While browsing recent Fire TV related articles and videos, I came across this YouTube video published yesterday by someone who is understandably confused by the purpose of a relatively new Fire TV option that allows users to turn WiFi off. Anyone who has ever used a Fire TV knows that it is practically useless without a network connection, so either a WiFi or Ethernet connection is always necessary. When connected to Ethernet, the device, essentially, ignores WiFi networks, so why would someone ever need to manually disable WiFi?

Buried at the bottom of the Network menu in the Fire TV’s settings is a simple toggle to turn WiFi on or off. If your Fire TV is connected via Ethernet, there’s no reason to manually turn WiFi off, since it will always prioritize the wired connection over any available WiFi networks. The option seems pointless and you’re right to think that because it’s not really meant to be used. As I understand it, it’s just there for regulatory compliance.

Many countries, especially in the European Union, have strict power consumption regulations for electronic devices, such as needing to use no more than some set amount of power while in standby mode. While Fire TV devices do have a sleep mode, anyone that has ever connected a power meter to one will know that being awake or asleep doesn’t really change how much power the device is using.

While there are some differences in what software can and can’t run while a Fire TV is asleep or awake, Fire TV devices don’t really have a low-power standby mode. When a Fire TV is asleep, it is essentially just disabling the video output or putting out a black video feed, but the device itself is still as powered on as if it were awake. This is so it can perform necessary background tasks while you’re not using it, like software updates.

Since a Fire TV in sleep mode isn’t consuming much less power than if it were awake, this causes an issue when it comes to meeting energy-saving regulations. From what I’ve been told, the only way for a Fire TV’s energy consumption to be low enough to meet certain power consumption regulations for electronic devices in standby is if the Fire TV’s WiFi was turned off entirely. Since a Fire TV normally never turns its WiFi off entirely, the option to manually turn WiFi off is necessary to reach a power consumption state that is low enough to meet certain regulations.

I’ll be first to admit that I may not have all of these details correct, since government regulations are complicated and Amazon rarely explains its software updates, but I’m fairly certain that the general reasoning behind the Fire TV option to turn WiFi off is to meet power saving regulations in place by certain countries. There’s very little reason for someone to go through the extra inconvenience of manually turning WiFi on and off on a Fire TV, but having the option available makes it technically possible for the device to reach a low enough energy consumption state that is necessary for the Fire TV to be sold globally.