Does your Firestick keep displaying a critically low storage alert? then you have to free up the space on your Firestick device. Firestick offers around 5 GB of internal storage. When the limit exceeds, your firestick device may malfunction. To avoid this, you have to free up the storage on your device. You can free up the space by clearing the caches, deleting apps, offloading apps, or deleting unwanted files. By doing this, your Firestick device will function more prominently.
Go through this article to get to know the process for freeing up space on your Firestick.
How to Check the Storage on Firestick
Before getting into the clearing process, get to know about the storage of your Firestick device. So that you can delete the files to the required level. To check the disk space,
1. Turn on the Firestick and get the home screen.
2. Launch Settings and click on My Fire TV
3. Select the About option and click on Storage. Now, you can see the storage status of your Firestick device.
How to Free Up Space on Firestick
You can follow the below-mentioned methods one by one to remove unwanted data and apps and free up the internal storage on Firestick.
Clear Cache
By clearing the cache on Firestick, unwanted and residual data present on the app will be erased, which may pave the way to free storage on the device.
1. Turn on the Firestick and hit the Home button on the remote.
2. Click Settings and select the Applications option.
3. Direct to Manage Installed Applications option. Now, you can view the list of apps present on your Firestick.
4. Pick the particular app that has more cache and click Clear Cache.
Note: If you have any streaming app that has add-ons like Kodi, then clearing the cache on that app is not recommended. If done, it may delete all the add-ons present on the app.
5. If you did not store any personalized data or settings on the app, you can Clear Data on the app to free up more space.
Offload Apps
Offloading apps will also help get some free space on the Firestick device. The offloaded apps save your login details and the customized settings so you can re-install the app and start using it again.
Generally, the Firestick device comes with Auto Offload turned On, which automatically recognizes an app that has been unused for 60 days and offloads it. If it is turned off, you can enable it by directing to the Settings → Applications → Auto Offload. This process can also be done manually for the particular app. To do so, follow the steps below.
1. Pick the Firestick remote and hold the Home button.
2. Open the Settings menu and select the Manage installed apps option.
3. Now, press the three-bar (Menu) button on the Firestick remote and click Offload.
4. Confirm the process by clicking the Offload again. Now, the offloaded app will be marked with a Cloud icon.
Delete Apps
Some apps may take up more space on your Firestick. So, deleting those apps on Firestick will free up your device storage.
1. Get the home screen on your Firestick and click on Applications.
2. Now, in the App section, pick the app you want to delete.
3. Hit the Menu button on the Firestick remote and click Uninstall.
4. Confirm the process by clicking Uninstall again.
Delete APK Files
You may have sideloaded many apps on your Firestick due to the unavailability of the Amazon App Store. If you fail to delete those APK files, they may take up much more space. As the Firestick device does not come with a built-in file manager, it might be difficult to identify and delete sideloaded APK files. In that case, you can use the external tool called ES File Explorer to delete the APK files on Firestick.
1. Get the Firestick home screen and select Settings.
2. Tap on Find and hit the Search icon.
3. Look for the ES File Explorer app. Select the desired app and click Get/Download.
5. Launch the app and tap on Internal Storage.
6. Select the Downloads folder where you have saved the sideloaded apps.
7. Select the APK you want to erase and click Delete.
Reset Firestick
At times, some apps or files may fail to get deleted. In that case, you can remove them from your Firestick by resetting your device. Resetting the Firestick takes the device back to its original or default state. If you do not wish to reset your Firestick, move to the next method.
1. Get the home screen and click the Settings icon.
2. Tap the My Fire TV tab and hit the Reset to Factory Default option.
3. Click the Reset button to confirm the process. Now, your Fire TV Stick will be reset. After setting up your Firestick, you can see that those apps have been removed, and there will be a free space of 4.5 GB.
How to Set USB Drive as Internal Storage on Firestick
If you want to free up the space on Firestick without losing any apps or files, you can connect a USB drive and add additional storage on Firestick.
1. Connect a USB drive to the USB port on your Firestick-connected TV.
2. Go to Settings on your Firestick home screen.
3. Tap My Fire TV and select USB Drive.
4. Click Format to Internal Storage.
Note: This will wipe out all data stored on your USB drive, so copy it to another drive if you want to save it.
Now, you can add the downloaded files to your USB drive and access them on your Firestick. This will help you free up the space on Firestick without losing any apps or data.
FAQs
1. Is it possible to clear the space on the Firestick device by deleting the pre-installed app?
No, it is not possible to delete the pre-installed app from the Firestick device.
