Everyone with Fire TV told change 1 simple setting to stop lag

The colder evenings are the perfect excuse to cancel your plans and get cosy on the sofa, watching a film or addictive series. But there’s nothing more annoying than switching on the TV and being faced with endless loading screens or lagging when you’re trying to watch something. 

Even if you’ve got an older Fire TV stick, it’s probably not the device itself that’s the problem. There’s actually a very easy fix that takes seconds to do, but it can play a big part in a smoother TV experience. It also helps to save data and help your stick work faster, which is always a plus.

The setting is called Featured Content autoplay, and you’ll notice that it runs preview videos on the home screen as you scroll through what’s on offer.

These clips load before you press anything, so they end up competing with your stream and make the device feel sluggish and slow.

How to fix it

On your Fire TV remote, press Home and go to Settings. Then choose Preferences, and open Featured Content.

Set Allow Video Autoplay to off, as well as Allow Audio Autoplay to Off too.

If you then go back to the home screen and start to scroll, you should notice that it’s a lot snappier, and things should load quicker without any lag.

However, if it still continues to move slowly, there are a few extra steps you can take in order to get it working smoothly again.

First, try restarting the stick by holding Select and Play/Pause together for a soft reboot, or pull the plug out for 10 seconds before inserting it back.

It’s also worth updating the software by heading to Settings and checking for any updates that might be available.

And if it’s possible, keep the stick in sight of the router, and don’t hide it behind the TV if the signal is weak.

If the TV is far away from the WiFi router, you can buy a cheap HDMI extender to bring the stick around to the front of the TV screen, for a better line of sight.

Devices like baby monitors and cordless bases can interfere with the airwaves, so try to move these out of the way if possible.