There’s often more than meets the eye when it comes to streaming devices and smart TVs from various brands. Underneath the UI we’re all familiar with, manufacturers tend to hide developer menus that are packed with extra settings and other developer-friendly tools. While a majority of folks may never have the need to dip into these secret screens, those who explore may find anything from performance adjustment and network monitoring tools to app sideloading capabilities.
Among myriad options, Amazon’s Fire TV Stick lineup — running FireOS — is one of the most popular streaming gadgets on the market. If you didn’t know, Amazon’s Fire OS is actually powered by Android’s Open Source Project, and as you can guess, the software is home to a couple of hidden developer menus. Here’s how to find your way to these hidden customizations, as well as what purposes some of these tucked-away features serve.
How to find the developer options on Fire OS
There are actually two developer menus built into Fire OS, and summoning these settings panels is pretty straightforward. To get started, grab your Fire TV remote and navigate to the gear icon to open the Settings menu. Scroll to the My Fire TV area, then select About. You should see the name of your Fire TV device listed at the top of the screen. Highlight it and repeatedly press the Action button on your Fire TV remote seven times until a “You are now a developer” message pops up on the screen.
Press the back button to return to the My Fire TV panel, and you should now see an entry for the Developer options menu. This is the first of the two developer screens. The second is a bit more complex and involves its own unique set of remote instructions. To access it, press and hold the Action button and the Down button on the navigation ring simultaneously for about four seconds. Then, release both buttons and press the Menu key. A Developer Tools Menu overlay should now show up on the UI.
What do the developer options menus do
Your Fire TV’s developer options aren’t to be taken lightly; if left in the wrong hands, one or more of these settings may render your Fire OS device inoperable. But if you’re feeling confident, there’s quite a bit of customization you’ll have access to. On that first developer menu, there are options for ADB Debugging, Apps from Unknown Sources, and a Deep Sleep function. The ADB toggle (which stands for Android Debug Bridge) allows you to add apps to your Fire TV device remotely, while the Apps from Unknown Sources option will allow you to download third-party apps that aren’t officially listed on the Amazon Appstore. Deep Sleep puts your device into a network-free hibernation.
The second screen (the Developer Tools Menu) is where even more magic happens. When you enable the System X-Ray function, you’ll be treated to a full breakdown of system specs, including CPU and GPU usage, network ID and connection strength, and other information that a developer may want access to when building, improving, or troubleshooting an app. While most of us will never need any of these extra settings, it pays to know these hidden menus are buried just beneath the surface of Fire OS.
