The new Fire TV interface is now available on most Fire TV models. Reception of the new interface by Fire TV owners has certainly been a mixed bag. Some love it, others hate it, some can’t wait to get it, others want a way to block it, and everything in between. As pointed out by this comment from HG which highlights the recent addition of progress bars and timestamps to Fire TV Recast recordings in the new interface, Amazon is clearly not done tweaking the new interface.
If there’s one thing I learned during my time working with the Fire TV team it’s that they absolutely care a lot about customer feedback, with many employees voluntarily choosing to mirror Fire TV feedback emails directly to their personal inboxes so that they can keep tabs on what customers are saying. Judging by numerous times I was stopped in the halls at Amazon by someone to tell me they were avid readers of AFTVnews and specifically the article comments, know that you do have some of Amazon’s attention here.
If there is something about the new interface that you dislike or want to be changed, leave a comment below and, just maybe, someone that can make it happen will see it. Be specific but, more importantly, be realistic. If all you want is a grid of apps as your home screen, I’m sorry but that’s clearly not something Amazon is going to do, so your better off suggesting something else. Something like gaining the option to swap the “Next Up For You” row, which is currently the top row on the Home screen, with the “Recently Used Apps” row, which is currently the 3rd row, would be a more realistic request if a more app-centric interface is what you want.
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First, fix the sound sync drift for real. Second, stop messing with Hulu. I don’t know for sure but Hulu seemingly struggles under the Fire interface.
Audio/video sync is my biggest problem with FireTV. Play Spotify or Pandora for an hour and it’s so hosed you have to reboot the device.
I’m about ready to throw the FireTVs away and switch to Chromecast…
The UI. It takes 3-4 clicks of the remote to get to my apps. Before it was just 2.
I also dislike the choose profile screen showing up every time the Fire TV device turns on or wakes up from suspend. There should be an option to select a default Profile and be done with it like before this update.
Yes, this is a simple one. Why prompt me every. single. time. I turn on the TV to select a profile if I live alone?
My main issue with the Fire stick is the problems with audio passthrough since version 2.6.7.7. Hope somebody on the fire stick 4k team read this and fix this!
Move the Home button to the right of Live and Library. That way it’s just one click right to your prime apps.
Yes, I concur.
+1 on that. Please make the default cursor position to the right of Live and Library. Ideally it should even be placed right on the first favorite so I can click and go. Right now I’m always having to click a few times to the right every time I use FireTV.
Brad W,
Don’t know if they will move it, but if you hold the HOME button on the Fire TV remote for 2 seconds you get a popup menu that has the APPS+ selection to view all installed apps.
I would like to be able to add any show or movie from all of the major apps into one watchlist section that is separated into movies and shows. A grid view vs a long horizontal row would be nice too.
Having new episodes of any shows in your watchlist flagged or highlighted in the up next row so you don’t have to keep checking in each show on the watchlist would be great too.
I think the goal is to be a better aggregator than chromecast with google tv. A prime tv streaming service would make it easier to have everything in one spot.
Agree!! Which is why the streaming services that don’t integrate with Prime Video Channels will likely never support this. ARGH!!!!! I get that they all want us in their standalone app where they can track us completely and monetize us. I would welcome a solution that allows as you suggest, let us create a centralized WATCHLIST and NEXT UP grid of series / movies across all services that we watch and then when we select to view something it can send us to the standalone app for playback.
I would also like to have something like that.
Perhaps apps like Justwatch will become more important in future, as they aggregate services….
Justwatch has a centralized watchlist and you can trigger the series. There’s also an app for the fire tv, which opens the streaming service you want to watch… But the app needs some further improvement
I vote for swapping the “next up for you” row with “recently used apps”. In Amazon’s defense, “next up” is getting more accurate.
Like above comment. How about being able to ‘move’ and/or ‘hide’ all the selections on that row! All I want there is ‘youtube’ ‘youtube tv’ ‘netfix’ and ‘prime’ and ‘myradar’, and maybe a weather app. That would be a perfect selection bar then. Just let us customize that bar.
