How TV has evolved in recent years is absolutely fascinating. It’s a product that has suddenly been forced to stare into the abyss of being obsolete and seeing how companies have attempted to combat this is interesting.
The dawn of the internet age has resulted in the technology associated with TVs being outdated, and the popularity of online streaming services like Netflix and HULU has all but killed the viewership for a lot of channels.
People can watch what they want on-demand now. That being said, there are still a handful of TV loyalists who love the luxury of being able to sit down on the couch and just relax.
The Amazon Fire TV Stick attempts to bring these two worlds together, allowing you to watch your favorite shows on-demand, all from the comfort of your living room.
That kind of technology is new to a lot of Fire Stick owners, though, and the instruction manual leaves a lot to be desired.
That’s why we’ve put together this quick article showing you the basics of how to control your Amazon Fire Stick. We’re going to be going over the basic power functions, including how to turn on Firestick, how to turn off the Fire Stick, how to put it into standby, how to restart it, and more.
How to Turn on a Firestick
How you turn your Amazon Fire TV Stick on depends on whether or not you have a remote. This is so that if you lose your remote controls, you can still operate the device. We’re going to tell you how to turn Firestick on using both a controller and the Fire Stick itself.
The first thing you need to do is to make sure that the Firestick is set up correctly. Using the USB cord that came with the stick, plug one end into your Firestick, and the other into a power adapter plug. Plug the power adapted into an electrical outlet and turn it on.
Next, insert the Fire Stick into one of the HDMI slots on your TV. Make a note of what slot you’re using. Switch your TV on, and navigate over to the HDMI channel that has the Fire Stick on it. From here, you should see the Fire Stick loading screen.
After you make sure that all works smoothly, get your remote and make sure that there are batteries in it. If you’re inserting a fresh set of batteries, turn the remote around and push up on the arrows to open the battery compartment. Once your batteries are in, your Fire TV Stick should automatically pair with the remote.
If it doesn’t, hold down the home button on the remote for 20 seconds. During this time, you should get a pop-up on the TV, confirming that the remote has been paired. Keep in mind that this may take multiple tries.
Once paired, press the home button on the remote to fully turn on your Fire Stick.
How to Power on Firestick Without a Remote
If you don’t have the remote to use with your Firestick, then you have two options. You can either download the app from the store on your phone, or you can use the Alexa voice commands. We’re going to go over both of these methods.
To turn your phone into a remote, navigate over to the Google Play Store or the Apple Store. Once you’re there, search for the Fire TV Remote App, and install it.
While doing this, make sure that your phone is connected to the same internet as the Firestick, which you should have done upon first setting it up.
Make sure you turn on your Firestick and open the app. There should be a list of devices there; select your Firestick from the list. If you select the correct device, your Firestick should display a code on the TV. Enter this code into your phone to finish pairing.
Using Alexa’s voice controls to turn your Firestick on still requires you to use your phone, so keep that in mind. First, install the Alexa app on your phone from the store and open it up. Once you’re all set up with the app, tap on the menu button on the home screen.
In this menu, navigate to Music, Video & Books. From here, enter the video section. Once in the video section, click on Fire TV, and then the link your Alexa device option.
Hit continue, and you should be presented with a list of Alexa devices. Find your one on the list, and keep in mind that this is the device that is going to control the TV.
Once that’s synced up and you turn everything on, you’re all done.
It seems like a lot, but once you do it a few times, powering up your Firestick becomes as easy as riding a bike.
How to Power Off Firestick
By now, you’ve probably noticed that there is no Firestick power button. This is generally what causes all the confusion.
What also causes confusion is the belief that the Firestick operates like any other regular device. Which is to say, it gets turned on; then you turn it off.
The reality of the matter is that Fire TV turn off doesn’t work like that. There is no real way to turn off the Amazon Firestick. All you can really do is turn off the power to it, or unplug it.
This doesn’t mean that the Firestick is stuck being on at all times, though. In fact, the typical way that most users turn off their Firestick is by using sleep mode.
