Nearly every piece of technology, whether it's your desktop, laptop, tablet, or smartwatch, eventually slows down. Why it's slowing down could be due to various factors, such as aging hardware, outdated software, or temporary files cluttering the system. Streaming devices and smart TVs are also prone to this issue since they are essentially mini-computers.
Amazon's Fire TV Sticks (or its other Fire TV devices) are no exception to this either. If you feel like your Fire Stick is lagging or not as fast as it used to be, it might not necessarily mean you have to rush out and buy a new one. There are ways to speed up your Fire Stick, regardless of the model you have, and one easy way to do so in literally seconds is to clear the cache.
Amazon Fire TV Stick 4K Max
- Brand
- Amazon
- Resolution
- 4K
- Audio codecs
- Dolby Atmos
- RAM/storage
- 16 GB
What is cache, and why should I clear it?
Cache is temporary data that apps rely on, but if it becomes too full, it can negatively impact your device
Cache is temporary files stored on your device that apps use to quickly access data and improve performance. Each time you open an app on your Fire Stick, it accesses its own cache to store and retrieve data, helping the app run more smoothly.
Every app on your Fire Stick has its own cache, which stores temporary data like image thumbnails for shows and movies, your watch history, search history, login details, and update files. Cache isn't exclusive to Fire Sticks; it's found on many devices, such as PCs, smartphones, gaming consoles, smart TVs, and other streaming devices like Apple TV and Roku.
While cache benefits your device by helping apps perform better, over time, it can actually slow it down if it becomes too full. A full cache means the app has to sift through more files to find the data it's looking for and can also cause glitches, such as an app freezing or stuttering, as it tries to navigate all the cached data.
So, if you've been using your Fire Stick for a long time and haven't cleared the cache recently, that could be why it feels slow. If you want to clear the cache on your Fire TV Stick to improve performance, here's how to do it.
How to clear the cache on your Fire Stick
It's one button in the settings menu
Amazon has made clearing the cache on its Fire TV Sticks, Fire TV Cube, and Fire TVs very simple. Conveniently, in a Fire TV update released earlier this year, Amazon added a new feature that allows you to clear the cache for all apps on your device with just one button in the settings menu. Here's a step-by-step guide on how to do this:
1. On the Fire TV home page, navigate to Settings. Alternatively, press the gear icon on your remote, then select Settings.
2. In the Settings menu, choose Applications.
3. Under Applications, you should now see a cache feature called: Clear All Application Caches.
4. Select Clear All Application Caches. It will then tell you how much space you will free up by clearing the cache.
5. Press Confirm to complete clearing your cache.
If you don't see an option to "Clear All Application Caches," it may be because your Fire TV is on an older software update. You can still clear the cache for each app individually by selecting "Manage Installed Applications," then choosing an app, and selecting "Clear Cache" for it.
On my Fire TV Stick 4K Max, I usually clear the cache at the start of every month to help keep things running smoothly and prevent slowdowns before they happen.
Other ways to speed up your Fire Stick
Make sure its software is up-to-date, and manage its storage
While clearing the cache is one way to speed up your Fire Stick, there are a few other things you can try to improve its performance.
The first thing I always do after clearing my cache is restart my Fire TV Stick. A restart is always helpful because it resets memory and apps on your device and helps fix any glitches you might be experiencing. To restart your Fire TV Stick, go to Settings > My Fire TV > Restart. Alternatively, you can just unplug the power cord for a few seconds and then plug it back in to restart it.
Another way to boost your Fire TV Stick's performance is by ensuring it's updated. Amazon frequently releases new software updates for its Fire TV devices, which typically include bug fixes, performance enhancements, and sometimes new features (like the cache-clearing one I mentioned earlier). To update your Fire TV, navigate to Settings > My Fire TV > About > Install Update.
Finally, if your Fire TV Stick is running low on storage, it could be causing it to slow down. Consider uninstalling apps you haven't used recently to free up space. If you're unsure which apps to remove, some of the preinstalled ones on your Fire TV, such as Amazon Kids, Amazon Luna, Amazon Music, and Amazon Photos, might be good options. I don’t use these on my Fire TV Stick, so I uninstalled them to save a few hundred MBs of space.
To see how much storage you have left, go to Settings > Applications. On the right side of the screen, you'll see the available internal space. To uninstall apps, go to Managed Installed Applications, select an app, then press the rewind button on your remote to uninstall it. You can always reinstall any of these apps later from the Amazon Appstore if needed.