Amazon and Google have settled their long-running feud over their streaming services, and it means Amazon Fire TVs will finally regain access to the official YouTube app. 

Google had pulled YouTube from the Amazon app store in early 2018 after failing to strike a deal with its rival about selling its products and services. At the time, it was said that Google was displeased with Amazon because the retail giant was refusing to sell several of its products, including its Google Home and Chromecast devices. Google therefore decided to retaliate by removing the YouTube app from Fire TV devices. Google also removed access to the app on Amazon Echo devices, claiming that the user experience was “broken”. 

Amazon Fire TV owners were still able to access YouTube via web browsers, but of course that experience is nothing compared to the simplicity and convenience of the official app. 

It’s not clear exactly what kind of deal Amazon and Google have struck, but in any case YouTube will soon return to Fire TV streaming devices. With the app, users can login to their YouTube accounts through their Amazon Fire device and access 4K content at up to 60 frames per second. Google will also publish dedicated apps for YouTube Kids and YouTube TV, which is its live TV subscription service. Users will also be able to command Amazon’s Alexa digital assistant to search YouTube for content. 

In return, Amazon is making its Prime Video service compatible with Google’s Chromecast devices. Prime Video users will therefore be able to cast content directly to their TVs using the mobile app. Prime Video will also come to Android TVs later in the year, the companies said. 

There’s no mention of any return to YouTube on Amazon Echo, which is essentially just a version of the Alexa speaker that comes with a screen. YouTube can still be accessed on Amazon Echo via the Firefox browser, however. 

Amazon began selling Google’s Chromecast devices on its site in late 2018, which may have driven the new detente between the two rivals. Still, Amazon refuses to sell the Google Home device, and anyone who searches for it on its site is shown results for Amazon’s Echo devices instead.