Amazon is rolling out a new user interface for its Fire TV streaming devices, designed to put more focus on the content, while also simplifying navigation. The update, which is initially available to Fire TV owners in the U.S., represents the first major Fire TV redesign in years.
The changes arrive after an explosion of streaming content has made it more difficult to know what’s available to watch on which service, requiring streaming platforms like Fire TV to serve more as a discovery hub than just a tool to launch streaming apps.
The company first previewed the new design at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas in January, showing off an interface intended to make Fire TV feel less cluttered. The updated design features rounded corners, varied gradients, consistent typography, and increased spacing between content, and it adds more space for pinned apps.
Previously, Fire TV users could only pin six apps to the home screen. Now, with smaller app icons, the update expands that to 20 slots for apps, accommodating services like Netflix, Disney+, YouTube, Prime Video, Hulu, HBO Max, and other top streamers.
In addition, the navigation bar at the top of the screen has been simplified into categories marked with simple icons, including Movies, TV, Live TV, Sports, and News. The search button is also easily within reach to the left of the Home tab.
Within these tabs, Fire TV surfaces the content you’re already watching and displays other suggestions drawn from the services you’ve subscribed to, organized in rows labeled “For You.” The tabs also highlight free movies to stream, top movies and shows, and other paid content you might enjoy.
The Live TV tab, meanwhile, centralizes access to the live content that’s available across your streaming services, plus broadcast or cable TV, if you subscribe or use an antenna.
Less frequently used features live under a three-line “hamburger” menu on the left, and include Games, Art & Photos, the Appstore, Music Video & Audio, a universal watchlist called “My Stuff,” Settings, and other options.
Amazon’s AI assistant Alexa+ is also built into the new interface, allowing users to ask questions on almost any topic, not just movies and TV. Queries can be asked using natural language, and Fire TV owners can refine them or ask follow-up questions as they chat with the AI assistant. The AI can also interact with on-screen content. For instance, you could select a movie tile and say, “Tell me more about that one.” You can even ask nuanced questions like, “Find me more movies that have the same look.”
Amazon recently announced that Alexa+ is available to customers with a Prime subscription as an included perk. Others can choose to pay for access separately.
The new user interface launches first on the Fire TV Stick 4K Plus, Fire TV Stick 4K Max (2nd Gen), and the Fire TV Omni Mini-LED Series in the U.S. This spring, it will roll out to more countries and devices, including the latest generation of the Fire TV 4K streaming players and TVs such as the Fire TV 2-Series, Fire TV 4-Series, and Fire TV Omni QLED Series, as well as TVs made by partners like Hisense, Insignia, Panasonic, and TCL.
The update is also available on the new Amazon Ember Artline, a new series of televisions that can make your TV screen look like a framed work of art when not in use.
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