If you can’t get IPVanish to work on your Firestick, the service you’re trying to connect to has blocked IPVanish’s IP addresses.
This is obviously frustrating, but the good news is, your Firestick isn’t faulty. This is all to do with the streaming service you’re trying to connect to.
There are several fixes you can try to resolve IPVanish not working on Firestick that we’ve listed below, and if you want to know why this has happened and how you can prevent it from happening again, read on to the end of the article.
See also:
- Surfshark not working on Firestick? Here’s how to FIX that! (September 2023)
- Hotspot Shield not working on Firestick? Try these EASY fixes! (September 2023)
- Windscribe not working on Firestick? Here’s how to fix that! (September 2023)
IPVanish not working on Firestick: Fixes
To fix IPVanish not working on Firestick, try these fixes in order. If one doesn’t work, move on to the next one until you can use your Firestick with a VPN again.
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Clean your Firestick cache/data
Cleaning your cache will remove any files stored with the IPVanish app. Some of these files may have encountered errors that could potentially prevent you from using IPVanish on your Firestick.
Cleaning your cache will restore IPVanish to its default settings, and this will remove any saved files that may be making the VPN not work on your Firestick.
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Change to a different protocol
VPNs use different protocols. These are a set of rules that the VPN follows when providing you with an anonymous internet connection.
Some of these protocols prioritise security, while others prioritise speed.
IPVanish might not be working on your Firestick because the protocol you’re using is no longer providing a secure, anonymous connection or a fast enough connection.
Try changing to a different protocol to fix IPVanish not working on Firestick.
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Reinstall IPVanish
While not the most technical or in-depth solution, if it works, it works.
Reinstalling IPVanish will give you a fresh install of the app, and any errors your current installation may have will be erased.
Also, reinstalling the app will provide you with the latest version of IPVanish. IPVanish may be aware of the problems you’re having on Firestick and could have addressed them with an update that you’re not currently using.
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Change to a different server
If IPVanish still isn’t working on your Firestick, the service you’re trying to connect to has managed to block the IP address IPVanish has given you.
Changing to a different server will give you a different IP address. If that one hasn’t been identified and blocked, IPVanish will work with your Firestick again.
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Upgrade to a better VPN
If none of the above fixes worked, then the service you’re trying to connect to has identified and blocked all of the IP addresses IPVanish can currently provide.
This has happened because IPVanish doesn’t have measures to stay ahead of the streaming services VPN blocking methods.
You could wait for IPVanish to fix this issue on its end. However, there’s no telling how long this could take, and you could potentially waste money on a VPN that doesn’t work.The easiest and best way to fix this issue is to upgrade to a better VPN.
We recommend ExpressVPN ($6.67/month). This VPN has measures in place to get around streaming service blocks. These measures will prevent you from running into the same errors you’ve been coming across when trying to watch streaming services on your Firestick with IPVanish.
Why has IPVanish stopped working on Firestick?
The reason IPVanish has stopped working on your Firestick is because its IP addresses have been blocked by the service you’re trying to access.
To avoid copyright and licensing breaches, streaming services try to block VPNs from accessing their content. If users were able to access these services content in locations where they don’t have the rights to broadcast, they could be punished with massive fines.
Because VPNs are effective and well-known ways of watching content outside of official broadcast zones, using a VPN to access a streaming service on Firestick could result in copyright and licensing breaches. To stop this from happening, streaming services try to block VPNs.
IPVanish isn’t working because it’s been blocked.
How do streaming services block IPVanish?
Streaming services don’t only block IPVanish they try to block all VPNs. They do this by monitoring for an abnormal amount of connections coming from the same IP address.
In order for a VPN to work financially, it needs to have more customers than IP addresses. The problem with this is it means customers are forced to share IP addresses.
Normally, only 8-10 devices or a small household worth of devices will connect to a streaming service via the same IP address. Because IPVanish customers share IPs, hundred or even thousands of devices now use the same IP address. When a significant amount of people using this same IP address connect to the same streaming service, it doesn’t look right, and the streaming service knows it’s a VPN IP address, and it blocks it.
Over time streaming services are able to identify all of the IP addresses IPVanish can provide. And this is why it’ll no longer work on your Firestick.
This happens to all VPNs. However, the best VPNs have effective ways to get around this problem. (See below)
Do VPNs still work on Firestick?
The VPNs that still work on Firestick are the ones that have measures to get around streaming service VPN blocks.
The best VPNs for Firestick are ExpressVPN ($6.67/month) or Private Internet Access ($2.03/month).
When a streaming service blocks an IP address that has been provided by these VPNs, ExpressVPN ($6.67/month) or Private Internet Access ($2.03/month) will close that IP and open a new one.
