OS versions the item to click seven times is under Settings → My Fire TV → About → (device name), and Developer options then appear back under My Fire TV. If you don't see them, repeat the seven presses on the device-name row.
Step 2 — Turn on ADB debugging
- Go back one level to Settings → My Fire TV → Developer options.
- Turn ADB debugging ON.
- If prompted, also enable Apps from Unknown Sources / Install unknown apps — this keeps the arming path unblocked on some models.
Step 3 — Arm it from the app
- In Controller Gateway, choose Fire Stick mode and tap Find. Your stick appears by name.
- Select it and tap Start.
- On the TV, a dialog asks "Allow USB debugging?" — choose Always allow from this device and OK. You only do this once.
That's it — your controller is now relaying to the Fire Stick as a standard Xbox pad.
Your phone and Fire Stick must be on the same network. If the stick doesn't appear or won't connect, it's usually Wi-Fi "client isolation" on a mesh or guest network blocking phone-to-stick traffic — see troubleshooting.