Amazon Fire Kids and Brexit

vidapura · 28-01-2021 11:33am #1

Hi,
This lockdown is pushing us to the limit.. so I've finally agreed to get a Fire Kids Edition Tablet for the kids...

But my wife heard rumblings about the Amazon Fire Kids not working fully or changing because of brexit? Anyone know anything about that?

I was then thinkin maybe I could order it off Amazon.de ? But would I have massive hassle with changing it to english etc?

Thanks in advance for any helpful responses.

Nonoperational · 28-01-2021 11:35am

Haven't noticed any difference in my Amazon firestick anyway.

vidapura · 28-01-2021 11:37am

Sorry I meant the Kids Edition Tablet 8"

GBX · 28-01-2021 11:46am

Amazon have stifled us (Ireland) for tablet, fire sticks etc. Cant order from Germany. You may be able to order via parcel motel via the UK site but you can expect to pay vat and import duty. Will knock the price up quite a bit.

Pablo Escobar · 28-01-2021 11:48am

vidapura wrote: »

Hi,
This lockdown is pushing us to the limit.. so I've finally agreed to get a Fire Kids Edition Tablet for the kids...

But my wife heard rumblings about the Amazon Fire Kids not working fully or changing because of brexit? Anyone know anything about that?

I was then thinkin maybe I could order it off Amazon.de ? But would I have massive hassle with changing it to english etc?

Thanks in advance for any helpful responses.

I had this problem. It came from Amazon UK.

I just gave up on the Amazon Kids sub and downloaded Google Player and the YouTube Kids.

chrislad · 28-01-2021 11:49am

GBX wrote: »

Amazon have stifled us (Ireland) for tablet, fire sticks etc. Cant order from Germany. You may be able to order via parcel motel via the UK site but you can expect to pay vat and import duty. Will knock the price up quite a bit.

Parcel Motel no longer take deliveries to their Northern Ireland address, I'm afraid

https://parcelmotel.zendesk.com/hc/en-gb/articles/360016744918-FAQ-Brexit-Update-Virtual-UK-Address

gozunda · 28-01-2021 11:49am

GBX wrote: »

Amazon have stifled us (Ireland) for tablet, fire sticks etc. Cant order from Germany. You may be able to order via parcel motel via the UK site but you can expect to pay vat and import duty. Will knock the price up quite a bit.

Parcel motel via Northern Ireland to here is currently suspended

vidapura · 29-01-2021 10:41am

Hummm.. thanks everyone..
Not sure why I couldn't order from Germany??

Is there something to do with the software/games that they won't work outside UK ?

Toots · 29-01-2021 10:47am

vidapura wrote: »

Hummm.. thanks everyone..
Not sure why I couldn't order from Germany??

Is there something to do with the software/games that they won't work outside UK ?

As far as I know it's the "kids" UI is only available in the UK. I have a kids fire for my daughter and I had to set my amazon account address to UK instead of Ireland to get it to work. I bought before brexit. No issues with charging etc though.

vidapura · 30-01-2021 11:36am

Ok, right..
Thanks for that.. I'll think about it a bit more..
TBH I'm not 100% sold on the idea of giving him a tablet.. getting it back off him would be a struggle...
So if I can't get the remote controls via the app to limit the usage it wouldn't be a runner...

Thanks again..

hatchman · 30-01-2021 11:57am

Amazon kids + only for UK customers so you would need your address on Amazon set to UK for it to work. I had this done prior to January so not sure if can be done now. I also Google family link installed on a couple of tablets for kids and it is very good. You can control everything from what app are allowed to time on it to time it will work in mornings and same in evenings. Highly recommend.

vidapura · 31-01-2021 10:24am

Oh, Google Family Link looks great..
Thank You!

That opens up a lot of possibilites.. not stuck with Amazon tablets so..

Sup08 · 01-02-2021 11:01pm

vidapura wrote: »

Oh, Google Family Link looks great..
Thank You!

That opens up a lot of possibilites.. not stuck with Amazon tablets so..

My kids have devices from different operating systems. IOS, Android and Windows.
I control the screen time on windows devices and xbox using Microsoft family safety app. This does location services on their phones as well and app usage limits including blocking apps and websites on IOS and android.
I do have kids Fire Tablets pre Jan and use my Amazon account to limit them. AFAIK the new amazon tablets do allow parental controls on the tablets and controls in your account without having the kids app. Great tablets for the price.

necstandards · 08-02-2021 2:19pm

hatchman wrote: »

Amazon kids + only for UK customers so you would need your address on Amazon set to UK for it to work. I had this done prior to January so not sure if can be done now. I also Google family link installed on a couple of tablets for kids and it is very good. You can control everything from what app are allowed to time on it to time it will work in mornings and same in evenings. Highly recommend.

