21 Amazon Fire TV Tips for Streaming Fans

Whenever you buy an Amazon-made device like a Kindle, Echo, or Fire TV, Amazon assigns it a name. This also happens for Kindle and Audible accounts across devices. That's a lot of confusion if you have a lot of the same devices and accounts, particularly if you buy apps or content and want to make sure they get delivered to the right device.

It's easy to change the names of all your Amazon devices. In the browser, go to the Manage Your Content and Devices page and select the Devices tab. Click your device and select the Edit link. In the pop-up window, change the name to whatever works best for you.

Amazon stores recordings of everything you request as a voice search to your Fire TV in order to improve accuracy. You can delete the recordings, though, even though it "may degrade your experience using the voice features," according to Amazon's warning.

On the Manage Your Content and Devices page, select your device and click Delete Voice Recordings > Delete. You can also delete these voice searches one at a time using the Amazon Alexa mobile app—go into Settings > Account Settings > History, click on an entry for something you said, and then click Delete recording.

Amazon knows a lot about your shopping habits, and if you have a Fire TV, it also knows what you've been watching and listening to. To clear out that data every once in awhile, open the Fire TV interface and navigate to Settings > Applications > Managed Installed Applications. Select an app like Amazon Music or Prime Video and select Clear data or Clear cache to begin anew.

You can't stop the Fire TV from advertising but you can stop it from tracking you for advertisement purposes. Turn off targeting by going to Settings > Preferences > Privacy Settings > Internet-Based Ads and turn it off. Here, you can also turn off the ability for the Amazon Appstore to collect information on the frequency and duration of use of downloaded apps.

And why are your voice searches available via the Alexa app? Because Fire TV works with Amazon's digital voice assistant. You can talk to it in the app, via the remote, and the Fire TV Cube with built-in Alexa access. You can also control Fire TV with a nearby Alexa-compatible speaker. Just say something like "Alexa, play The Boys" or "Alexa, open Netflix." Here's how to set it up.

The original Fire TV Stick did not have a voice search option. Correct that or just make your other Fire TV devices easier to operate by downloading the Fire TV remote app (Android or iOS).

The phone will need to be on the same Wi-Fi network as the Amazon Fire TV to work; if you have a dual-band network, make sure your phone and Fire are both on the same frequency, either 2.4 or 5GHz. When you first fire up the app, the name of your Fire TV should appear on the smartphone screen. Tap it, then punch in the four-digit code that comes up on the TV screen and it'll give you complete control.

The app provides just as much control as the included remote plus the full on-screen smartphone keyboard for entering info like user names and passwords. There's also a microphone for Fire TV voice capabilities. In short, the app will make you wonder why Amazon bothered making a hardware remote.

If you're searching for something to watch and pause on some of the marquee images long enough, they will start auto playing with sound. That's annoying. On the Fire TV interface, go to Settings > Preferences > Featured Content > Allow Video Autoplay and turn it off. While you're at it, turn off Allow Audio Autoplay, too.

Amazon owns IMDb and with that come some perks for you. When you're watching something on Prime Video, you can quickly get info you might otherwise Google by using the X-Ray feature. On the remote, press the up or down keys and you'll be able to scroll through info about the cast, find out what music is playing in what scene, and get trivia, all while you continue watching.

You're used to visiting Amazon-owned IMDb to see what you're watching, but what about using it to actually watch something? IMDb TV has lots of movies and TV shows, as well as some original programs. Just add the channel to any Fire TV to screen old and new favorites. You can also add movies and shows via your browser. It's free, but there are ads, like most free video-streaming services.

If you don't want to disturb the household with your late-night Netflix binge, throw on a pair of Bluetooth headphones and sync them to the Fire TV. Do it in Settings > Controllers & Bluetooth Devices > Other Bluetooth Devices. Audio will then go to the headphones until you turn them off.

Instead of going to the gym, you can get a workout at home with your Fire TV. You don't have to have Peloton equipment to download and use the Peloton app. Sign up for a subscription and you can use it with any exercise equipment you own or just to do some cardio or yoga. There are lots of other fitness apps available on Fire TV, or you can use the YouTube app to find some.

