The Amazon Firestick is an amazing streaming device with quite a bit of potential. That said, it is still not overly powerful. While each version is an upgrade, it uses the same chip as some low-end tablets. Another upgrade is to the Android operating system it runs on. While those are positives, a lion’s share of the power goes toward the new CPU.
Interestingly, the latest version of the Firestick does not start out slow when you take it out of the box. However, many power users run hardware intensive apps. If you are one and you use data intensive frequently, you will definitely see a degradation of quality. Let’s take a look at how the degradation appears.
- Slow-motion video
- Lag
- Low frame rate
- Reduced video quality
- Long buffering times
- Crashing apps
- Audio – Video misalignment
Now then, there a few different things you can do to help fight these problems. After doing so, your stick should start running like a champion again. While these tactics may not seem like much or may have a minimal impact by themselves, the combination will help.
- Restart the device – You can do this by going to Home > Settings > Device > Restart.
- Force stop unused apps – To do this, go to Home > Settings > Applications > Manage installed apps > Force Stop.
- Uninstall unused apps – Like above go to Home > Settings > Applications > Manage installed apps > Uninstall.
- Factory Reset – Exactly what it says. Keep in mind this is what you want to do if the other items are not working. Go to Home > Settings > Device > Reset to Factory Defaults.
- Clear Cache and Data – For this one, go to Home > Settings > Applications > Manage installed apps > Clear data and then Clear cache.
- Disable unused features – There are a number of different things you do not necessarily need. Start by going to Settings > Applications > Collect App Usage Data (turn off) > Prime Photos > Allow Guest Connections (turn off) > Access Prime Photos (disable) > Appstore (disable auto updates). You can also disable In-app purchases and Notifications. Now, select Gamecircle (turn off “Share GameCircle Nickname” and “Whispersync for Games”).
- Turn off Data Monitoring – To do this, go to Home > Settings Preferences > Data monitoring (turn off).
- App Notifications – For this one, go to Home > Settings > Preferences > Notification Settings (either turn off from each app or turn on “Do not interrupt”.
And there you see the best ways to speed up your Firestick and get it running well again. While they may all seem minor, they can all add up to the final goal. Please share this post with your friends so the can speed up their Firesticks as well. Follow us @VPNFan for the latest deals and guides.