Do you need to have a prime acc to have content for the kids app's?

hatchman · 08-02-2021 3:45pm

necstandards wrote:

Do you need to have a prime acc to have content for the kids app's?

No I cancelled prime and kids + sub still ok think you get a reduced rate for kids + when u have prime. I cancelled prime and kids + together and then start kids + sub again and got first month free.

unseen · 14-06-2021 11:12pm

Just an update from myself in case others have the same problem.

I purchased two Kindle Fire for my kids, one in 2019 and one in 2020. Both had free subscription for a year. At that time of course I used the parcel motel address because of the location restrictions. My problem started when the subscription expired and the kids couldn't access their content anymore and I had trouble re-newing the subscription because of location. What worked for me was to set as the default address the old Parcel Motel address (Parcel Motel PM1997873, 1A McKinney Road,NEWTOWNABBEY, Co Antrim BT36 4PE, United Kingdom) AND use a VPN (In my case I used the NordVPN) with a UK server. After doing these I was able to see the renewal button on this page https://www.amazon.co.uk/ftu/home/ref=uk_ffk_surl_main2. I put the order and the tablets updated automatically a few minutes later.

Conn2012 · 31-08-2021 2:48pm

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117424375#Comment_117424375

@unseen do you have to use the VPN only to re-new or also ongoing use / streaming of tablet with kids+?

skerry · 19-11-2021 10:16am

Hi folks, I'm looking at Fire Kids tablet for the little one for Christmas. Looks like it ticks a lot of boxes around durability etc. but I'm finding it hard to determine if Amazon Kids + works in Ireland or not at the moment. Apart from this thread I haven't seen much discussion on it.

Anyone here know if it works or how to get it to work. I have Amazon primary address set as Parcel Motel but not sure if this will suffice to get it working here and if it does will I need VPN the whole time for her to stream content . Any advice welcome

19-11-2021 10:18am

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118190253#Comment_118190253

The apps and games work without a VPN, the videos will need a VPN.

skerry · 19-11-2021 10:30am

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118190269#Comment_118190269

Thanks for the quick reply. I presume I'll only need VPN for the Kids Plus videos and that Disney or Netflix will work fine without it?

Their down to 90 euro in Argos at the moment and don't want to spend a lot on a tablet she'll only need for messing around on so it seems a decent option

19-11-2021 10:33am

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118190355#Comment_118190355

Thanks for the quick reply. I presume I'll only need VPN for the Kids Plus videos and that Disney or Netflix will work fine without it?

Yes. 🙂

skerry · 19-11-2021 10:40am

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118190373#Comment_118190373

Excellent thanks again. Think Ill go with that so. Doesnt sound like too much of a hassle or too restrictive

vidapura · 19-11-2021 11:43am

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118190355#Comment_118190355

Arghhh... they are out of stock in argos.. drat!!

skerry · 19-11-2021 12:03pm

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118190722#Comment_118190722

Crap - stuck in a meeting and had planned on ordering afterwards. Dont understand why you can buy through Argos but Amazon won't ship them here.

vidapura · 19-11-2021 12:06pm

Pure frustrating alright...

You can buy em on currys.ie too.. but not for 85 bucks.. god no.. more like €169

skerry · 19-11-2021 12:17pm

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118190870#Comment_118190870

You can buy an 8 inch Fire Tablet and the kids case separately on Amazon and they will deliver that to Ireland. Not sure what the difference is if any though

vidapura · 19-11-2021 12:26pm

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118190921#Comment_118190921

Well.. yeh don't get the kids software I presume?

Its the bit where it auto manages the usage hours and all that that is of interest to me.

If I don't have to be the bad guy and take the tablet back off No1Son then great!

vidapura · 19-11-2021 3:45pm

the ordinary fire tablets are wicked cheap on argos...