Maybe I sound clarify: I’m talking about the ‘profile’ ‘home’ ‘library’ ‘live’ pinned_apps bar.
You are able to customize it just as you’ve stated. Simply arrange the apps that you want there first by clicking on the Options key then go to each app you do not wish to see and using the options key you’re able to “Hide” the app so that it can not be seen.
We are not talking about the small apps row, but rather the 10+ rows under it.
You missed that part where I said ‘all selections’. I already have the apps ordered how I want them. I want to get rid of the home and find, maybe live (at least move it over to the right. Actually I would like to more ‘profile’ to the far right. I want ‘youtube’ first, then youtube tv second in that bar.
People have always complained about the advertisements in the GUI, but they never bothered me, since my recent apps/continue watching stuff was on the top row. I could easily ignore all the other stuff on the screen. Now it seems like 2/3s of the home screen is their sponsored stuff. My apps are shrunk to a tiny line.
Recent apps is like 4 rows down, and continue watching is about 7 rows down. I feel they should either let us remove rows we do not want, and/or reorder rows to how we like them. Continue watching should be the top row IMO, or it is too easy for stuff I started and wanted to finish another day, to get buried.
Though I have tested several others, I’ve have used solely FTVs as my streaming devices for probably 5+ years now. I have three in my house, one at my parents. After the GUI changes, for the first time I am researching alternatives.
To add to this, the other thing I do not like is having to use the Prime app more often. I never used the Prime app with the old GUI. I could just go 1-2 to the right on the home screen, and my Prime watch list was kind of “in the GUI”, without having to open the official app. It seems different now.
Clocks,
You don’t have to use the PRIME VIDEO app to get to your WATCHLIST after the update. From the HOME button on main screen move right once to FIND and then select LIBRARY. Your WATCHLIST is there along with any PURCHASE/RENTALS just as it was before the update. You are still in the Fire TV UI and no need to open the PRIME VIDEO app. I agree that it is not as quick as before, but you don’t have to leave the Fire TV UI to access it.
clocks, I will be making my own independent comment below, but I would like to echo your sentiment regarding looking at other platforms. I can understand Amazon’s need to put their sponsored content front and center with the end user (as that is where the bulk of their money is made), but the latest GUI change has given me the impression that the end user experience has taken a back seat to Amazon’s need to increase revenue. The fact that my recent apps of choice on a device I purchased now have been relegated to being buried further down into the home menu is frustrating. How many more GUI updates before our sideloaded apps, for instance, are moved to a completely segregated sub-menu line item? I have been a big backer of Amazon’s ecosystem for over 6 years now, but if they wish to become the Apple-esque walled garden of streaming devices, my time with them will come to a close.
I just want the focus to be on the last opened app when opening the launcher. That’s all. Having to press down twice every time was already something that annoyed me. With the update it got worse *and* I now have to remember pressing right instead of pressing down for years.
amazon screwed up – too many button clicks to get anywhere and their options to get to changing stuff / find updates is stupidly long
Simple. I want the FireWire Stick 4K to interface with my Marantz AVR and stream 24bit music.
I can go into HEOS and THEN into Amazon Music Ultra HD and it streams fine. So I know it is not my Marantz AVR. It is the Firestick 4K…I think. There is definitely a compatibility issue there of some sort. (Yes…I have Ulta HD quality checked in the Amazon Music App). I have also tried setting PCM data setting in the FireWire preferences, but to no avail….
Fix app icons not showing for some apps.
All the horizontal menu’s should wrap around! Not stopping all the way right or all the way left, just wrap around.
Recently Watched is not easy to get to you have to scroll down to get to it.
Also when you click one of the items you have put on the home line it always returns to the home button.
Would be nice to leave it where it was last if you want to select another item next.
Unfortunately, I think scrolling down to RECENTLY WATCHED is by design. Most of the rows you have to scroll past are sponsored items that Amazon is compensated for.
