4 settings I changed on my Fire TV Stick that made streaming way better

With that in mind, here are four settings I adjusted on my Fire TV Stick 4K Max that made streaming more enjoyable and allowed my TV's picture quality to shine, which you can easily do too.

Switch HDR to Adaptive

If the colors on your TV with your Fire Stick look washed out, this should fix it

While the picture quality on my TV using a Fire Stick looked good most of the time when watching movies or playing games, I couldn't help but notice that the colors in some content, especially in the menus, looked washed out. During my search for a fix, I discovered a display setting on the Fire TV Stick that was automatically turned on called Always HDR. As the name suggests, it forces HDR (High Dynamic Range) output at all times, even for content (and menus) that don't support it, which results in dull, washed-out colors when you're not watching HDR content.

To fix this, I switched the setting from Always HDR to Adaptive. This makes the Fire TV Stick use HDR only when the content actually supports it, resulting in much better picture quality when browsing menus or watching SDR-only content.

To change this setting yourself, press the gear icon on your Fire TV Stick remote, then go to Settings > Display & Audio > Display > Dynamic Range Settings. You'll see three options: Always HDR, Adaptive, and Disable HDR. If you have an HDR-compatible TV, choose Adaptive for the best picture quality. If your TV doesn't support HDR, select Disable HDR.

Change color depth to 10-bit (if your TV supports it)

Make the colors in shows and movies pop even more

Another important option in the Display & Audio settings section on your Fire TV Stick is Color Depth. On my Fire TV Stick 4K Max, it was set to 8-bit by default, even though my TV natively supports 10-bit color.

If you're unfamiliar with color depth, it's essentially the amount of color information your TV can display. 8-bit color supports about 16.7 million colors, while 10-bit color jumps to over a billion, resulting in far smoother gradients, less color banding, and richer colors. While 8-bit color is common on older TVs and budget models, many newer TVs, particularly OLED models, have native 10-bit panels to get the most out of HDR content.

If your TV supports 10-bit color (a quick Google search of your TV model will confirm this), you'll want to make sure your Fire TV Stick is set to 10-bit color too. To do this, navigate to Settings > Display & Audio > Display > Color Depth. You'll see options for 8-bit, 10-bit, and 12-bit color depth. If your TV can handle it, select 10-bit. HDR content will still look okay with 8-bit, but 10-bit will look way better.

Turn off autoplay for ads

Make the ad carousel on the Fire TV homepage more tolerable

Moving on from picture settings, one thing that has always bothered me about the Fire TV home page is the autoplaying ads. Sometimes I accidentally hover over one, and it immediately starts playing an ad for something I never intended to watch. Don't get me wrong, I like the Fire TV home page and find it convenient for quickly accessing the apps I want, but the ad carousel at the top can be really annoying.

Fortunately, there's a simple way to make those ads much more tolerable. Amazon lets you disable featured content, including ads, from autoplaying entirely. That means no more surprise videos or audio popping up as you scroll. To do this, go to Settings > Preferences > Featured Content. You'll see two options: Allow Video Autoplay and Allow Audio Autoplay. Both are enabled by default, but pressing the Select button on your remote toggles each setting off. Once you do, autoplaying video and audio on the Fire TV home page will be gone for good, unless you turn it back on.

Use Bluetooth audio

Listen to your Fire Stick with Bluetooth headphones or earbuds

This is easily my favorite feature on Amazon's Fire TV Sticks, and it's surprisingly underrated. What it allows you to do is connect Bluetooth audio devices directly to your Fire TV Stick. That means you can watch shows or movies using Bluetooth headphones or earbuds, like AirPods, without disturbing others. It's perfect for late-night binge sessions or listening to shows while working around the house. I personally use it so I can hear my Fire TV Stick (via Bluetooth) and my PC (via USB-C) at the same time through my SteelSeries headphones.

To connect Bluetooth headphones to your Fire TV Stick, go to Settings > Remotes & Bluetooth Devices > Other Bluetooth Devices. Select Add Bluetooth Devices, then press the pairing button on your headphones to connect them. Once paired, you can enjoy shows, movies, and games without using your TV's speakers.

What I love most about this feature is how convenient it is: after the initial setup, your headphones automatically reconnect whenever Bluetooth is on. I use my SteelSeries headphones every day, and as soon as I enable Bluetooth, they connect instantly to my Fire Stick, so I don't have to mess around in the settings menu each time I want to use them.