Just wondering if there is any good parental control software that I could just load onto one of them myself??

free or otherwise?

skerry · 19-11-2021 4:20pm

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118192292#Comment_118192292

I did a bit of reading on them earlier and it seems like you can set up kids account and limit accordingly. I think the Kids + sub is what they would mostly use in the kids version and you can sub to that on any of their tablets I believe. I'm going to leave it a day or 2 and see if Argos get kids version in again and if not I'll probably just get the normal 8" one and the kids case. You miss out on the 2yr warranty though with the regular tablet

vidapura · 19-11-2021 4:52pm

Yeah,

I was lookin there at parental controls and apparently there is Kaspersky Kids and a few others that are either cheap or free.

We've a friend in london coming home for christmas so we might just order to ship to her either...

vidapura · 20-12-2021 10:58am

Ok, so our Kids Fire arrived with Auntie Trish from London...

The Amazon Kids + subscription won't activate tho..

Do i need to install a VPN and have it on the whole time?

Its just we have crappy Imagine broadband and VPNs tend to slow things down..

20-12-2021 11:55am

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118350773#Comment_118350773

You need to have it on the whole time for videos only.

vidapura · 20-12-2021 11:58am

Ahh right.. thanks..

I changed my default address to Auntie Trish's .. but it still wont let me at https://parents.amazon.co.uk/

Says "Edit your Amazon account's default address to use Parent Dashboard."

Does it take a bit of time to propagate or something??

Doing this without the VPN yet mind..

skerry · 20-12-2021 4:44pm

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118350773#Comment_118350773

Went through this with customer support this morning. I ended up getting a regular Fire tablet so had to get the Kids + Sub fresh. I tried with VPN and kept getting error code. Lad on customer support said Amazons site doesn't play nice with VPN. I have my primary address setup as parcel motel and billing address on revolut card is set to that too but still wasn't working. He updated main address from Ireland to Parcel Motel address, I'm not sure what the difference in this address and the others I had already set to parcel motel are or where on my account its visible, but that sorted the issue for me.

vidapura · 20-12-2021 4:54pm

Thanks for all that.. god what a palaver..

So they didn't mind that you were playing puck with addresses?

Why the feck do they have the restriction at all then?

Do I have to go through the same crapola with ringing support as well so?

Which is the Main address? I set the London address up as Default.. is that a different thing??

Thanks

skerry · 20-12-2021 6:36pm

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118352713#Comment_118352713

Its a lot of messing alright. I dont understand their approach to the whole Kids + thing. You can buy a Kids Fire tablet here in Argos and I'm sure you'll run into the same problems trying to activate the free sub thats included.

I have a Revolut card with parcel motel billing address and parcel motel as my default address. I was sure I had that set to default but maybe I missed something. Looked on my account there and I can't see any other place an address is mentioned that would have to be linked.

Once addresses lined up I didnt need VPN to subscribe. Although, as mentioned earlier in thread, I'll need VPN to access the video content.

Customer service didn't seem to care. I work between UK and IE dont ya know so I have no fixed abode in either country and just float between the 2 as the needs fits 😃

vidapura · 21-12-2021 10:59am

Well, that was a lot less painful than I thought it would be.

Got Amazon to call me and a nice South African fella sorted me out.

No arguments, just spend about 5 mins sorting out my account/address for me.

(in my case I was under an amazon.com setup somehow.. must be from years back)

So now I have access to the parent dashboard webpage and I'm assured my kids+ subscription has been enabled and will be pending for another hour until activation finishes.#

I have to get the table to update as well now so its downloading an update.

Lookin good so far anyway.

Again, no VPN needed for this part.. might need to see about the videos when the Kids+ is fully activated..

lee_baby_simms · 25-12-2021 10:27am

I have access to parent dashboard but no kids+ sub and no option to buy one.

I was on the phone to Amazon and they said it isn’t available in Ireland. Ah well.

fanzhiyidan · 11-10-2022 1:12pm

Hi all, going through the motions with Amazon Chat to see if I can get a tablet with the Kids+ working on it.

Just wondering if anyone has had any input on this over the last 10 or so months.

They're telling me I can order the tablet and see if it works, can return it within 30 days if it doesn't.

TheDoc · 17-10-2022 6:19pm

We're toying with getting our kids tablets from Santa, and the Fire kids tablet was looking like the way to go.

Although I guess from this thread, I'll just knock that on the head and get them Samsung Tablet or something? Like I never really got the jist of what would be on this that I couldn't get from a normal tablet? They use my ipad alot for playing some games or watching Disney+ etc.