I agree, and was one of he points I made in my post. I could look past the sponsored stuff prior, and understood it was part of keeping the devices cheap. But now the things I actually want to see on the GUI are so far down. The GUI has almost completely been taken over with was Amazon wants me to see, instead of what I want.
Recently watched has totally disappeared from my UI. This was so useful in the past. Now we have a million choices but can’t simply go back to something we were watching a day or two ago. And there doesn’t seem to be a setting to bring it back. This is not progress!
For some reason I’m not able to open notification settings on the home screen, or in the preference setting. This just started when my 4K updated to the new home screen. Any help would be appreciated.
Too much clicking now to get to My Stuff, Recently Watched and Recent Apps. I’d prefer a Resume or Continue Watching option since I have very limited time to watch anything and more oft than not I’m resuming something that I had to leave part way through.
I agree. I use the recently watched a lot and now I have to click so many times to access what was a couple of click.
Just add wolf launcher and block updates
Please make app icons bigger, they are now very small and hard to see. Maybe replace the text labels on the apps bar with icons yo make more space?
By text labels i mean Home Find and Live
I own a business that has installed thousands of Fire TVs and outdoor TV antennas with Recasts. So here is the main Fire TV feedback from a lot of our customers:
-Next Up row offers terrible suggestions.
-Recent is too many clicks away
-App peak is cool
-Grid guide is great, but integrated Live TV streaming apps break too often and dont work w/ updates
-to small on main navigation and too many ads that are too big
RECAST SPECIFIC – see this video for Recast DVR frustrations and changes.
https://youtu.be/xbmHBFK9TDw
-It would be great to have a special row fir Antenna live Guide and DVR, etc all in 1 spot!
-DVR is hidden and too many clicks
-hitting down for recalling recent channels is missed
OK… I sometimes FORGET the name of the show I was watching, because I was browsing and thought “oh, hey this looks interesting!” and I give it a try. Then something interrupts me, screen saver comes on (even though I have it set to NEVER) and I come back and have to click on who’s watching, then… well crap, what WAS I watching???? Was it in an APP, on a CHANNEL…??? Being a retired IT nerd, I *HATE* wasted UI navigation. Everytime I *click* I hear the batteries cry in these remotes. NOW, to figure out what I impulsively started watching feels like I’m trying to find WALDO! Lately I’ve taken to adding ANYTHING I start watching to my WATCHLIST so I can find it again (even IF I remember what I was watching). There’s WAY TOO MUCH UNNECESSARY WANDERING in this new UI. From a development and programming viewpoint, it’s simply sloppy work.
I would like to see some sort of configuration menu that allows you to hide rows that you don’t want to see. For example, there’s a free with a cable subscription row. Guess what? I don’t have one. I’d like to hide that row so I don’t get annoyed by seeing it all the time
Figure out how to easily change bluetooth volume when connecting earbuds or headphones to firestick / tv. Tv volume can be changed but volume in headphones stays constant.
The app row needs to be bigger. The app tiles need to be bigger. Recent apps needs to be moved higher.
Where’s my WATCHLIST
Hidden in the LIBRARY, by Col. Mustard, with the lead pipe.
From the HOME tab move right once to FIND and then select LIBRARY. WATCHLIST is there.
– Add Recently Watched as first row on homescreen
– Add Watchlist as second row on homescreen
– Best would be to allow users to sort (and disable) rows an homescreen
– Add an enabling/disabling PIN-Protection to every profile
– Add age restricted profiles (0/6/12/16/18) in addition to the (curated) Kids profiles (just copy Disney+, who have age restriction and Kid-curated-Profiles)
– Add nice profile pics
Volker,
Solid list of updates/changes. Thumbs up.
My one addition to your Profile suggestions is to add an option to set a Default profile on FTV4K, or as was available before the update, have an option that turn OFF profile prompt when FTV4K wakes and have it default to last profile enabled.
