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Amazon Fire Stick Gets Hot? What to Do

Amazon Fire TV Sticks are one of the top streaming devices you can get. They are small and portable and open up your viewing considerably. However, they are not perfect, and you can find your device begins to lag or apps take longer to open.

If your FireStick feels sluggish and your videos are continually buffering, it could be down to lack of space, and you need to free this up, so it feels like new. However, other issues can be more worrying for users. Amazon Fire TV Stick overheating can lead you to worry and look for a fix.

In this guide, you can learn all you need to know about Firestick overheating and what you can do to cool it down when your FireStick gets too hot.

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By the end, you should have a much better understanding of how to resolve the issue when your FireStick gets hot and why it could get hot without you streaming. (Learn How to Remove Kodi from Firestick)


What Causes an Amazon Fire Stick to Get Hot?

You can find many reasons for a Fire Stick overheating. Luckily, there are solutions for every reason your Fire TV stick device gets hot. All solutions here or later work for FireStick, FireStick 4K, Fire TV Cube, or any other Amazon Fire TV devices.

Firestick overheating

Not all FireStick devices will overheat as everyone’s circumstances are different. However, if yours does, you’ll discover it happens to many thousands of users.

A Fire Stick Overheating can put it at risk of permanent damage if you don’t act. Besides this, you’ll find your device performance isn’t as it should be. From navigation to excess buffering, lags and connection issues can all come from your Firestick overheating.

Here you can find all the solutions to your FireStick Overheating problems

Use an HDMI Extender

Your FireStick should have an HDMI extender in the box. They include this for a reason, so add the HDMI extender to plug your firestick into your TV.

If you don’t use the extender, your Firestick will be too close to your TV, and as such, there is no airflow. A TV generates heat which warms the area around your FireStick and stops it from cooling down.

The HDMI extender creates distance from your FireStick and TV for more airflow and helps it avoid being overheated.

Push FireStick in TV Side Panel

Most newer TVs have multiple HDMI inputs and can be on the reverse of on the side of your TV.

You can plug the FireStick in the rear, yet as we have just seen, you’ll lose the airflow. Side panels are exposed and offer more airflow.

Clear Cache for Hungry apps

When running apps on FireStick, they use the internal device storage or the cache to keep temporary files for when it is in use.

The larger the app, and the larger the cache size. Kodi creates more significant caches than other apps for when they store video to stop buffering. (You spot this if you lose a connection, and the video continues to play a while)

To clear cache, carry out this:

  1. Select Settings from the FireStick home screen
  2. Click Applications
  3. Click Manage Installed Applications
  4. Click the desired app (example being Kodi)
  5. Click Clear Cache

Note: Don’t click Clear Data unless you wish to reset your app to its default settings

Force Close Background Apps

An app can run in the background after you think you have closed it. A good example is when the app freezes or gets stuck. It is common to press the remotes Home key. You can find the app still runs in the background. (Learn How to Install NordVPN on Firestick)

Background apps consume resources and lead to overheating as the device is working harder than usual.

  1. Open Settings from your FireStick home screen
  2. Click Applications
  3. Click Manage installed applications
  4. Click the app to terminate
  5. Click Force Stop

Unplug FireStick

Clearing cache and force closing apps help prevent FireStick overheating issues. However, it must be done one app at a time, and this can take a while. Power down your Firestick, and you will stop these apps from running and clear the cache.

Unplug the device from the power source and leave it unplugged for several minutes until the FireStick cools down. (Learn How to Clear Cache on Kodi Amazon Fire Stick)

Once cool, insert your device.

Uninstall Unwanted apps

FireStick devices have limited storage and the FireStick and FireStick 4K has 8GB of internal storage space, which fills fast.

A device running out of space must work harder and result in overheating.

