Even though the oldest Fire TV model is now nine years old, the vast majority of streaming service apps still support it and all Fire TV models that have been released since. I’ve gone through and checked over 250 streaming apps in the US to determine which ones are the worst at supporting older Fire TV models and which are best.
Grade: F
The worst app in terms of Fire TV model support is Al Jazeera, the global live streaming news network. Out of the over 250 popular streaming video apps I checked, Al Jazeera is the only one that has chosen to stop supporting all Fire TV models released before 2019. It seems as though Al Jazeera is only supporting Fire OS 7 devices, even though there are millions of Fire TV models running Fire OS 5 and Fire OS 6 that are still in use. For example, Al Jazeera is the only app in my list that does not support the very popular Fire TV Stick 4K, among others.
| Fire OS 5 (Android 5.1) | Fire OS 6 (Android 7.1) | Fire OS 7 (Android 9) | ||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2014 | 2015 | 2016 | 2017 | 2018 | 2019 | 2020 | 2021 | 2022 | ||||
| Fire TV Box 1 | Fire TV Stick 1 | Fire TV Box 2 | Fire TV Stick 2 | Fire TV Box 3 | Fire TV Cube 1 | Fire TV Stick 4K | Fire TV Cube 2 | Fire TV Stick Lite | Fire TV Stick 3 | Fire TV Stick 4K Max | Fire TV Cube 3 | |
| Al Jazeera | ❌ | ❌ | ❌ | ❌ | ❌ | ❌ | ❌ | ✅ | ✅ | ✅ | ✅ | ✅ |
Grade: D
A dozen fairly popular streaming apps in the Fire TV appstore earn a D grade for deciding not to support any Fire TV models that run Fire OS 5. The most popular among them are Xfinity Stream, which just dropped support for these devices this week, the NBA app, SiriusXM, and Cartoon Network. By choosing to cut off Fire TV’s oldest operating system, these apps choose not to support devices released before 2017, which includes the immensely popular 2nd-gen Fire TV Stick, which was sold new all the way up until 2020.
| Fire OS 5 (Android 5.1) | Fire OS 6 (Android 7.1) | Fire OS 7 (Android 9) | ||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2014 | 2015 | 2016 | 2017 | 2018 | 2019 | 2020 | 2021 | 2022 | ||||
| Fire TV Box 1 | Fire TV Stick 1 | Fire TV Box 2 | Fire TV Stick 2 | Fire TV Box 3 | Fire TV Cube 1 | Fire TV Stick 4K | Fire TV Cube 2 | Fire TV Stick Lite | Fire TV Stick 3 | Fire TV Stick 4K Max | Fire TV Cube 3 | |
| Cartoon Network | ❌ | ❌ | ❌ | ❌ | ✅ | ✅ | ✅ | ✅ | ✅ | ✅ | ✅ | ✅ |
| Daily Workouts | ❌ | ❌ | ❌ | ❌ | ✅ | ✅ | ✅ | ✅ | ✅ | ✅ | ✅ | ✅ |
| Fios TV Home | ❌ | ❌ | ❌ | ❌ | ✅ | ✅ | ✅ | ✅ | ✅ | ✅ | ✅ | ✅ |
| NBA on Fire TV | ❌ | ❌ | ❌ | ❌ | ✅ | ✅ | ✅ | ✅ | ✅ | ✅ | ✅ | ✅ |
| Pluralsight | ❌ | ❌ | ❌ | ❌ | ✅ | ✅ | ✅ | ✅ | ✅ | ✅ | ✅ | ✅ |
| Popcornflix | ❌ | ❌ | ❌ | ❌ | ✅ | ✅ | ✅ | ✅ | ✅ | ✅ | ✅ | ✅ |
| Rakuten Viki | ❌ | ❌ | ❌ | ❌ | ✅ | ✅ | ✅ | ✅ | ✅ | ✅ | ✅ | ✅ |
| SiriusXM for TV | ❌ | ❌ | ❌ | ❌ | ✅ | ✅ | ✅ | ✅ | ✅ | ✅ | ✅ | ✅ |
| TIDAL | ❌ | ❌ | ❌ | ❌ | ✅ | ✅ | ✅ | ✅ | ✅ | ✅ | ✅ | ✅ |
| Xfinity Stream | ❌ | ❌ | ❌ | ❌ | ✅ | ✅ | ✅ | ✅ | ✅ | ✅ | ✅ | ✅ |
| Yahoo Finance | ❌ | ❌ | ❌ | ❌ | ✅ | ✅ | ✅ | ✅ | ✅ | ✅ | ✅ | ✅ |
Grade: C
Next are nine Fire TV apps that earn a C grade for choosing to drop support for 1st-generation Fire TV models released in 2014. This list of apps includes some big names like Peacock, YouTube TV, and DirecTV. On one hand, it’s understandable to stop supporting devices that were released nearly 9 years ago, but, on the other hand, Amazon is still pushing out software updates to the 2014 1st-gen Fire TV Stick and over 200 other streaming apps are supporting these older devices just fine. While technically not a video streaming app, a standout in the list is Amazon’s own Luna cloud gaming app, which not only doesn’t support 1st-gen Fire TV models but also stupidly doesn’t support the 2nd-gen Fire TV which is, ironically, the only Fire TV ever sold in an official “Gaming Edition” bundle that included a game control in the box.
