Amazon Kindle Fire OS update

Amazon is pushing a software update to Kindle Fire tablet users. Amazon says the OS update will bring “improvements”no information about the changes contained in the Kindle Fire 6.2 software update, but two things are clear:

  1. The Kindle Fire is configured to download the update automatically over a WiFi connection without any user intervention and for now there doesn’t appear to be an easy way to prevent your device from updating.
  2. If you have a rooted Kindle Fire, you’ll lose root access after the update is installed.

The good news is that you can use SuperOneClick to re-root your tablet just as easily after installing the software update. Just follow our step-by-step guide.

If you’ve installed the Android Market or custom keyboard apps, you may lose them along with root access — but you may not. Many users in the xda-developers forums are reporting that the Android Market is missing after updating. But when my tablet applied the update a few minutes ago, the Android Market continued to work.

Amazon Kindle Fire OS 6.2

Even if your Android Market does disappear, any you’ve downloaded and installed apps from the Android Market they’re stored safely in your /data/apps directory. They shouldn’t be affected. So all you need to do is re-root your tablet and re-install the Android Market.

Oh, the joys of being an early adopter and tweaker. I suspect it won’t take long for someone to whip up a program to prevent automatic updates. For most users, the automatic updates are probably a good thing though, as they’ll allow Amazon to push security updates and software improvements without user intervention.

Here’s a fun fact though. You can download the update file manually and open it up with a file archive manager such 7-zip to get a look at its insides. The file is choc full of apps including the app launcher, email app, and Kindle apps. There’s also a boot animation folder.

I wonder how long it will take for someone to create a custom system update that lets you flash the tablet with alternate apps, animations, and other tweaks.

Support Liliputing

Liliputing's primary sources of revenue are advertising and affiliate links (if you click the "Shop" button at the top of the page and buy something on Amazon, for example, we'll get a small commission).

But there are several ways you can support the site directly even if you're using an ad blocker* and hate online shopping.

Contribute to our Patreon campaign

or...

Contribute via PayPal

* If you are using an ad blocker like uBlock Origin and seeing a pop-up message at the bottom of the screen, we have a guide that may help you disable it.

Subscribe to Liliputing via Email

Enter your email address to subscribe to this blog and receive notifications of new posts by email.

Join 9,543 other subscribers

4 replies on “Amazon pushes Kindle Fire update, breaks root (you can re-root)”

  1. I manually installed the update this morning but didn’t realize I would have to re-root until after it was already installed.  But it is worth it.  The screen seems more fine tuned.  The browser feels faster.  There are a lot fewer times when I have to hit a button twice.  So in my estimation re-rooting is definitely worth it to have the update.

  2. The carousel flipping is now notable slower and smoother. This is something many people complained about.

Comments are closed.