Amazon Fire HD tablets are incredibly popular because they offer a fantastic media experience at a remarkably low price. However, to keep the price down, Amazon equips these tablets with very limited internal storage (often just 32GB or 64GB) and low amounts of system RAM.
As you use the tablet to browse the web, play games, or stream movies, apps constantly download temporary background files known as the cache. Because the tablet has such limited storage, this cache fills up the device rapidly. When a Fire Tablet runs out of space, it becomes painfully slow and apps begin crashing constantly.
Clearing the cache is a safe, easy process that deletes these temporary files without deleting your saved games, passwords, or personal data.
How to Clear the Cache for Individual Apps
Unlike traditional Android tablets, Amazon’s customised “Fire OS” requires you to clear the cache manually through a specific settings menu.
- Swipe down from the top of the screen to open the Quick Settings panel, and tap the Settings gear icon. (Alternatively, just tap the Settings app on your home screen).
- Tap on Apps & Notifications.
- Tap on Manage All Applications (or “See all apps” depending on your exact Fire OS version).
- You will now see a list of every app installed on your tablet. Scroll down and tap on the specific app that is running slowly or taking up too much space (for example, the Silk Browser or Netflix).
- Tap on Storage.
- Tap the Clear Cache button.
Warning: Be very careful not to tap “Clear Storage” or “Clear Data” (which is located right next to the Clear Cache button). If you clear the storage/data, it will completely reset the app, deleting your login information and forcing you to sign in again.
Once you tap Clear Cache, the cache size listed on the screen will drop to 0 Bytes. You can now press the back arrow and repeat the process for your other most frequently used apps.
How to Clear the Amazon Silk Browser Cache
If your tablet is generally running fine, but browsing the internet has become slow and unresponsive, you should clear the specific cache inside Amazon’s default web browser.
- Open the Silk Browser app.
- Tap the three vertical dots in the top-right corner of the browser window to open the menu.
- Tap on Settings.
- Tap on Privacy and security.
- Tap on Clear browsing data.
- Ensure the checkbox next to Cached images and files is selected. (You can uncheck “Browsing history” if you want to keep your history).
- Tap the Clear data button at the bottom right.
Restart the Tablet to Clear System RAM
After you have cleared the app caches, you should perform a hard restart. This flushes the system RAM, clearing out any memory leaks that might be slowing down the operating system itself.
To do this, simply press and hold down the Power button on the side of the tablet for roughly 40 seconds until the screen goes completely black. Ignore any pop-ups asking if you want to power off. Once the screen is black, release the button, wait a few seconds, and then press the Power button again to turn the tablet back on.