This will allow you to reliably use a VPN on your Firestick, and it ensures that you never run into the same issues you’ve come across using IPVanish on your Firestick again.
The best VPNs on Firestick
1. ExpressVPN 🥇
Why You Should Use ExpressVPN? It’s the fastest and MOST reliable VPN of 2023
Pros
- ✅ Fast servers
- ✅ Thousands of IP addresses
- ✅ 10-simultaneous connections
- ✅ 24/7 Live Chat
- ✅ Easy-to-use app
- ✅ 30-day money-back guarantee
Cons
- ❌ Expensive
Special Offer for you!
Get 3 extra months free when you sign up for a 12-month ExpressVPN plan. That’s 15 months in total for the price of 12.
Number of servers: 3,000+ | Speed: >80% | Bandwidth: Unlimited | IP locations: 160 in 94 countries | Devices supported: 5 | Live chat: Yes | 30-day money-back guarantee: Yes
- $6.66/month for 15 months
- $9.99/month for 6 months
- $12.95/month for 1 month
ExpressVPN ($6.66/month) is still the best VPN. And importantly, it ALWAYS has servers that are open with major streaming sites such as Netflix, BBC iPlayer, Hulu, Disney+, HBO Max, Paramount+, Amazon Prime Video, etc.
ExpressVPN is usually very good at playing Cat and Mouse with online streaming sites. Meaning, whenever one of its servers is blacklisted it creates a new one – giving its users a constant stream of servers that aren’t blocked. Needless to say, this is a valuable attribute if you’re looking for a VPN to unblock streaming sites.
Its app is easy-to-use and free to download on pretty much any device you can think of. Mac, Windows, iOS, Android, FireStick, Android TV, Roku, PS4, Xbox, Linux, even Apple TV (with a workaround). It’s got it all covered.
The app is another main reason this VPN is so good at unblocking TV streaming sites (that claim they block VPNs) is that its software takes a pragmatic approach to user management. While other VPNs tempt customers by promising them access to hundreds/thousands of servers in multiple countries, ExpressVPN does things differently.
With ExpressVPN you only have a handful of server locations to choose from. Once you select your location the app takes care of the rest. Assigning you to the fastest available server that’s not oversubscribed. This simple technique is so important, as it keeps ExpressVPN’s servers operating at lightning-fast speeds and prevents its IPs from getting blacklisted for “abnormal” usage in the first place.
Check out our full ExpressVPN review.
Special Offer for you
(30-day money-back guarantee)
2. NordVPN 🥈
A very quick and trustworthy VPN
Pros
- ✅ Fast servers
- ✅ No logs
- ✅ Thousands of IP addresses
- ✅ 6-simultaneous connections
- ✅ 30-day money-back guarantee
- ✅ Easy-to-use app
Cons
- ❌ No refunds for purchases from iTunes/App store
Special Offer for you!
Sign up for a 3-year plan with Private Internet Access and save 83% + 3 months free. That works out at $2.03/month.
Number of servers: 5,000+ | Speeds: >80% | Bandwidth: Unlimited | IP locations: 62 countries | Devices supported: 6 | Live chat: Yes | 30-day money-back guarantee: Yes
- $3.49/month for 2 years
- $6.99/month for 1 year
- $11.95/month for 1 month
NordVPN is the most widely-used VPN in the world. And it’s easy to see why. It’s a polished app that delivers fast connections (more on this later) to a massive network of VPN servers.
It’s the most reliable at unblocking popular streaming services too – US Netflix, Hulu, Disney+, BBC iPlayer, HBO Max, Amazon Prime Video, etc. This is because NordVPN hired a full-time technical team (that’s responsible for monitoring its servers’ connections with popular TV streaming services) and has been aggressively investing in its network of IP addresses in key locations.
Another interesting thing to note is that NordVPN is an industry leader in its development of Nordlynx technology. Nordlynx is built using the WireGuard, a new VPN tunneling protocol designed to outperform current standards (OpenVPN and IPSec). The benefits, according to NordVPN, are dramatically faster transfer speeds while connected to a VPN. My tests – New Zealand to London – confirm that Nordlynx is currently the fastest VPN on the market. However, the difference isn’t dramatic, a few Mbps is all.
Read our NordVPN review.
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3. Private Internet Access
The BEST low-cost VPN for streaming!
Pros
- ✅ Fast and reliable servers
- ✅ Thousands of IP addresses
- ✅ 10-simultaneous connections
- ✅ 24/7 Live Chat
- ✅ 30-day money-back guarantee
Cons
- ❌ Only 48 server locations
Special Offer for you!
Sign up for a 3-year plan with Private Internet Access and save 83% + 3 months free. That works out at $2.03/month.