While sleep mode is normally turned on by waiting 20 minutes on the home screen, and disabled when you press any button, there are ways to force sleep mode on yourself.
There are two primary ways to put your Firestick in sleep mode, depending on whether or not you’re using the app or a remote.
Using a remote control, the easiest method to put your Firestick into sleep mode is to select it through the quick access menu. To start, press and hold the home button on your remote for three seconds. This is going to enter the quick access screen on your TV.
In this menu, you should see the word “sleep” accompanied by a moon. If you select that, you’re Amazon Fire TV Stick should enter sleep mode after the screen fades to black.
If, for some reason, you don’t want to use the quick access menu or can’t because the button is broken, there is another option for selecting sleep mode.
Navigate to the home screen of the Fire TV Stick using whatever method you can. From here, navigate up to the settings tab on the bar at the top of the screen. Once in the settings menu, click into My Fire TV. Then, scroll down and select the sleep option. This should also put your Fire TV Stick into sleep mode.
How to Power Off Fire Stick – Sleep Mode Through the Fire TV App
If you’re using the app to navigate your Fire TV Stick, then the method of getting the device into sleep mode is a little different.
First, open the app and make sure it’s connected. Then hit the remote button on the menu at the bottom of the app screen. From here, select the gear icon in the upper left-hand corner of the screen to access the sleep mode menu.
From here, click on the sleep option, and your TV should turn to black. Your Amazon Firestick is now in sleep mode.
Not only is how you turn off your Firestick, but it’s also how to put Firestick to sleep mode.
There is another way to put the Fire TV into sleep mode without the app or a Fire TV remote, although it isn’t really a method so much as a feature. If you leave your Amazon Fire TV Stick without moving for 20 minutes, it’s going to automatically go into sleep mode. You can press any button on the TV remote to get it out of this 20 minutes sleep mode.
How to Restart Fire Stick
No matter how well you follow guides or instructions, sometimes things just go wrong. Often this is for seemingly no reason and can be incredibly irritating.
If you encounter a problem out of the blue with your Firestick, restarting it may be the best option.
You have three different methods when it comes to how to restart Firestick, so we’re going to cover all of them and let you pick which you prefer.
The first method is by far the most obvious: the old reliable turn it off and on again trick. Specifically, you’re going to want to plug your Amazon Fire TV out, leave it for a few minutes, and then plug it back in.
This is what is known as a hard reboot, and results in the Fire TV system launching from the beginning, which should hopefully snag any issues that arose previously.
How to Restart Amazon Fire TV From the Settings
If you don’t like the idea of just bluntly plugging your Fire TV out and back in again, you can always restart it from the TV itself.
Navigate your Fire TV until you’re at the home screen, or you can just press the home button. Scroll up on the home screen until you’re highlighting the home tab, and then scroll across to settings. Then, scroll to the right and on My Fire TV. In this menu, underneath sleep mode, you should see the word restart. Click on it, and the Fire TV should boot itself back up.
How to Restart Amazon Fire TV With the Remote
Using a remote to restart your Fire TV is similar to going through the settings.
To start, hold down the home button on your remote for a few seconds until you see the quick access menu. In this menu, across from sleep mode and mirroring, you should see settings. Once in your settings, click on My Fire TV, and again, underneath sleep mode should be restart, just like the last method.
What is the Power Button on the Firestick Remote For?
Your remote actually does have a power button, but it isn’t going to let you turn off Amazon Fire, or put it into sleep mode, or anything like that.
The power button is actually for your TV itself. So you can use it to turn the whole television on and off, but not the Firestick itself.
Conclusion
Hopefully, you’ve found this guide on how to turn Amazon Fire Stick on helpful. The power button on the remote can leave people confused as to how they turn off Amazon Fire, so it’s understandable if it played with your head, too.
There are a few other issues that we didn’t cover here relating to the Firestick like how to connect it to the network and what to do if your Firestick won’t turn on.
