Fire TV Sticks are cheap, but I'm starting to feel like the home screen is the real price

Published Jul 25, 2026, 4:30 PM EDT Based in rural Minnesota, Brian Burgess worked in IT for 10 years before finding his passion for writing about consumer technology. Brian earned his degree in computer and network technology in 2000. He held various IT positions, including help desk support, router installations for IBM, database administration, and other associate network administration roles. He's been a personal technology journalist for 18 years and has written thousands of articles about Microsoft products and services, Android, iOS, streaming, and more. He has written for notable tech sites including XDA, InformationWeek, How-To Geek, Byte, groovyPost, and others. When he is away from the keyboard, you will hear him playing guitar, working outdoors, and watching Star Trek. There's no doubt that Fire TV Sticks are affordable — even the high-end models. That's great because it lets users stream content by simply plugging one into any TV and using it in unique ways wherever they go. However, there is one big annoyance that I consider the real cost of ownership of a Fire TV Stick — the home screen. Whether I am using an older Fire TV Stick with Android apps or new sticks with Vega OS, the home screen has always been a thorn in my side, and I feel like I paid Amazon for a product, then I have to turn around and work for them to clean up the mess of the home screen. I'm not the owner It's full of ads When I get a new Fire TV Stick and set it up, the initial reaction to the start screen is disgust. I am the product — seeing tons of ads for other Amazon services and channels. It is one of the most irksome things I have to deal with when using my Fire TV. Sure, I can set up Jellyfin and replace all of that, but I shouldn't have to. Plus, some live ads for movies, for instance, display in a large box when nothing is pressed on the remote. I don't care how cheap they sell the sticks for; when I purchase a product, I shouldn't be advertised to throughout the home screen and throughout the Fire or Vega OS system on the device you own. So, yes, the real price of owning a Fire TV Stick or Fire TV smart TV is the home screen. I already showed my appreciation for the Amazon product, so why should ads litter the home screen's landscape? A cluttered mess Takes forever to clean up When I install a new Fire TV Stick, I must clean up all the clutter. That is in addition to cringing at the ad annoyances. It contains thumbnail buttons for apps and channels I never asked for and will never use. I can easily get rid of it all by installing a self-hosted client like Plex or Jellyfin or a custom launcher, but custom launchers are a thing of the past with new sticks running Vega OS. Sure, some apps related to my account appear when I set up a new stick, but not all of them, because you know, Vega OS. Still, the extra junk apps and channels I don't want in my TV experience take me several hours to clean up, so I can have a more enjoyable experience while using the new stick. My time is valuable, and "working" on Amazon's flubbed home screen is a price I unfortunately have to pay. Vega OS issues It's a step backward Credit: Amazon Now, I do complain about the mess of apps included on the home screen, and it's true on older Fire Sticks that ran Android OS, but it's worse on new Sticks with Vega OS. The main reason being that most of the apps on new sticks with Amazon's new Vega OS are worthless. Yes, there are some essentials like Hulu, Disney, Netflix, YouTube, and others, but some of the included apps are ridiculously useless. The Music Videos app, for instance, I checked it out, and it doesn't even have search functionality. Some of the news apps I checked also seem half-baked. Not to mention that the new Sticks don't allow custom launchers, unlike on older sticks with an Android-powered OS. Also, it only has approximately 3,000 apps available. For enthusiasts, this is a major step backward. Having to suffer as a user because of Amazon's home screen ads, messy layout, and limitations is the final straw that makes me want to give up on it entirely. It's nearly impossible Since I am ranting about the home screen, I will keep going. It's not possible to remove the tiles from its sponsored or promoted thumbnails on the home screen. I can hide apps and live channels, but not most of Amazon's promoted material on new or older sticks. It is possible to hide individual apps or channels so they don't show up or to tamper with some ad recommendations, but it requires navigating the convoluted system menu settings, which, again, takes time — a price. So, on older sticks, I bypass everything using a custom launcher or turn my stick into a self-hosted server (Plex, Jellyfin, Emby, or something else, take your pick) so I can just watch my own media. I can always go onto the regular home screen to access something if I want to access an Amazon app, channel, or game that I happen to fancy. The Fire TV Stick's home screen makes you the product, not the owner While older sticks have more customization with launchers and over 40,000 Android-powered apps, the home screen is still a cluttered mess of apps with irritating ads, and it's hard to clean up. The same holds true for new sticks with Vega OS, but regardless of the OS, the Fire TV home screen is just a straight-up mess. Still, Vega OS is the worst because it doesn't allow custom launchers. Not to mention, there are only a paltry 3,000 apps available for new Fire TV Stick devices. Amazon has been trying to break away from Google, but enthusiasts who want to customize the home screen suffer as a result.