How To Opt Out Of Personal Data Collection On Amazon Fire TV

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Are you watching the television, or is it watching you? Apps, devices, and services have grown too comfortable requesting user information. Often disguised as a requirement for providing an “enriched user experience,” most smart things keep tabs on us — it’s understandable if that freaks you out a bit.

These products take in useful user inputs such as navigation habits, app usage, and device settings to deliver a more catered experience — but it’s also definitely used for advertising. This can be seen in how Google just knows what ads will get you on an impulsive shopping spree or YouTube displaying videos at 2 AM that intrigue you the most. For obvious reasons, Amazon is one of those brands that greatly benefit from understanding what interests its users the most. 

Amazon’s media streaming devices have climbed to the top of every smart home essentials list due to their budget pricing and heavy advertising (alongside Amazon’s other devices) on the world’s biggest shopping site. They’re a great value, especially with the brand promising four years of software support for Fire TV devices. Like most other Amazon services, though, the Fire Stick and other devices in the series collect personal data — but with just a few pushes on your remote, you can easily opt out of them.

Take control of your data

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Amazon offers a quick and easy way to revoke data collection permissions. You can control not only the device usage data it requests but also revoke Amazon’s access to your app usage information and over-the-air viewing data and turn off those eerily accurate interest-based ads. 

Boot up your Fire TV Stick, and from your home screen, launch the Settings app.
Navigate to Preferences> Privacy Settings> Device Usage Data, and flick the toggle off. 
You can turn off the “Collect App Usage Data” and “Interest-based Ads” options from the same Privacy Settings tab. 

For certain Fire TV devices, you can control these privacy settings through any device by visiting your Digital Content page on Amazon. Restricting user access to Amazon doesn’t stop the other apps on your device from potentially collecting their own set of data. This can be managed by diving into the privacy settings for individual apps and accounts. To further your new incognito life, you can clear app data on your Amazon Fire TV Stick altogether.

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