Amazon's Fire TV OS Update Turns Older Devices into Sluggish Zombies

Many older-generation Fire TV Stick users have experienced sluggish performance after Amazon's major redesign of its Fire TV OS earlier this year. Writer Jade Bryan, a feature author at Android Police, recently discovered that rouge background apps are hogging memory on these devices.

Bryan notes that while newer Fire TV devices come with faster processors and larger RAM configurations, older models have muted chipsets and modest memory. The recent update to the Fire TV OS interface added dynamic visual elements that contribute to heavier background processing.

As a result, apps like heavy streaming platforms continue to run in the background even after the user switches off their device. This creates a massive bottleneck that slows down everything, leading to sluggish UI and slower app launch speeds. Fortunately, there's a reliable fix to stop background apps from dragging Fire TV performance.

Bryan suggests manually killing background apps using the Manage Installed Applications menu or installing a utility app called Background Apps and Process List. This tool allows users to close all open background apps with just a few taps, freeing up more memory every time they turn on their device.