Amazon Fire TV will reportedly copy and fix Google TV’s ‘Continue Watching’ row

Ben Schoon | Feb 21 2023 - 8:48 am PT

Amazon is reportedly working with partners on a new Fire TV feature that will show content you’ve been watching in a dedicated homescreen row, much like Google TV.

AFTVNews reports that Amazon is working on a new Fire TV feature that pulls your viewing data from various streaming apps and shows that activity in a row similar to Google TV’s “Continue Watching” row. As it stands today, Fire TV has no such row.

On Google TV, the “Continue Watching” row shows content you have been watching on your TV from supported apps, with a single press on that piece of content pushing you back into viewing from where you left off. Or that’s how it’s supposed to work. Many users have complained over the years – “Continue Watching” has been around on Android TV since 2014 in one form or another – that the feature isn’t all that accurate.

The “Continue Watching” row shows information based on what the app provides, which can lead to a disparity in what Google TV shows versus what you’ve actually viewed. Watching on another TV signed into the same account or a mobile device can lead to Google TV’s preview being inaccurate. We’ve noticed this is especially troublesome for TV shows.

Amazon’s version of this “Continue Watching” row for Fire TV intends to fix that by directly integrating with streaming services.

Under this new feature, Amazon would pull viewing data directly from streaming partners and use that to fuel its version of “Continue Watching.” Done properly, that could certainly solve the problem Google’s version faces. AFTVNews adds that apps would also be able to share data regarding personal recordings, watchlists, and purchased content with Amazon to better serve the homescreen. That certainly sounds a bit invasive, but apparently, the feature will be able to be turned off and won’t work with kids profiles. Apps also need to opt-in to this feature, just like Google requires.

The timeline for when this feature will make its debut is unclear, but it’s certainly something that could be a new point of attraction for Amazon, as the company’s platform has been behind both Google and Apple in this specific niche.