Amazon Fire TV Stick Running Slow? Here's How To Fix It

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The reason for all the allure surrounding affordable streaming sticks is the convenience and ease of use that they bring. You can connect one to any old television and instantly convert it into a TV with smart features. One of the most popular options in this category of devices is the Amazon Fire TV Stick. The latest model retails at $35 and is a great way to enjoy shows and movies on streaming platforms like Netflix. There are Amazon Fire TV Stick tips and tricks to further streamline your home entertainment solution. Some of these include being able to control your TV using voice commands, or connecting a compatible Ring camera to display a live feed of what's going on outside.

The Fire TV Stick can add immense value to your living room, but like any tech gadget, it's susceptible to slow down over time. Simple operations like app loading, scrolling, or video buffering might take longer. Depending on how old a piece of hardware is, apps with growing system requirements and new updates will inevitably struggle to perform well. That said, before you hop onto Amazon to order a newer model, it's worth trying to troubleshoot exactly why your Fire TV Stick has become sluggish — and potentially even refreshing it to make it a touch snappier.

The first thing to check for when any device you own has started running into compatibility issues with apps is system updates. Though not as exciting or major as smartphone OS upgrades, streaming devices like the Amazon Fire TV Stick still rely on occasional software updates to add new features or squash reported bugs. The exact steps to get to the software update settings may vary depending on your Fire TV model, but here's how you can generally check for system updates on devices running Fire OS:

1. On your Amazon Fire TV Stick, launch the Settings app. 
2. Look for a "My Fire TV" or "Device & Software" section — usually near the end of the list.
3. Check to see if there are any pending updates, and if so, allow them to finish downloading and installing.

While you're in the Settings app, navigate to Applications > Manage Installed Applications to view a list of downloaded apps on your Fire TV Stick. Here, you can select individual apps, perhaps the ones that are running slow, and clear their app data and cache. This can fix underlying issues and potentially improve an app's performance. It's also good practice to enable "Automatic Updates" for apps by navigating to Settings > Applications > Appstore. If all else fails, you could factory reset your Fire TV Stick — this can get rid of apps and data you no longer need that have clogged up over the years.