*EDIT Although is this issue with Kids+, only you cannot access the content on that service, or the whole tablet/UI borks because it cant authenticate?

WOuld have had no intention of getting Kids+ so maybe its still a runner?

vidapura · 17-10-2022 7:41pm

Personally i wouldnt get a fire kids again. Theyre just too underpowered. And i found that really frustrating.

Get a decent spec Samsung. More expensive but if there was ever a prime example of penny wise pound foolish its the Fire.

The samsungs have their own kids mode. And there are other parental control options out there too. That's what i thought i was buying with a fire.. But its just not a viable implementation.. I dont care how cheap it is.. Its not worth it..

connundrum · 29-10-2022 10:52pm

The only thing with the Fire tabs is no questions asked replacement if broken. I’ve had two replaced, with the only hassle being sending them back via someone going back to the UK (you can’t post them from here).

v frustrating about Kids+

Caspero · 28-11-2022 11:10am

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119757824#Comment_119757824

Would you mind sharing what parental controls you use with the Samsung tablets on top of the Samsung kids' mode?

Just got a Fire which I'll probably be returning given the parental controls page is redirecting me to https://parents.amazon.co.uk/countryNotSupported and I don't want to have to go through the hassle of VPN, changing address and a call to Amazon to get my kid's profile working.

EDIT: Actually a VPN is not required. To get Amazon Kids and parental controls working in Ireland I did this:

Changed my default address to a UK address. I think you could make one up. I used an old Parcelmotel UK address that isn't even active anymore because Parcelmotel discontinued that service.
Connect to Amazon customer service on chat. Ask them to update the account's default address to the UK one. Note that even though I had done this myself in my Amazon account settings, I still couldn't access Amazon parental controls until I asked the Amazon chat support rep to do it for me. Also note during the chat they asked where I was currently and I told them Ireland.

The parental controls are good in fairness - I like that you can set it so the kid has to read for x minutes to get y minutes of app time.

Mrgg · 25-12-2022 12:16pm

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119930484#Comment_119930484

Worked a treat with a kids eco dot this morning. Santa must have missed the fact Amazon not offering parental controls in Ireland. Just need to make sure to remember to swap back to actual Irish address for any Amazon deliverys.

FalseJoe · 03-01-2023 6:30pm

How long after changing did you gain access to the parental control.

I have been on to support for a while now and they are insisting that the default address has been added however I still do not have access.

redgerry · 12-01-2023 3:15pm

Hi FalseJoe

Did you get this sorted? I'm in exactly the same situation at the moment. Have changed the address to UK via customer service but still do not have access to Parental Control or Amazon Kids +.

Any insight or advice appreciated! Thanks

redgerry · 12-01-2023 3:16pm

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120061121#Comment_120061121

Hi FalseJoe

Did you get this sorted? I'm in exactly the same situation at the moment. Have changed the address to UK via customer service but still do not have access to Parental Control or Amazon Kids +.

Any insight or advice appreciated! Thanks

witnessmenow · 16-09-2023 6:50pm

I bought my daughter a standard fire tablet 7 last year and created a user account on it for her. I didn't have access kids + or whatever it was, but I could set time limits and shut off times locally on the tablet for this account.

I've updated these limits plenty of times in the last year but today I went to change them and it's saying parental controls are not available in my country.

I'm fairly pissed off that some "update" has removed a feature from the tablet. Like I can understand maybe the kids + parental controls not being a thing here where I can set the limits from other devices, but to remove the ability to set limits on the device itself seems ****!

witnessmenow · 11-10-2023 9:56am

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121119734#Comment_121119734

If anyone else comes across this, after several rounds with support they changed my country to the UK and I got access to it again. My default delivery address is still my normal Ireland one, and I hanven't noticed any other impact on the change.

AdrianG08 · 18-10-2023 12:49pm

Sorry for bumping this thread.

I've just seen that the Amazon Fire HD 10 kids tablet launched just yesterday. Looks like a great piece of kit. Perfect for little ones for journeys, rainy days etc..

They only ship to UK though, I know there is an issue with the Amazon kids + (1 year free sub) being geoblocked. Can I ask, is there anyway around this? And if not, is it still of any use here in Ireland without the 1 year subscription?

Our little lad loves playing games, but ads are the absolute killer to be honest. You cannot play a kids game on a regular tablet without ads/requests for payment via app store etc..... so this looked the business.

Anyone any advice?

Amazon Fire Kids and Brexit

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