6 Quick & Easy Ways To Reset / Restart / Unfreeze Firestick [ Updated May 2024]

Is your Firestick frozen?  

Unfreeze Firestick now with this guide! 

After you unfreeze your Firestick, go ahead and Jailbreak Firestick for all the best apps.

Amazon Firestick is a popular device to watch movies, TV shows, Sports, and other kinds of entertainment on your smart TV. Diane H. Wong from DoMyWriting emphasizes that its excellent price, long-lasting build materials, and higher usability make it a perfect device to use.

Why Restart a FireStick? 

Sometimes, you may run into a few issues that you’re unclear on how to solve. No one wants to spend a huge amount of time fixing something that should be working in the first place! So, the first thing you should always try is restarting your FireStick. This could be the solution to so many potential FireStick issues! 

In this section, we’re going to detail to you why rebooting can be the ultimate solution if your FireStick is frozen, or worse. 

Common Reasons for Freezing Issue in Firestick

Whenever your Firestick stops working or freezes, one of the following reasons is the cause.

1. Slow internet connection

Check your internet connection when your Firestick is frozen in the middle of a video stream. In most such cases, the primary cause is a slow internet connection. You can quickly resolve this issue by improving your internet speed or reducing your video stream’s resolution. Ultra HD Videos require a super-fast internet connection. If your internet slows down, your Firestick will freeze, get stuck, or just keep buffering.  

2. Low Firestick Storage

One of the most frustrating aspects of Firestick is low storage. All the basic Firestick versions come with an 8 GB storage. Even the Firestick 4K and 4K Max versions feature a paltry 8GB internal storage. Only the Fire TV Cube comes with an 18 GB storage. Because of limited storage, you cannot download all of your movies, shows, and apps on the device. So, when you remove apps and data from the device, it leaves a cache in the memory. Over time, the cache data builds up slowly and leaves your Firestick sluggish, slow, and sometimes frozen. 

3. ISP Throttling

ISP throttling is very much real. Your Internet Service provider (ISP) can throttle your internet connection speed in rare cases. It’s not because they noticed any illegal activity or too much streaming by you or people around you, but because some other company paid them for ISP throttling. It’s also known as “Paid Prioritization” or Internal Fast Prioritization. It allows companies to pay any ISP so that they can prioritize some data over other data in the same network. 

4. Hardware Incompatibility

Are you using the original Firestick accessories that come with the package? If not, that can be a reason why your device keeps freezing. Moreover, using a low-quality HDMI cable, incompatible or other cheap hardware can also hinder data transmission. This leads to streaming bottlenecks and, sometimes, frozen devices. Therefore, you should always try to use the original hardware accessories that come with the package. These accessories promise the fastest internet connection possible.

First, we’ll give you an overview of which problems can usually be resolved by restarting your device. Normally, a FireStick will work great but there are many small bugs that may look intimidating when they happen to you. Luckily, many can be solved with a simple reboot.

One of the most common issues FireStick users face is that their FireStick is frozen. This can be a huge hindrance to your entertainment setup! This freeze has been known to happen, albeit infrequently, in the middle of super important moments in a show, movie, or sports game. You might be asking yourself, “How do I unfreeze my Amazon Fire Stick?”

This problem can be solved with a reboot in most cases. If this happens during a crucial moment in your program, you’ll want to restart IPTV as soon as possible so you don’t miss too much!

Another pain point with some FireStick users is that their IPTV is slow. Performance issues like this are also infrequent, but super annoying when they do happen. After all, there’s no reason your frame rate should be mediocre if you’ve spent money on your entertainment system. 

So, if your live TV streaming is performing poorly, you can likely solve it if you restart the IPTV apps on your FireStick.

The last common issue we’ll address in this section can happen when you install a new app on your FireStick. Sometimes, you’ll try to open the app and it just won’t work. But, don’t worry! 

Your app is probably not broken, it just requires a restart upon installation for its file integration to take effect. It’s an inconvenience, sure, but you can use a shortcut to restart FireStick and the app should work after that. But if you still could not solve the problem with Firestick, you can rent a minivan and use the services of a professional.

How Does a Restart Help?

Restarting may seem like it wouldn’t do much, but it’s crazy how many problems can be solved by just turning devices off and on again. So, why is this? 

