How to Restart App on Fire Stick

I recently had an issue with my Fire Stick where an app would crash the entire device. After trying a few different things with no luck, I decided to do some research to see if I could find a solution. To my surprise, there was not only a solution but several different ways to restart an app on a Fire Stick. In this blog post, I’ll share the tips and tricks I found and how I eventually solved my issue.

Although you can close the app and remove your Fire Stick, this won’t solve the issue if there’s a problem with the app’s data. It will only allow your app to relaunch if there is a minor glitch. If this doesn’t work, you’ll have to force close your app or even clear all its data and relaunch it.

Tips
To restart an app on a Fire Stick, try closing the app, restarting the Fire Stick without the remote, force closing the app, or deleting its data.
If there is a problem with the app’s data, closing the app and restarting the Fire Stick won’t solve the issue.
If the app is still freezing after you close it, force close it or delete its data to clear any faulty code.
If the issue persists, try uninstalling and reinstalling the app.
Restarting the app should fix any freezing issues.

Table of Contents

How to Restart App on Fire Stick

The beauty of Fire Stick is that it brings many free and paid apps in one entertainment hub that you can easily access whenever you want. Unfortunately, for some reason, your favorite app might freeze or crash while you’re watching, and no matter how many buttons you press, the app remains frozen.

There’s no power button that you can press to restart any app. However, there are several solutions that you can try and will actually get the app back to work.

Close the App

If your app is freezing because of minor power or internet connection glitches, closing it might work. This way, you won’t be restarting the app. Instead, you’re simply minimizing it, and it would still be running in the background. So, if the app is malfunctioning, this solution won’t work.

However, if there’s a minor problem, this might actually work. You can close the app you’re streaming, go to the Home screen, and relaunch it. This way, it will pick up where you left it.

Nevertheless, if there’s a bug or a glitch in the app that is causing it to restart, it won’t stop. So, in this case, you should find another solution to clear any error and start it one more time.

Restart Fire Stick Without Your Remote

Sometimes the problem isn’t just one app. If you’re dealing with a freezing issue that is affecting every app you try to stream, then there’s probably a problem with your Fire Stick itself.

Unfortunately, when this happens, then your remote will probably be unresponsive too. Yet, you can still restart your whole device to clear any problems by taking off the Fire Stick from the HDMI port. There might be a problem with your TV, or your Fire Stick device might be glitching. Let it sit for a few minutes, and then plug it one more time.

Once you plug it on, the operating system will restart, and your Fire Stick device and all the installed applications will restart. However, this solution doesn’t erase faulty data if there’s a problem with a specific app.

Restart App Using Force Close

For this method, you’ll use your Fire Stick remote to restart your device and the app you’re streaming. This solution will only force your application to restart, but it will retain all the data.

Press the Home button on the remote.

Go to Settings and click Down to navigate the menu until you find Applications.
Select the app you want to restart.
Use the Navigation button and select Manage Installed Applications.

Click Force Stop.
Launch the application one more time.

Restart App By Deleting its Data

This is another solution that you can try if the first one doesn’t work. Even after force closing the app, it might still freeze because of a false code, and in this case, you need to delete all the faulty data to be able to use it seamlessly.

Unfortunately, this solution deletes all the data of your app, so it’s like a new one. All your accounts, preferences, searches and views, history, and likes will be deleted. However, it will fix the problem of your app freezing.

Press the Home button on your remote.
Go to Settings and follow all the previous steps until you reach the app you want to restart.

Select Clear Data.
Launch the app from the Home screen one more time, and it should work fine.

In most cases, this would be enough to fix the freezing problem. However, if it still persists, you can try to uninstall and reinstall the app. Again, this solution deletes all your saved data, but your app, hopefully, won’t freeze anymore.

Conclusion

Closing the app you’re running on your Fire Stick might clear a minor glitch, but it doesn’t work if the app is crashing. To restart an app, you need to force close it and then restart it from scratch. If this doesn’t work, you’ll have to delete all its data and relaunch it from the beginning. You might even have to uninstall and reinstall it.