| Fire OS 5 (Android 5.1) | Fire OS 6 (Android 7.1) | Fire OS 7 (Android 9) | ||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2014 | 2015 | 2016 | 2017 | 2018 | 2019 | 2020 | 2021 | 2022 | ||||
| Fire TV Box 1 | Fire TV Stick 1 | Fire TV Box 2 | Fire TV Stick 2 | Fire TV Box 3 | Fire TV Cube 1 | Fire TV Stick 4K | Fire TV Cube 2 | Fire TV Stick Lite | Fire TV Stick 3 | Fire TV Stick 4K Max | Fire TV Cube 3 | |
| Amazon Luna | ❌ | ❌ | ❌ | ✅ | ✅ | ✅ | ✅ | ✅ | ✅ | ✅ | ✅ | ✅ |
| BODi by Beachbody | ❌ | ❌ | ✅ | ✅ | ✅ | ✅ | ✅ | ✅ | ✅ | ✅ | ✅ | ✅ |
| DIRECTV | ❌ | ❌ | ✅ | ✅ | ✅ | ✅ | ✅ | ✅ | ✅ | ✅ | ✅ | ✅ |
| HISTORY Vault | ❌ | ❌ | ✅ | ✅ | ✅ | ✅ | ✅ | ✅ | ✅ | ✅ | ✅ | ✅ |
| Lifetime Movie Club | ❌ | ❌ | ✅ | ✅ | ✅ | ✅ | ✅ | ✅ | ✅ | ✅ | ✅ | ✅ |
| Peacock TV | ❌ | ❌ | ✅ | ✅ | ✅ | ✅ | ✅ | ✅ | ✅ | ✅ | ✅ | ✅ |
| Peloton | ❌ | ❌ | ✅ | ✅ | ✅ | ✅ | ✅ | ✅ | ✅ | ✅ | ✅ | ✅ |
| StreamTV by Buckeye | ❌ | ❌ | ✅ | ✅ | ✅ | ✅ | ✅ | ✅ | ✅ | ✅ | ✅ | ✅ |
| YouTube TV | ❌ | ❌ | ✅ | ✅ | ✅ | ✅ | ✅ | ✅ | ✅ | ✅ | ✅ | ✅ |
Grade: B
There are four Fire TV apps that earn a B grade for not supporting one or two arbitrary Fire TV models. For some ludicrous reason, the Dailymotion only doesn’t support the two newest Fire TV Cube models. The other three apps on this list choose to only not to support the 1st-gen Fire TV Stick, which is by far the worst performing Fire TV model ever released. The biggest app among them is Noggin, a popular kids app which streams educational videos for preschoolers.
| Fire OS 5 (Android 5.1) | Fire OS 6 (Android 7.1) | Fire OS 7 (Android 9) | ||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2014 | 2015 | 2016 | 2017 | 2018 | 2019 | 2020 | 2021 | 2022 | ||||
| Fire TV Box 1 | Fire TV Stick 1 | Fire TV Box 2 | Fire TV Stick 2 | Fire TV Box 3 | Fire TV Cube 1 | Fire TV Stick 4K | Fire TV Cube 2 | Fire TV Stick Lite | Fire TV Stick 3 | Fire TV Stick 4K Max | Fire TV Cube 3 | |
| Baby Einstein | ✅ | ❌ | ✅ | ✅ | ✅ | ✅ | ✅ | ✅ | ✅ | ✅ | ✅ | ✅ |
| Canela TV | ✅ | ❌ | ✅ | ✅ | ✅ | ✅ | ✅ | ✅ | ✅ | ✅ | ✅ | ✅ |
| dailymotion | ✅ | ✅ | ✅ | ✅ | ✅ | ✅ | ✅ | ❌ | ✅ | ✅ | ✅ | ❌ |
| Noggin | ✅ | ❌ | ✅ | ✅ | ✅ | ✅ | ✅ | ✅ | ✅ | ✅ | ✅ | ✅ |
Grade: A
The rest of the streaming Fire TV apps I checked all support every Fire TV, Fire TV Stick, and Fire TV Cube model. That’s 230 streaming apps that still support even the very first Fire TV model, which was released over 9 years ago. The 25 apps listed above have little excuse for not supporting more Fire TV models when so many apps support all models. The full list of streaming service apps and which Fire TV models they support can be found here.
@AFTVnews
AFTVnews
Interesting. Though I grade the apps by the ones that don’t remember where in the movie or episode I paused. The apps that I have to force stop, empty the cache, the apps that don’t follow any standard of keyboard layout, log in format. The apps that just generally suck. Peacock, Paramount+, HBO, AMC are some. Even the built in screensaver app or shopping app both take up local storage when set to not.
Amazon Luna not supporting the Fire TV 2 does not make sense. The app works fine on the Fire TV 2 when sideloaded, so Amazon would just have to whitelist it for that device in the app store. The Fire TV 2 is still my main device for FTV gaming as I have the Amazon game controller for it (which does not support any of the newer devices).
I just had to upgrade my FireTV Gen2 using Xfinity! :( Even on my new FireTV sticks & Cube Xfinity app constantly freezes up, worse streaming of all my apps! Even 4K movies on Amazon or Netflix don’t freeze up.