9 Easy Ways to Improve Firestick Performance

ByCarmen Moore Last Updated:

The Fire TV Stick device has always been a great device for entertainment. It used to be powered by dual cores, but the newest version is boosted with four! The new stick also comes in two models: one that just includes an Alexa voice remote and another 4K model which will give viewers an incredible viewing experience on TVs up to 1080p resolution (which means it’ll work well even if your television isn’t so fresh).

In the latest update to the Amazon Fire TV, a new CPU and Android OS were introduced. The performance improvements are immediately evident when you notice that while previously taking up 85% of processing power on average, it now takes only 64%. This is mainly due to an updated version of Android being installed which simplifies many tasks for users by making them more intuitive.

This little device is sometimes unable to do its job out of the box. But power users may notice that performance drops over time, especially if they have installed and frequently use Kodi on their Fire TV Stick for streaming movies or television shows. Performance issues can take a variety of forms: 

  • Low frame rates
  • Lags in the playback speed
  • App crashes–though these are rare occurrences among most devices
  • Slower loading times when trying to stream videos from Amazon Prime Video (or even YouTube)
  • Reduced video quality during HD viewing because there’s not enough bandwidth allocated between your content provider’s server and your end-user connection. 

In today’s post, I’ll be discussing some tips for optimizing your Amazon FireTV stick so that it functions at optimal levels once more. These techniques may seem minor individually but together offer an immense firestick optimization process that speeds up boot times as well as the general overall performance with ease

Ways on how to Improve Firestick Performance

#1. Use Proper Firestick Power source

Using the manufacturer’s charging cable and power adapter will provide a stable connection for your Fire TV Stick. We recommend that you use the proper USB port/ adapter plugged into an electrical source. Do not use any other USB or adapter as this may result in unstable power passage.

#2. Restarting your Firestick device

If your Fire TV Stick is unresponsive, it may be time to give the device a break. Plugging in and running all of the time can lead to wear-and-tear on any electronic device, so occasionally taking some downtime will help keep things fresh! You can either restart by removing power from your stick or you could just do it with the below instructions:

Step 1. Press-and-hold the home button on your fire tv device remote control

Step 2. Next, choose the settings option

Step 3. Now, select Restart and wait for the restarting to complete.

#3. Uninstalling unused/not frequently used add-ons and apps on your firestick device

Did you know that apps and add-ons can take up valuable memory space on your firestick? If they aren’t removed, then your fire tv device will have to work harder just to keep running. Even worse is when the app or addon runs in background mode without even being used! 

The good news is if you delete old applications and uninstall any Kodi add-on extensions which are no longer needed, there should be a noticeable difference in how quickly everything operates and will improve the performance of your firestick device. Follow the below steps to Uninstall old apps:

Step 1. Press-and-hold the home button on your firestick remote

Step 2. Choose settings and then select Apps (Application)

Step 3. Choose Manage Installed Apps option

Step 4. On the list of apps that will appear, select the apps you want to uninstall or you are not using.

Step 5. Choose Uninstall 

Step 6. Select Uninstall option again to confirm.

#4. Force stopping unused pre-installed apps

Amazon Fire TV devices come with pre-installed apps which do not have the uninstall option. Most times, you may not be using this app and they often occupy space on your firestick device. Force stopping them will help free up space. Follow the steps below to force stop pre-installed apps:

Step 1. Press and hold the home button.

Step 2. Select settings 

Step 3. Select Apps (Application)

Step 3. Select Manage Installed Apps option

Step 4. Next, on the list of apps that will appear, select the pre-installed apps you want to force stop.

#5. Try turning Off the data monitoring of your firestick device

Data monitoring is essential for downloading anything on your internet service provider’s data allowance. This consumes a small number of system resources that can be better used elsewhere, but it will ensure you never exceed the monthly quota limit and incur overage fees from the ISP. Turning off data monitoring will help optimize your firestick performance. Follow the below steps to disable data monitoring:

Step 1. Press and hold the home button

Step 2. Select settings and then choose Preferences

Step 3. Now, choose Data monitoring

Step 4. Next, choose Data Monitoring again to confirm and this will toggle off the option.

#6. Try Clearing the cache of your firestick device

When an app runs, it stores data in a cache. If the app is not shut down properly or if its memory becomes corrupted for any reason, then this temporary storage could grow out of control and create problems with running the application altogether.

To avoid crashing your program because of issues within a system’s cache (which can cause slowdowns), make sure that you clear the cache of your firestick device by following these steps:

Step 1. Press-and-hold the home button (on your firestick remote control)

Step 2. Click on settings and select applications.

Step 3. Click on Manage installed applications

Step 4. Click on the clear cache option

Step 5. Click clear cache to confirm

#7. Try Disabling features, not in use

Having bloatware enabled by default is always a bummer, but there are ways to make things better. By disabling “features” like this in the settings, you can free up more resources for Kodi and other apps- even it improves your device privacy. Follow these steps to disable such features:

Step 1. Press and hold the home button.

Step 2. Click on settings and choose Applications

Step 3. Click on the “collect App usage data option

Step 4. Now, select Turn Off.

Step 5. Click on Prime Photos 

Step 6. Select Allow Guest connection to turn it off.

Step 7. Now, disable Access Prime Photos (only if you do not use this option always).

Step 8. Click on Appstore and then select disable.

Note: it is not recommended to disable App Store automatic updates. This is because your device will be vulnerable to privacy. It is advisable to disable App Store Auto-update when you need to boost the performance of your firestick only. 

Step 9. Choose Gamecircle.

Step 10. Choose Whispersync for Games and Share your Gamecircle Nickname and then toggle it off.

#8. Try Installing a VPN on your firestick device

Your ISP can stop you from downloading anything faster than they want you to. Luckily, a VPN (a virtual private network) is the perfect solution for this problem! A VPN gives your internet connection complete privacy and prevents any buffering issues that might arise because of throttling by an ISP.

Streaming can be tricky without a VPN. There are various VPN service providers offering free and paid options to choose from, but before you install one on your Firestick make sure to sign up for its service.

#9. Factory resetting your firestick device

The last resort when nothing else worked was to factory reset your device. This way, all the data on it will be wiped away and you won’t have any other choice but start over from scratch if needed.

Follow these steps to factory reset your firestick device:

Step 1. Press-and-hold the home button and then select the settings option.

Step 2. Select device and then choose Reset to Factory Defaults.

Step 3. Click Reset again to confirm and then wait for the resetting to complete.