Regarding the new main menu-strip:
– If you hold down right, the cursor should stop at the settings icon instead of just endlessly wrapping around. Only after a second press of the right button on the remote should the cursor wrap back to the left.
– The highlighter indicating the currently select item is different from the rest of the system. It’s just a slight white blur in the background and without any animation. Simply apply the white outline with animation that is used everywhere else.
Regarding the system:
Integrate an option for an “auto low latency mode” (ALLM) that switches compatible TVs into a game mode whenever the Fire TV is used to play a game.
How about letting me pay $15 more and get rid of the ads? I don’t mind paying more to not have your stuff force fed to me.
Better yet, I’m giving up on the FireTV and moving on.
Amazon, you make good stuff, but sometimes you over do it.
So I have the Tablo app downloaded on my FS. After the update the tablo app does not show up anywhere on the homescreen,or my apps,or in my app library.The only way I can access the tablo app is to go to settings,manage applications,find the tablo app,then lanch it fro there.This really sucks since Need the tablo app to watch all my locals channels on my antenna
FIXED, I deleted the tablo app and re-installed it. Now its back in with all my other apps.
I’m having to delete the Tablo app every week or so and re-install since the Firestick upgrade. I can access the Tablo from my Mobile app, my laptop, my Samsung TV, but not from the Firestick until I re-install it.
Anything related to the word “DVR” is gone, including the minutes/hrs counter while you are watching it. Please bring back the progress bar so we know how long of the specific title is left and and much we have watched, Just like before.
FYI I recently received a new update that added back the progress bars and a time counter to my dvr recordings, so hopefully you will get that update soon, too. It has made a huge difference to the usability of the new interface for me, at least in terms of actually watching a recording.
It’s really hard to see which item is highlighted as mentioned above. Some kind of high contrast outlining or darkening the non-selected items would go a long way towards making the main menu more usable. Also, I’d love to be able to add more apps to my favorites. 7+ would be ideal.
Easy peasy…Just put the “Continue Watching” tab/row back to being the 1st tab/row. I mean, seriously? I thought it was supposed to be convenient to go from one tv/screen/room in the house, to another to continue your viewing? I mean, THAT is the most basic of convenience, comfort, and ease of use. I couldn’t care less about any of the other UI changes. But the “Continue Watching” tab/row is ridiculous being the SEVENTH tab/row. It seems common sense isn’t, anymore.
And let’s not forget Amazon ‘double dipping’, putting a “Sponsor” tab/row waaay before the ‘Continue Watching’ tab/row. Look, I pay monthly for services that already has Amazon advertising, which isn’t an issue. But, if you want to double dip, at least stop making it so annoying as it is ALWAYS bypassed. I won’t patronize ANYTHING that is being FORCED upon myself. Not saying to get rid of it, just asking to have it moved somewhere that is less interfering with my viewing of what I want to see.
Better integration of the likes of BBC iPlayer, ITV HUB and All4 with the guide (given these are the primary broadcasters in the UK), currently only My5 and Pluto integrate into the Guide. Also Now (formally NowTV) is missing from the cube, after reaching out to the developers they say this is down to Amazon not them.
Remove or Move the Next Up for You Row: NOT once since this has updated has this row ever suggested a show that is similar to anything I have watched. It just puts up shows from the last channel I watched from.
Move Recently Watched Closer to Recently Used Apps: Completely pointless for these two to be separated by 4 rows when they used to be grouped together anyway.
Stop Removing Items from my Recently Watched Section: Oh, you haven’t watch this in three weeks, guess you don’t want to? Also most of the shows I was watching never made it over to the list after the build updated, so I have no clue what I might have started and forgotten about. THOSE are the shows that should be in the Next Up For You section. Not “Hey, you just watched Young Sheldon on Paramount+, so now you should watch Blue Bloods.”
BOLD The Episode Title on the Episode’s Page: It can’t be that hard. It used to be bolded all the time. In fact, it was still bold when they first updated the build. After the first big system compnents update, it changed. Now it’s the EXACT same font and size as the episode description and it is too difficult to read as it blends in with the description.