Streaming services like Netflix and Prime Video are nice, but what if you want to watch content you already own? Your easiest option is Plex. Install the media server component of Plex on a PC running Windows, macOS, or Linux (or on your network attached storage); link in your video, photo, and audio files; and load up the app on the Fire TV. You'll be enjoying your viewing choice on the TV screen in no time. It's free for a few viewings, but eventually you'll have to do an in-app purchase for full streaming.

There's also Kodi, which is free, open-source software for managing your local collection of movies, TV shows, music, and photos. For more, check out our guide for installing and setting it up.

It's a fact: kids like to watch streaming TV, too. That means you probably need to turn on parental controls so they don't watch some of the R- or TV-MA-rated items available from Amazon. (This tip goes for Amazon content specifically—third-party services like Netflix and Hulu typically have their own parental controls to set up via the PC.)

Go into Settings > Preferences > Parental Controls, and click it on/off. You'll have to enter a PIN code (twice on first setup) you can use to get access to more grown-up content (and make purchases) later. The controls can also totally block use of games and apps and viewing of photos by unauthorized users. It's not super-strong, but it's better than nothing. (If you prefer, go into your Amazon Video settings on a PC, turn on the parental controls there, and then the restrictions apply across all apps and devices that access the service.)

If you want your favorite shows to travel with you, include a Fire TV Stick in your luggage (assuming the hotels don't disable the HDMI ports on the TVs in the rooms—that's a jerk move, hoteliers.)

The problem is, hotel Wi-Fi and several other types of hotspots typically require a web browser to log in. The Stick supports this. You go to Settings > Network and find the network you want and click it. If a web page login is required, a browser window should pop up. To navigate between fields, hit the menu button. Best to use the smartphone-based remote if you're going to need to fill in a lot in the fields. Once the Fire TV Stick is connected, the browser window should close.

If your existing remote doesn't want to pair with your Fire TV device—I had this problem during a battery change—it's easy to fix. Hold down the home button (the one with a house icon, naturally) for five to 10 seconds. That will usually do the trick. This is also how you pair up brand-new remotes or game controllers. They have to be Fire TV-compatible, of course.

Having some performance or lockup issues with an Amazon Fire TV device? Too stuck to the couch to get up and unplug it and plug it back in? (I'm exhausted just typing it.) Well, you don't have to, it's possible to restart Fire TV devices remotely. Press and hold the Play button and Select button simultaneously for about five seconds. Soon, you'll get that splash of color and a logo on screen showing you the Fire TV has rebooted.

Turn off that click sound that happens every time you navigate your Fire TV. Go to Settings > Display & Sounds > Audio > Navigation Sounds and turn it off.

You'd think that having such a small, self-contained device to stick into an HDMI port would make it easier, but that proximity to the center of the TV (in some cases) can make it hard for the Wi-Fi signals to find the device properly—and Wi-Fi is how it talks to the remotes and the internet. That's why Amazon throws in a little 3-inch HTML extender dongle with the Fire TV Sticks. Use it. It makes it easier to plug and unplug the Fire TV Stick, easier to connect to the network, and in my experience, even keeps the device cooler.

Living right next to the Home tab on Fire TV is the Live one. It puts all your live TV viewing options in one place. If you subscribe to Prime Video channels like HBO, Showtime, MLB.TV, NBA League Pass, and others, you'll be able to access them all here. And even if you don't pay for live TV, there's free content on Pluto TV and Red Bull TV. Fire TV Edition smart TV owners and Fire TV Recast customers also can get all their antenna channels in this spot.

If you're not a cord cutter and use your Fire TV to access networks apps, then you don't have to remember your password every time you want to switch to a new channel. Sign in to one network app once and the rest of the ones linked to your cable package will all follow suit.

Flipping through HDMI options to get to your Fire TV can be annoying. But you can make it so that every time you hit the Home button on the Fire remote, you get right to your Fire TV. Hit Menu on your TV remote and look for CEC or for one of these proprietary names from manufacturers and select it. Now on your Fire TV, go to Settings > Display & Sounds > HDMI CEC Device Control and makes ure it's set to on. Once that's done, pressing the Home button on your Fire remote should bring you right to Fire TV.