Completely shutting down your FireStick is basically a way to clear its long-term software data from the previous session. When you use apps on your device, they could still be using memory long after you stop using them. This is because they tend to stay open in the background, consuming more and more of your RAM. 

Restarting your devices clears this RAM, which in turn allows your apps to run faster—essentially letting you start with a clean slate in terms of memory. This means much more room for apps to use their maximum potential to stream with high speed—or unfreeze!

6 Ways to Unfreeze Firestick

Firestick, after all, is a piece of technology, and technology is never flawless. That is why sometimes either due to the app running burden or various other facts, your Firestick freezes and stops working. Now, there are plenty of options to fix this issue. Let’s take a look at some of them.

PRO TIP: Before we begin, I strongly recommend that you install a VPN on your Firestick to secure your personal data and fix Firestick issues.

1. Unplug Firestick For a While

   Just unplug the power of your Firestick and plug it back in. This forces a Firestick reset

   Sometimes watching TV for longer periods of time and the background apps cause your Firestick to freeze and stop working. One thing you can do to restart your Firestick is by unplugging Firestick for a while.

   Tip:  This is known as a “power-cycle” – when you unplug the device to force the power off and on again.

   Unplug your TV and Firestick device and wait for 30 seconds.

   Plug it again to start using. Enjoy!

   But if you hate walking up to the Firestick to restart it, we have another method for you.

2. Restart With Remote

   

   Use your Remote to reset Firestick (the attachment shown here is the Sideclick accessory on Amazon)

   Firestick remote is an all-in-one accessory. If your Firestick is stuck or frozen, just follow these steps.

   Grab your Firestick remote, hold down the Select button and the play/pause button at the same time.

   Hold for 5 to 10 seconds until you see your device powering off and restarting.

   That was simple, wasn’t it? But what if you don’t have a Firestick remote? Well, then skip to #6 below

   If you do have a Firestick remote and this method didn’t work for you, then try Method #3 below.

3. Restart From the Settings

   Go to Settings on your Firestick to restart your Firestick

   You can also restart your Frozen Firestick device from the Firestick Settings menu. This feature is mostly useful for the people who use their mobile phone in place of their remote to control Firestick. Here are the steps:

   From your Firestick home screen, go to settings > device > restart.

   Firestick will automatically restart within a couple of seconds.

   So, these were some easy ways that you can follow to restart your Firestick device whenever it’s frozen or stuck. But remember, always put so much load on your Firestick that it can bear.

   Important: Firestick Security Note

   Let’s say you’ve figured out how to unfreeze Firestick, and now you’re interested in getting free streaming content from a great 3rd party app. Or even if you’re interested in getting free, region-blocked content on Netflix, Hulu, and YouTube that is currently being kept from you!

   Paid subscription streaming sites will block certain content depending on where you are. Downloading a VPN like IPVanish will allow you to trick streaming services into thinking that you’re streaming from different regions, thus unlocking region-blocked content! If you’re paying for a service, we think you should get everything that the service offers.

   In fact, there are tons of great benefits of using a VPN that most people don’t know about. If this sounds like it would improve your streaming life (and it’s definitely improved ours), use our link to get our reader discount on the best, most reliable VPN available.

   If you need a little help installing a VPN in your Firestick, we’ve got just the thing. Our guide will walk you through how to install a VPN on any device.

4. Hold Down the Home Button on the Firestick Remote

   Why hold the Home button down to unfreeze Firestick?

   This could unfreeze your Firestick for at least a few different reasons:

   Reason 1: Firestick Remote Became Unpaired

   Sometimes the Firestick remote becomes un-paired from the Firestick itself. In this case, you can re-pair Firestick remote by holding down the HOME button on the Firestick remote for 10 seconds.

   Reason 2: Your Firestick is Asleep

   Firestick goes to sleep after a while if there’s nothing happening. So your Firestick could just be asleep.

   To wake up and unfreeze Firestick, two conditions must be met:

   Your Firestick remote must have battery power remaining

   AND your Firestick remote must be paired with your Firestick.

   AND your Firestick must be asleep (not just Powered Off or unplugged)

   Reason 3: An App Installed and/or Running on Your Firestick Caused a Glitch

   Some apps (especially third-party APKs) are buggy and cause glitches. Also, the Firestick / Android operating system itself isn’t perfect.

   Therefore, every now and then your Firestick will “run into a wall” and go black.