Roxie,
I had the same issue with my RECENTLY WATCHED list after the UI update. Once all four (4) of my FTV4K devices received the update my RECENTLY WATCHED list was wiped clean except for a handful of items. Going back to a show I was watching and viewing the last episode or next one wouldn’t even put it back in the RECENTLY WATCHED row. After spending 2 to 3 hours in a CHAT support session and being passed off to six (6) individuals the following seemed to correct the issue. They had me go into SETTINGS – APPLICATIONS – MANAGE INSTALLED APPLICATIONS and then select the PRIME VIDEO app. Once there I selected FORCE STOP on PRIME VIDEO. They then had me UNPLUG the FTV4K device from power and wait 2 minutes before restarting. Once I did this the device started back up and all of my previous RECENTLY WATCHED items were restored to their previous state. I then moved to my other FTV4K devices and either unplugged them for 2 minutes or performed a simple RESTART and then SYNC ALL CONTENT from settings. Or, you could repeat what worked for the first FTV4K device. Hope that might help you get some of your RECENTLY WATCHED items back.
When you scroll over to the Apps icon, a message grops down saying something like. “Click her to see your list of apps.”
Why not have what drops down be the next two or three rows of apps for you to select from without having to go to your apps list?
I wish Amazon will add a now playing section on the Home Screen when you are listening to music. I would know what song is playing and It is a nightmare going to notifications and then waiting for the app to load every single time I wanna switch tracks. The Chromecast with Google TV does it perfectly.
This would be great too. I picked up a chromecast with google tv today for comparison and it really is better. The library also has all of your dvr and watchlist stuff from any app in the same location. If you subscribe to starz in youtube tv it knows to watch it in youtube tv and not have to subscribe to starz in order to watch it.
The only reason I am not going to make it my main device is because of all of all of my alexa and ring devices. I really hope Amazon can make the fire tv more competitive with google tv and be a one stop shop.
Also, I wanted to keep my HBO, Starz, and AMC+ prime video subscriptions since they show up in the fire tv search as from my subscriptions but I moved all of these into YouTube TV. In YouTube TV,you can pause the live channels,dvr,and most importantly when the shows you have saved to your watchlist have a new episode, they automatically show up in “new in your library”. With prime video, I would have to remember what day an episode airs or actively check. YouTube TV is the closest thing I can get to an all on one watchlist. Just missing prime and Netflix.
The $5 savings for the entertainment plus add on is nice too.
I would definitely switch back to prime video if they had these same features though.
This new interface is garbage, especially the changes to live OTA channels and the recast integration
they NEED to bring back the old live TV and recast interface
specifically they need to put it back so that pressing down on the D pad brings up the thumbnails menu of what is on on other channels
the new recast controls SUCK , just put it back the way it was
I miss being able to just press down and see what else is on at a glance while keeping on what I am currently watching full screen
Need to give menu options their color back. Menus are black and white and I find it hard to decide what is highlighted. Previously what was highlighted was gold in color. Need something besides black and white.
Some Recast-specific requests:
– Add an option to sort the program list alphabetically. It can be hard to find something recorded a while ago when everything is sorted by the last date a show was recorded.
– The old interface showed the progress of watching a show like this: 12:15/1:00:00, so you could see how far you were and how long the show is total. The new interface instead shows the time that the recording was made (7:00-8:00pm), while the progress bar itself says how far in you are. This is better than nothing, but it was much easier to judge how much you had left with the old interface.
– Add a clock display to the screen when a show is paused
– In the new interface the live TV has been ungrouped from the DVR. This is less convenient than having it all in one place. At least have a link to get to the Live section from the DVR Manager section.
– Like someone said above, I liked the live TV browsing option when you could press the down button and preview the different channels rather than switching to the next channel (perhaps both options would be possible via different buttons).
