Fire TV: Searching With Mic (Alexa) Button No Longer Working

[hamah 7]

I have a number of Fire TV Stick 4K Max that I use and have been very happy with. One of the best "features" is the ability to populate searches with speech-to-text dictation using the mic button on the remote rather than using the navigation buttons on the remote to input the text string. Tonight I setup a new stick and this feature was not working properly.

What I have noticed is that the Emby Fire TV app version 2.1.26a works and version 3.4.36 does not. I have no idea how I ended up with both versions on the Fire Stick at the same time. Perhaps the earlier version was restored from a backup during the setup while the later version was installed from the Amazon appstore. I know that during setup I saw the restore process occur automatically and I also know I manually installed the Emby app from the appstore manually.

When the feature is "working" the search is limited to libraries, playlists, Live TV (programs/channels/guides) etc. within the Emby app. When the feature is "not working" the search is not looking in the app at all and is showing search results from the Fire TV environment (rentals, subscriptions, other apps in the Amazon appstore etc.) outside of the Emby app.

In order to get the feature to "work" you must click on the search (magnifying glass) icon from either the pop-out sidebar or from the top right of the main/home screen. You then must move the cursor to inside the text input area and press the select button which will cause a non-qwerty virtual keyboard to appear. At this point you can use the mic (Alexa) button to do the speech-to-text entry. An example would be to search for CNN by saying "sea n n" while holding the mic button. The text box will show "CNN" and only content within the Emby app will show in the search results.

On the later version of the app there is already a virtual keyboard visible when clicking on the search icon and it is not possible to put the cursor inside the text input area. If you try to use the mic button the search will take you out of the app to the Fire TV Stick Home page and show search results not related to the Emby app. Using the same example as above the text "c.n.n." will appear (not "CNN") and you are taken to the Fire TV Stick home page with only search results external to the Emby app shown. If you manually enter the text "cnn" using the pre-existing keyboard and the navigation and select buttons on the remote, the search does work as expected and shows search results from inside the Emby app.

Version 3.4.36

The "not working" pre-existing virtual keyboard. It is not possible to place cursor in the text box and a search using input from the mic does not show any search results from inside the Emby app. Manual input using the direction and select buttons does work as expected.

Version 2.1.26a

This "working" version allows you to place the cursor in the text box (note the "select for keyboard")

Once you hit the select button this virtual keyboard appears and the mic button is able to be used (note the "Press and hold to say words and phrases" below the keyboard)

Edited April 9, 2025 by hamah

[hamah 7]

I setup another Fire TV Stick 4K Max this past weekend and I can confirm the older version 2.1.26a was "installed" from a restored backup. I can also confirm the newer version 3.4.36 available in the Amazon appstore does not behave the same and that using mic dictation to search the Emby app does not work. Is this a known issue?

Edited April 14, 2025 by hamah