Starting today, more Fire TV devices will get a redesigned interface. It’s the same UI that debuted on Fire TV Stick (3rd gen) and Fire TV Stick Lite in December.
If you have one of these devices, you’ll see a new interface:
- Fire TV Stick 4K
- Fire TV Cube (1st and 2nd Gen)
- Fire TV (3rd Gen, pendant design)
The redesign includes some spiffy new features:
- User profiles (up to six)
- Simplified main menu bar
- Ability to pin apps for faster access
- App Peeks
- Find
“App Peeks” allows users check out content from apps within the UI itself. “Find” lets users to discover content by categories like Free, TV Shows and Movies, while also filtering by content that’s “free to me.”
The new “Live” tab shows you a channel guide so it’s easier to jump straight to live TV, if you pay for a service like Sling or YouTube TV. You can also use the Alexa voice assistant to say “Alexa go to Live TV” and it will launch your preferred service.
You can update your Fire TV by opening Settings and selecting “My Fire TV,” then “About” and choosing “Check for System Update.”
Changes also include a refresh of the Fire TV remote, which includes shortcut buttons for Prime Video, Netflix, Disney+ and Hulu. The new remote will be available starting April 14.
Amazon Fire TV ended 2020 with 50 million monthly active users, up from 40 million at the beginning of the year. The device is working to play catch-up with the front-running Roku, which has a solid lead.
Earlier this month, the platform added live and on-demand local news from 88 different cities from across the country.
Fire TV is compatible with nearly every major streaming service, although frustrated Peacock users are having to side-load an apk to be able to watch that service for now.