– For channel surfing, have the ability to only view the favorite channels rather than all of them
Not quite on topic but please update the Fire TV app with more functionality:
– Ability to schedule a recording ahead of time
– Ability to group recordings by program like on the TV interface rather than all recordings shown individually by date. It’s very hard to find and watch consecutive episodes of one show when there are a lot of recordings.
This might be OCD on my part, but I don’t want any of the six (6) apps parked on the home page home bar to populate the RECENTLY USED apps row. They are on the home page home bar for easy access. I would prefer that the RECENTLY USED apps row be left for any apps you open that are not part of the six (6) apps parked on the home bar. That leaves the RECENTLY USED apps row for items that you may access more frequently, but don’t want parked on the home bar. Currently these apps get pushed farther into the row when you open any of your six (6) home bar apps.
I have to say there are a lot of good suggestions here so far. “I thought it was just me” on a lot of them! The recast comments (I don’t have one) are interesting, I’m sort of wondering if it’s one of these, “look at the numbers, we only sold xxx of them and we have 100 million users out there”, types of things. BTW: I have noticed one of my little issues, when it first was out the cursor didn’t wrap around so to get to settings you had to go all the way across, now you can wrap around to the left and get there quick.
DVR/Recast: Please make it easier to get into the menu. Or at least make a setting to get it back on the homescreen. It seems very little thought was given when they redid the UI. It’s like Amazon is “over it” and the DVR experiment didn’t work (as in make them $$$$$$) so now just put it wherever. Honestly, without DVR support there is little stopping me from jumping to the new Apple TV and getting PLEX for a DVR.
Better organization. I would like to be able to organize my movie and tv purchases.
It would be great if they allowed us to completely uninstall pre-loaded Amazon apps that I do not use at all. They take up precious storage space on the local storage drive. The apps I do want to install have to be moved to an external memory card. The internal storage barely has any room available because of the pre-loaded apps and the buildup of data and cache from app usage.
Please tell me that the FireTV profile selection is made available to apps. I want YouTube to know I am in my FireTV profile so it knows to use my YouTube account. Same for everything else. Netflix, HBO Max, they all know I am me. Then when I switch the FireTV to my daughter’s profile, they all use her app profiles and accounts.
I was not a fan of the previous user interface, but this updated one is much worse. You know how they say that first impressions are important. When the Fire TV home screen appears, my first impression is that I see a real jumbled, messy screen full of all sorts of “stuff” that I need to wade through to find what I want. It’s an anxiety producing experience, not an inviting one.
In contrast, the home screens on an Apple TV or Roku are much more user friendly and welcoming.
You can customize your home screen with wolf launcher. YouTube has videos showing you how. Tech doctor is the one that I like that gives you step by step instructions for adding wolf launcher and customization even how to add beautiful wallpaper background.
GET TOGETHER WITH SPECTRUM TO MAKE FIRE STICK STREAM!
We have been Prime members for years. We have used only AFTVs since we started streaming years ago.
The new interface gives precedence to rows of shows, apps, etc. (i.e., crap) that Amazon is pushing, rather than our own personal items, such as the recently watched, watch list, etc. It is a constant annoyance to have to scroll down and use other actions to get to our stuff.
In light of the new interface, while we are maintaining our Prime membership and our use of our AFTV at home for Prime viewing, we have just purchased the new Apple TV 4k (2021) just released. That will become our primary streaming device at home and while traveling.
The intrusive “Next Up for You” row (the first thing you see every time you use the interface) that presumes to tell you what Amazon thinks you will like is presumptuous, insulting, and inappropriate. Mine has movies I have no interest in, movies I have already watched, and movies from other apps that have nothing to do with Amazon. There is no way to change or remove these, and they are stuck–they don’t respond to any adjustments you make in preferences or anywhere else in Amazon. I deleted some of the apps that have movies showing in this row, and the recommendations are still there. Amazon is one of the savviest tech outfits in the world. I’m sure you can give us the freedom to delete this entire row, and can stop sending us things that you think we would like and let us make our own choices.