The default colorful Amazon boot animation on the Fire TV and Fire TV Stick is fine, but if your device is rooted, you can install your own custom boot animation to give your device a bit more character. This guide will walk you through the steps of how to replace the default boot animation.

I began researching and writing this guide a couple weeks ago after a reader asked if changing the boot animation was possible during the Q&A section of my AFTVnewscast podcast. A big thanks goes out to Ian.Moz (aka CrashInc on the XDA forum) for figuring out the process himself and posting his own guide on how to install a custom boot animation, which allowed me to fill in the missing pieces for the guide below.

If there is enough interest, I’ll write a guide on how to create your own custom boot animations, but you can find several great guides through a quick web search. The Fire TV uses standard Android boot animations, so most boot animation files you find online should work with the Fire TV. Installing an incompatible boot animation could cause your Fire TV or Fire TV Stick to not boot, so I recommend only following this guide if you have TWRP custom recovery installed.

I created a Kodi boot animation for the Fire TV, which you can download here, by using samfisher’s awesome Kodi logo clip. The video below shows the boot animation in action.

Demo Video

Install Custom Boot Animation

1. Rename the boot animation file that you want to use to bootanimation.zip. The Kodi boot animation I created can be downloaded here.
2. Connect to your device via ADB.
3. Transfer the file to your device’s /sdcard/ directory by running the command:
   adb push [FULL-PATH-TO-bootanimation.zip] /sdcard/
   Note: Be sure to replace [FULL-PATH-TO-bootanimation.zip] in the above command with the location of the bootanimation.zip file on your PC.
4. Enter ADB shell by running the command: adb shell
5. Enter su mode by running the command: su
6. Mount the device’s system partition as read+write, so it can be modified, by running the command:
   mount -o remount,rw /system
7. Backup the default boot animation to your device’s /sdcard/ directory by running the command:
   cp /system/media/bootanimation.zip /sdcard/bootanimation.zip.original
8. Remove the default boot animation by running the command:
   rm -f /system/media/bootanimation.zip
9. Install your new boot animation by running the command:
   cp /sdcard/bootanimation.zip /system/media/bootanimation.zip
10. Set the appropriate file permissions for the new boot animation by running the command:
    chmod 0644 /system/media/bootanimation.zip
11. Restore the device’s system partition to read-only by running the command:
    mount -o remount,ro /system
12. [OPTIONAL] Delete the new boot animation from your /sdcard/ directory by running the command:
    rm -f /sdcard/bootanimation.zip
13. Exit su mode by running the command: exit
14. Exit ADB shell by running the command: exit
15. Disconnect ADB and restart your device to see your new boot animation in action.

Restore Original Boot Animation

1. Connect to your device via ADB.
2. Enter ADB shell by running the command: adb shell
3. Enter su mode by running the command: su
4. Mount the device’s system partition as read+write, so it can be modified, by running the command:
   mount -o remount,rw /system
5. Remove the custom boot animation by running the command:
   rm -f /system/media/bootanimation.zip
6. Restore the default boot animation by running the command:
   cp /sdcard/bootanimation.zip.original /system/media/bootanimation.zip
7. Set the appropriate file permissions for the default boot animation by running the command:
   chmod 0644 /system/media/bootanimation.zip
8. Restore the device’s system partition to read-only by running the command:
   mount -o remount,ro /system
9. [OPTIONAL] Delete the backed up boot animation from your /sdcard/ directory by running the command:
   rm -f /sdcard/bootanimation.zip.original
10. Exit su mode by running the command: exit
11. Exit ADB shell by running the command: exit
12. Disconnect ADB and restart your device to see the default boot animation.

Troubleshooting

If your device no longer boots due to an incompatible boot animation, one option is to simply re-install a pre-rooted ROM.

If you rather try to fix the problem, do the following to restore the default boot animation via terminal in custom recovery:

1. Boot into TWRP custom recovery.
2. Select the “MOUNT” option on the main menu.
3. Check the box next to “system”
4. Press the home button in the bottom center to return to the main menu.
5. Enter the “ADVANCED” menu.
6. Enter the “TERMINAL” menu.
7. On the terminal screen, run the following commands:
   • rm -f /system/media/bootanimation.zip
   • cp /sdcard/bootanimation.zip.original /system/media/bootanimation.zip
   • chmod 0644 /system/media/bootanimation.zip
8. Restart the device