Amazon is rolling out a major redesign for Fire TV, placing a greater emphasis on content while simplifying navigation and layout. This update marks the first significant overhaul of the Fire TV user experience in years. It coincides with a refreshed Fire TV mobile app and the launch of new premium Fire TV televisions featuring colorful frames.
The company recognized the need for a change as the volume of available streaming content has grown dramatically. Today’s Fire TV customers access movies and TV through purchases, rentals, and subscriptions, but also use apps for short-form videos, live TV streams, podcasts, music, games, and more.
According to Fire TV VP Aidan Marcuss, the previous interface became cluttered as this content expanded. He noted that data shows users spend considerable time searching, indicating room for improvement. The new design aims to make finding content easier.
The updated interface introduces several visual changes, including rounded corners, varied gradients, consistent typography, and increased spacing between items to reduce clutter. While users can still scroll through familiar rows like “up next,” their apps are now displayed in an expanded horizontal row.
A common user complaint was the previous limit of six pinned apps on the home screen. The update addresses this by shrinking the app icons, allowing more to be visible at once. Users now have 20 app slots to scroll through.
Navigation at the top of the screen is now simplified into clear categories such as Movies, TV, Live TV, Sports, and News. A search button is positioned to the left of the Home tab.
Across these new tabs, Fire TV centralizes access to content you are already watching and content available from your subscriptions. It also provides discovery features, including personalized recommendations in “For You” rows, free movies, top charts, and other subscription content to try.
The live TV tab organizes live streams from supported services, including broadcast or cable TV for subscribers. The sports section specifically highlights live games currently airing and upcoming scheduled events.
Additional features like Games, Art & Photos, the Appstore, Music Video & Audio, a universal watchlist called “My Stuff,” and Settings are now located under a three-line hamburger menu icon.
For quick access to common settings, users can now long-press the Home button. This brings up options to adjust display and audio settings, set a sleep timer, use accessibility features, access smart home controls, and more. From here, you can adjust TV brightness, boost dialogue audio, or display a Ring camera feed on screen.
Amazon claims the redesign includes rewritten code that makes the interface 20% to 30% faster on its most popular devices, helping users find what they want to watch more quickly.
The update integrates Alexa+ access, allowing users to ask questions, find content, or perform tasks using natural language. This AI assistant can refine searches through conversation, answer follow-up questions, and use visual context. For example, with a movie tile selected, you could say, “Tell me more about that one,” or ask, “find me more movies that have the same look.” Alexa+ will be available as an add-on subscription after its early access phase and will also be included with a Prime subscription.
The updated Fire TV app combines a classic remote control interface with new content discovery tools, enabling users to browse for something to watch directly from their phones.
The new Fire TV interface and mobile app will begin rolling out in February in the U.S. on the Fire TV Stick 4K Plus, Fire TV Stick 4K Max (2nd Gen), and Fire TV Omni Mini-LED Series. The redesign will expand to more countries and devices later this spring, including the Fire TV Cube (3rd Gen), the latest Fire TV 2-Series and 4-Series, Fire TV Omni QLED Series, and TVs from partners like Hisense, Panasonic, and TCL. It will also be available at launch on the new Amazon Ember Artline TVs.
The Ember Artline TVs are Amazon’s latest televisions, designed with interchangeable frames to match room decor. They will be available in 55-inch and 65-inch sizes, starting at $899. The TVs feature 4K QLED screens with 800 nits of brightness, a slim one-and-a-half-inch profile, and a matte finish to reduce glare. They support Dolby Vision, HDR10+, and Wi-Fi 6.
A key selling point is the choice of ten different frame options in various colors, textures, and geometries, including Walnut, Ash, Teak, Black Oak, Matte White, Midnight Blue, Fig, Pale Gold, Graphite, and Silver. This enhances the Fire TV Ambient experience, which displays art when the TV is not in use. The platform includes access to over 2,000 free artworks, or users can display their own photos from Amazon Photos. Using Alexa+, you can command the TV with phrases like, “Alexa, create a slideshow of our family trip to Colorado.”