Restart or reset?
| Restart | Factory reset | |
|---|---|---|
| What it does | Turns the stick off and on | Returns it to factory settings |
| Deletes | Nothing | Your Amazon account on the device, apps, downloads, in-app purchases and settings |
| Takes | About a minute | Several minutes, plus setting it up again |
| Use it for | Freezes, slow menus, a misbehaving app, Wi-Fi hiccups | Problems that survive restarts, cache clearing and updates; before selling or giving the stick away |
Three ways to restart
- Remote: hold Select and Play/Pause together for about five seconds.
- Menu: SettingsMy Fire TVRestart.
- Power: unplug the stick’s power for 60 seconds, then plug it back in. Use this when the remote and screen don’t respond.
Before a factory reset
- Try the smaller fixes. For crashing apps, Amazon’s order is: restart, clear the app’s cache and data, uninstall and reinstall it, then check for a system update. See clear cache and delete apps.
- Write down your logins. IPTV players store your server address, username and password or M3U link; you’ll need them again.
- Eject any storage you’ve attached, as Amazon advises.
Two ways to factory reset
From the menu:
- Open SettingsMy Fire TV.
- Select Reset to Factory Defaults.
- Confirm on screen. If you don’t choose, the reset starts automatically after a few more seconds.
With the remote (useful when menus won’t open):
- Hold Back and the right side of the navigation circle together for 10 seconds.
- Choose to continue or cancel on screen; it continues automatically if you do nothing.
When it finishes, the stick asks you to pair the remote, then runs the normal setup. Follow set up a Firestick, then reinstall your apps: for IPTV, see install an IPTV player on Firestick.