Number of servers: 25,000+ | Speed: >75% | Bandwidth: Unlimited | IP locations: 70 in 74 countries | Devices supported: 10 | Live chat: Yes | 30-day money-back guarantee: Yes
- $2.03/month for 3 years
- $7.50/month for 6 months
- $11.99/month for 1 month
Private Internet Access is one of the leading no-log VPN services with over 1-million paying customers.
This VPN is one of the best in the industry at beating streaming sites’ VPN bans. It provides reliable connections with US Netflix, BBC iPlayer, Hulu, HBO Max, Disney+ Amazon Prime Video, etc. It also allows 10 simultaneous devices to be connected to its servers at the same time, so you can share the account with your close friends.
If – for whatever reason – you’re not happy with Private Internet Access, there’s a 24/7 live chat support available to assist you with your problem. PIA also offers the industry-standard 30-day money-back guarantee.
From my tests (from New Zealand) I was able to get download speeds of 70 Mbps while connected to a UK server using the Private Internet Access VPN (my non-VPN speed is 100 Mbps).
Special Offer – Save 83%
(30-day money-back guarantee)
4. Ivacy
A very quick and trustworthy VPN
Pros
- ✅ Fast servers
- ✅ Thousands of IP addresses
- ✅ Dedicated streaming servers
- ✅ 5-simultaneous connections
- ✅ 30-day money-back guarantee
- ✅ 24/7 Live Chat
Cons
- ❌ Only 5 devices
- ❌ Sometimes runs slow
- ❌ Occasionally block by streaming sites for several days
Special Offer for you!
Sign up for Ivacy and enjoy a 7-day trial with no strings attached
Number of servers: 1,000+ | Speed: >65% | Bandwidth: Unlimited | IP locations: 275 in 100 countries | Devices supported: 5 | Live chat: Yes | 30-day money-back guarantee: Yes
- $1.16/month for 5 years
- $3.50/month for 1 year
- $9.99/month for 1 month
If you’re looking for an excellent VPN, with an even better price tag, Ivacy ($1.16/month) is a great option.
This VPN has all the features you need to stream BBC iPlayer, in HD, from any country in the world. I’ve been testing the app recently on Mac, PC, Android, iOS and FireStick and the results have been impressive – unlocking BBC iPlayer, US Netflix, Hulu, Disney+, HBO Max, Amazon Prime Video, etc. with ease.
The Ivacy app is a little different in regards to its UX (user experience). Instead of just selecting a UK server, you need to select the specific BBC iPlayer server. Don’t worry, this isn’t a bad thing – by connecting to a dedicated BBC iPlayer server, it simply means that you’re connecting to an IP address that Ivacy knows works with BBC iPlayer.
For an extra $1.99/month (£1.74) you can add-on a dedicated IP. This will buy you sole access to an IP address in a country of your choice, meaning you won’t have to share your IP (and speeds) with any other use. I don’t recommend this though, using the regular Ivacy servers is enough 95 per cent of the time.
Special Offer – 7-day FREE trial!
(30-day money-back guarantee)
5. CyberGhost
A very quick and trustworthy VPN
Pros
- ✅ 1-day free trial
- ✅ Reliable servers
- ✅ Thousands of IP addresses
- ✅ 7-simultaneous connections
- ✅ 30-day money-back guarantee
- ✅ Easy-to-use app
Cons
- ❌ Expensive
- ❌ Average speed scores
SPECIAL OFFER – 1-DAY FREE TRIAL
Take advantage of CyberGhost’s 1-day FREE TRIAL!
Number of servers: 1,000+ | Speed: >65% | Bandwidth: Unlimited | IP locations: 275 in 100 countries | Devices supported: 5 | Live chat: Yes | 30-day money-back guarantee: Yes
- $2.75/month for 3 years
- $3.69/month for 2 years
- $5.99/month for 1 year
- $12.99/month for 1 month
CyberGhost is one of the more established VPNs on the market. It has a well-established, and well-tested global network of servers that perform well.
From my tests over the past several months, CyberGhost has no trouble at unblocking major streaming services – US Netflix, BBC iPlayer, Hulu, Disney+, Amazon Prime Video, HBO Max etc. This VPN performed well at maintaining download speeds, well above 65 per cent of my regular (non VPN) ISP speed.
That said, there’s nothing really unique about the service. Which forces you to look at its price-point. And there’s nothing special here. Its short-term $12.99/month price tag puts is well above the industry average of $10.10/month. Similarly, its long-term $2.75/month for 3 years deal isn’t much of a “deal” either.
Oddly, CyberGhost’s most unique feature is its a 1-day, no obligations, free trial. This is an appealing offer to customers who are new to VPNs. However, it’s important to remember that most reputable VPNs will offer customers a 30-day money-back guarantee, so try not to be too seduced by the offer.
SPECIAL OFFER – 1-DAY FREE TRIAL
(30-day money-back guarantee)
