As a Fire TV Stick user, you aren’t limited to downloading apps from the Amazon App Store only. You can install third-party apps from the web and Downloader is one of them. But when Downloader fails to work, your downloads may get stuck or the APKs won’t install on your Fire TV Stick.
Usually, all it needs is a quick refresh and restarting your Fire TV should fix the problem. If you’re still in trouble, we’ve got some solutions below to fix Downloader not working on Amazon Fire TV Stick.
Table of Contents
1. Enable Install Unknown Apps and ADB Debugging
Amazon’s Fire OS is based on Android and some restrictions might feel familiar. One of them is blocking apps from unknown sources, which can cause issues with Downloader whenever you try to install APKs.
To fix that, you need to allow installing apps from unknown sources on your Fire stick. For that, go to Settings > My Fire TV > Developer Options > Install unknown apps.
Choose Downloader and change it to ON.
Within Developer Options, I’d also recommend turning on ADB Debugging. This enables connections over network, letting you install applications from other sources without any errors.
If you can’t find Developer Options, go to Settings > My Fire TV > About > tap on Fire TV Stick (or your Fire TV name) for seven times to turn it on.
2. Check Fire TV Stick Storage
Fire TV Sticks are great for streaming, but their storage space is limited. Typically, a model has 8GB storage. After the system software holds some space, you’re left with just 4-5GB on it. This can fill up fast, especially if you have many apps installed.
If you get a storage error when trying to download files from Downloader, it’s possible that your Fire TV Stick is out of free space.
Go to Settings > Applications > Manage Installed Applications. Check the remaining storage in the right most column. To free up space, uninstall apps you no longer need.
3. Allow Storage Access to the Downloader App
Like most user apps, Downloader needs storage access to save files on Fire TV Stick. If you denied it accidentally during set up, it can’t download or install files.
To double-check permissions, go to Settings > Applications > Manage Installed Applications.
Choose Downloader and tap Manage Permissions. Allow the permission for Storage.
4. Clear Downloader App’s Cache and Data
It’s natural Downloader can accumulate cache and data over time. That can slow down the app or cause crashes and errors. Here’s how to give it a refresh:
Head to Settings on your Fire TV Stick. Go to Applications > Manage Installed Applications. Select Downloader from the list and tap on Clear Cache.
If it doesn’t help, you can also tap Clear Data to completely reset the app. It will give you a fresh start without uninstalling and re-installing the app, but you’ll lose your saved preferences.
5 . Enable Javascript
Downloader will easily let you grab things, some websites you visit might require JavaScript to run and display content correctly.
To remedy that, open the Downloader app, choose Settings from the left sidebar, and enable Javascript. Revisit the website that requries JavaScript and redownload the file or apk again.
Download Only From Trusted Sources
Downloader is quite useful to make the best of your Fire TV Stick, that is if it works as intended. If there are still issues, uninstall and re-install the Downloader app or try a different (or older) version. Many users download malicious APKs from sketchy or barely known websites and that can cause installation errors or malware on your Fire TV Stick.