   Sometimes when this happens, the Firestick will only respond to a certain button press, such as the Home button. To unfreeze Firestick, try holding down the Home button.

5. You Need to Remove a Specific App To Unfreeze Firestick

   Many Firestick apps run constantly in the background, which consumes precious resources and causes Firestick to lag or freeze.

   And some Firestick apps have outright memory leaks, which take RAM from your Firestick bite-by-bite until your Firestick is crawling like a turtle.

   To see the apps that are running on Firestick, install a free app called Background Apps and Process List.

   Then use that app to see what apps are running on your Firestick and Close Them All! If you need to unfreeze Firestick, this might be just the thing.

   But to REALLY fix the problem, you should uninstall (“remove”) as many apps from Firestick as possible.

6. Control Firestick with Phone

   You can control Firestick from your smartphone by installing one of a few different apps. This works for both Android and iOS.

   This is important to unfreeze Firestick in case your Firestick is asleep AND you lost Firestick remote.

   If you lost your Firestick remote and need to unfreeze Firestick, then watch this Youtube tutorial video:

The two big Firestick remote apps are:

• The official Amazon Fire TV app.
• and Cetus Play (third-party app – not official or made by Amazon)

Basically, here’s how you pair (or “connect”) a Firestick remote app to your Firestick:

First, install the Amazon Fire TV or CetusPlay app on your smartphone. Then…

• Launch the app
• Then connect the app to your Firestick
• To see exactly how to do it, check out my Firestick remote app guide.

After that, you can control your Amazon Fire TV with your smartphone in various ways.

My favorite thing about this particular method to unfreeze Firestick is that the CetusPlay app works as a Bluetooth mouse (but is operated by using your phone’s touchscreen as a touchpad mouse!).

If you’ve stuck with us so far, then hopefully you’ve managed to unfreeze Firestick.

How to Clear the Cache on Amazon FireStick?

If you have performance issues on FireStick, the problem could likely be that you haven’t cleared your cache in a while. Both apps and your FireStick itself have caches of stored data that can cause performance issues down the road. 

If it gets too full, it’s only natural that it would make your apps run slower. 

So, to combat this we’re going to show you two methods to clear caches on your FireStick.

Clear the Cache of a Specific App

Here are the complete steps:

1. Go to the home screen of your FireStick using the Home button.
2. Now, navigate to the Settings page. There, you’ll see a list of options.
3. Select “Applications.” Then, choose “Manage Installed Applications.”
4. Find the app you want to clear the cache of and select it. Click “Clear Cache.”

Now, try restarting the app. It should work better! If not, you should try clearing the entire cache of your FireStick. 

Clear Your FireStick’s Entire Cache

So, maybe the above method didn’t work as well as you wanted. This could be indicative of a larger cache problem. Or, you just want to hard clear so that you can bypass any issues with multiple apps. 

Here’s how to clear your FireStick’s cache:

1. Click the Home button on your Amazon FireStick remote. 
2. Find the Settings button and select it. From there, go to “My Fire TV.”
3. Now, you’ll see more options. Choose “About” and right after, select “Storage.”
4. You should be able to see how much storage is available. If it’s a low amount relatively, you should clear the cache. 

That should solve most, if not all of your FireStick performance issues. If problems persist with certain apps, our recommendation is to try uninstalling and reinstalling the app—effectively a reboot, but with a little more work involved as you’d be clearing the local data as well. 

To make your FireStick run better, it’d be worth it! 

Wrapping Up

So, we hope that this article taught you how to unfreeze your FireStick and how to use the troubleshooting shortcut to restart FireStick with a clean slate. It can be super annoying when we run into streaming issues, especially when watching live TV! 

Luckily, you should now know the importance of clearing stored data and simply rebooting your FireStick. It’s worked wonders for us and many others in the past, so we hope it does for you too. With these methods, you should have your streaming services back up and running smoothly in no time.

If you have any questions still about how to resolve performance issues when streaming, let us know in the comments. We can either walk you through it to the best of our ability or refer you to another article on the topic.

Also, if you have solved any FireStick problems using the methods we’ve laid out, let our readers know what it was and how you did it! Lastly, if you know of any other methods to resolve common FireStick issues, we’d love to know so that we can update this list and further help troubleshoot. 

Thanks for reading and don’t hesitate to contact us if you need help.

We’ll see you with another FireStick article in a week!