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Firestick Frozen? (Unfreeze It With These Tips!)

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Founder & Editor-in-Chief

Herby has a healthy obsession with all things technology, especially smartphones. He loves to rip things apart to see how they work. He is responsible for the editorial direction, strategy, and growth of Gotechtor.

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It can be annoying to have a frozen Firestick, especially when you’re streaming your favorite show.

Fortunately, there are ways to solve this problem, and they’re easy to address, provided you know what to look for.

We’ll go through all the possible reasons why your Firestick is frozen and how to unfreeze it. 

Why Does My Firestick Keep Freezing?

A slow internet connection is the most common reason for a frozen Firestick. Your internet is likely too slow if your videos constantly buffer. You need a minimum of 3 Mbps for SD (standard definition) streaming and a minimum of 5 Mbps for HD video streaming.

Below, we detail the most common causes of your Firestick freezing.

Slow Internet Connection

The most common cause of frozen Firestick is a slow connection. To stream SD video, you’ll only need about 5 Mbps per second, 10 Mbps for HD video, and 25 Mbps for 4K video.

A quick solution to this issue is to improve your internet speed or reduce the resolution of your video stream.

ISP Throttling

ISP throttling is another reason for this problem.

While many ISP providers boast about superb performance, they track how much internet is being used.

Those who use a lot (heavy streamers) get penalized by their signal being throttled (which is why many use VPN services). 

Low Firestick Storage

The Firestick typically has only 8GB of storage, with the Fire TV Cube being the only 16 GB exception.

The problem is that the more apps you download, the less room there is for the overhead the Firestick needs to operate.

Even if you uninstall a bunch of apps, many files are cached and still occupy space on the Firestick. 

Hardware Incompatibility

Some people also try to use third-party equipment, which isn’t a good idea.

For instance, if you have a low-quality HDMI and use that to connect devices to TVs, the data may not be transmitted efficiently enough to keep the streams going steadily.

That is why you should use the equipment that comes with the Firestick. 

How to Unfreeze Firestick

If your Firestick is frozen, you need to restart it. Hold down both the Select and Play/Pause buttons on your Firestick remote for five seconds. After that, your Fire TV Stick will restart. This should fix your Firestick frozen issue.

Whatever the reason, the problem is downright annoying. But, as noted, the solutions are pretty simple if you take the time to try them.

1. Reconnect Your Firestick

Disconnecting the Firestick from the power source is quite an effective way to fix many of its glitches.

This is not only the quickest but also the easiest method for fixing freezing problems.

This is especially true when the freezing doesn’t allow any function to be performed and the remote is rendered useless.

Unplug the Firestick from its power source for 30 to 40 seconds, and plug it in again, allowing it to load back up, then try streaming again.

2. Restart Firestick Using the Remote

If the remote is operational, use it to restart the Firestick device. Otherwise, follow these steps to fix a non-working firestick remote.

Simply holding down the round Select button and the Play/Pause button together for 5 to 20 seconds will generate a prompt informing you that the device is powering off.

The Firestick will then restart and perform visibly better than before. This of this as a reset button push on your computer.

3. Restart Firestick From the Settings Menu

If your Firestick continues to freeze, try another method of restarting, but this time from the Firestick menu.

This is, of course, conditional on whether your device is operational. You can do this by going into Settings from the top menu bar on the home screen and clicking My Fire TV.

The following menu will offer the options to Sleep, Restart, and Reset To Factory Defaults. Simply choose Restart there, and from the subsequent screen where it verifies that this is your intended action.

The device will power off and come back online when you see the Fire TV logo on your screen. 

4. Uninstall Third-Party Apps and Clear Cache

The key to a smooth experience with the Firestick is not to overload it with apps. Keep only those that you need.

Many apps have bugs that are pushed out without proper testing, and those can result in the Firestick malfunctioning or freezing.

When the space gets low, the overhead the Firestick needs to perform optimally becomes limited. This is especially true for third-party apps.

Ironically enough, this is done for efficiency, but the cached data takes up valuable room on a limited storage device, so the next step is to clear it. 

  • Navigate to the Settings section and choose Application.
  • Select Manage Installed Applications.
  • Go down the list of apps, choose the most frequently used ones, and select the ones you want to clear the cache for.
  • When you select the application, the menu will ask if you want to force it to stop, uninstall it, clear data, or clear the cache. Choose the Clear Cache option.

If you want to uninstall it, you could do that here too. You will need to select Uninstall again upon receiving a confirmation prompt.

5. Repair the Remote to the Firestick

Sometimes the problem with freezing is that the remote is not paired correctly. This may cause it to act inconsistently or not work to help fix the freeze.

The process is simple but does require a few actions. First, unplug the Firestick from the power source, then hold down the Menu, Back, and Left buttons on the remote together.

After doing so, remove the remote’s batteries and plug the Firestick power source back in before reinserting them.

Now reinsert the batteries and wait a few minutes, keeping the remote close to your Firestick. This should pair it. If it doesn’t work, hold your Home button down for about 10 seconds to reconnect it.

6. Factory Reset the Firestick

We hope one of the other methods worked, and you never made it down here, but if you did, your only recourse might be to reset the Firestick to factory settings.

This will return it to its former state with only the preinstalled applications and the settings as originally delivered. You can put everything back, but it might take some time. 

To reset the Firestick, you need to press the Back and Right buttons simultaneously for about 10 seconds until the prompt to Reset to Factory Defaults appears on your screen.

Select Ok to confirm the reset, and the device will reset. Once it restarts, choose “I Already have an Amazon account” and sign in.

Final Thoughts on a Frozen Firestick

Hopefully, this guide has helped you understand how to unfreeze a Firestick. To recap, here are all the troubleshooting tips that can fix your Firestick streaming issues.

  • Reconnect your Firestick
  • Restart your Firestick using the remote
  • Restart your Firestick from the settings menu
  • Uninstall unwanted apps and clear the cache
  • Repair the remote to your Firestick
  • Factory reset your Firestick

We’d love to hear from you and know what worked best. If you fixed the problem with any other solution, please share it in the comments section.

FAQs – Unfreeze Firestick

Why is my Firestick frozen?

There are several reasons why your Firestick can freeze, including the device’s cache, the cache of certain apps, apps running in the background, slow internet speed, low storage, and ISP throttling.

How to fix a frozen FireStick?

To fix a frozen Firestick, hold down the center button and the play button simultaneously for 10-15 seconds. This will turn off your Firestick and turn it back on, which should fix your Firestick freezing issues.

How to reset a frozen FireStick?

To reset a frozen Firestick, press and hold the “Select” and “Play” buttons on the remote simultaneously until the Fire TV resets. 

Founder & Editor-in-Chief

Herby has a healthy obsession with all things technology, especially smartphones. He loves to rip things apart to see how they work. He is responsible for the editorial direction, strategy, and growth of Gotechtor.

Herby Jasmin

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