Fire TVs and Fire TV sticks haven’t increased their internal storage in almost a decade, but Fire OS keeps getting bigger. The software’s preinstalled apps eat up over half of a device’s 8GB of space. Amazon is working on a solution while we wait for more information on the two Fire TV devices that just got FCC approval.
Fire TVs might soon let users offload apps that they don’t use, according to an exclusive report from AFTVnews. This will give Fire TV owners a more convenient option to free up space on their device without uninstalling an app or shelling out money for a new device, like the Fire TV Cube that boasts 16GB. You’ll still be sacrificing some storage, but it’s a more flexible process.
App offloading is different than uninstalling an app, which can be inconvenient if you realize you need said app later. Offloading an app will only remove the app and cache data, leaving the user data on the device, so you can skip a few extra steps if you choose to reinstall it. However, this might not be the case every time. You might hit a snag if your app has significantly updated since you offloaded it.
The feature will do the work for you by telling you how much storage you’ll save by offloading an app. This is similar to how some smartphones notify you of apps you haven’t opened in a certain amount of time, or how Gmail occasionally asks if you want to subscribe from the mailing lists you interact with the least.
Amazon has a device event planned for later this month, but details are sparse. We could learn more about the previously mentioned two new Fire TV devices, which could be a new Fire TV Stick 4K and Fire TV Stick 4K Max. The FCC filings said one device will support the Wi-Fi 6 standard, and the other will support the Wi-Fi 6E standard the newest standard on the market. The newer devices could also have more internal storage. The current Fire TV stick models still ship with 8GB of storage.