Method 1 to Uninstall FireStick Apps:

  1. Select Settings on the FireStick home-screen
  2. Open Applications
  3. Click Manage installed applications
  4. Click the app you wish to uninstall
  5. Click Uninstall
  6. Click Uninstall when prompted

Method 2 to Uninstall FireStick Apps:

  1. On the FireStick home window, select Your Apps & Channels (2nd row)
  2. On the far left, click “See All.”
  3. Navigate using your remote and select the app to uninstall
  4. Press the menu key on the remote (3 lines) to bring up the popup menu in the bottom right corner
  5. Click Uninstall
  6. Click OK when prompted

Delete APK files After Third-Party App Installation

If you sideload third-party apps like Cinema HD, Mobdro, etc., you download APK files onto your FireStick device storage. Once you install the app, APK files are not required. You need to delete manually to clear space.

If you use downloader to sideload apps, you have the option to delete APK files after installation:

  1. Once you install the app, click Done and not click Open)
  2. Click Delete
  3. Click Delete again to delete the APK file of the app you installed

If you use other tools on FireStick like ES File Explorer, you can use ES File Explorer to delete the APK files.

Here is how:

  1. Install ES File Explorer from Amazon Store
  2. Open ES File Explorer.
  3. Click Local – Home in the left menu or Internal Storage around the top
  4. On the right, click the APK folder, such as the Download folder
  5. Highlight the APK to delete
  6. On your FireStick remote, give a long press the Select button until the desired APK file is selected.
  7. You will see a small, circular checkmark on the file once it is selected
  8. Click Delete on the bottom menu bar
  9. Uncheck Move to recycle bin and click OK

Reset FireStick

If nothing else works, you can reset your FireStick to the device factory defaults. It removes all apps you have installed and reset any custom settings.

You need to configure your FireStick as if it was new in the hop to stop FireStick overheating.

Here is how you can reset FireStick:

  1. Open Settings from the home window
  2. Go to My Fire TV
  3. Scroll down, click Reset to Factory Defaults
  4. Click Reset again when prompted

Amazon Fire TV stick has been designed to be heat tolerant, yet when your FireStick overheats, the performance will be a nosedive. Follow these best practices to keep your FireStick from overheating. It is easy to use any Amazon Fire Stick overheating fix,

Is it OK to Leave Your FireStick Plugged In?

Yes, you can leave your device plugged in. The Firestick gets hot as data passes through it and the circuits are in action. If you have concerns, you can plug the device in your TV’s USB port that provides power if you have one.

The advantage here is that as you turn off your TV, the FireStick also powers down and only comes back on when you turn on your TV.

Should My Now TV Stick Get Hot?

You may think it’s a design fault of your Amazon FireStick device, yet you can see the same happen with a NowTV stick; these also get hot in the same manner. If they get too hot, they can display an overheating warning message on your TV.

How Long Will a FireStick Last?

You can find several factors affecting the Amazon Fire Stick life span. If you use the device for extended periods to watch videos or other streaming services, you could spot a few issues interfering with your experience.

You may think it’s your connection playing up, yet a Fire Stick has two sides like other electronic devices. The internal programs and the hardware and casing.

You can notice any of these issues:

  • Device lagging
  • Frequent restarts
  • Heating up
  • Applications Crashing
  • Freezing or blank screens

The things that can affect the life of your device are:

Installed Apps:

Amazon offers apps, and you can add more such as Kodi. Once your device fills up, it needs the space and can get slower when it doesn’t have enough.

Data Monitoring:

Many users may not be aware of the implications of this feature. To deliver recommended shows, Amazon FireStick’s contain data monitoring.

You may stop it on your computer, yet it is also on your TV: a Firestick watches and reports on everything you do with the device. Even when you may not be using it to stream if it’s connected, it will be reporting home. (Read What to Do When Amazon Prime Not Working With VPN)

Electricity:

Devices such as this are small and don’t often come with cooling methods. As they run electricity through them, they heat up, and the more apps that run, the hotter they get. Hence why they can get warm from the data monitoring that happens as the app runs in the background.

Even with the device heating with average use, the Amazon Fire Stick’s battery life should be 9-10 months, yet you may find it drops to 5-6 months.

For the device itself, if you use it as expected and do the things here to help keep temperatures under control, your device should last from 3 to 5 years.

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