It took almost a month longer than expected, but Amazon has released an operating system update that brings the company’s latest software to some older tablets.
The company has released a Fire OS 7 update for the 2018 Amazon Fire 7 and 2019 Amazon Fire HD 8. This is the same software that ships with company’s current-gen tablets.
It’s not exactly cutting edge stuff though — Fire OS a fork of Google’s Android operating system, and version 7 is based on Android 9… which was released in 2018.
Still, this is a pretty significant update for Amazon’s older tablets. Previously they had been running Fire OS 7, which was based on Android 7.1, an operating system that was released in 2016.
New features in Fire OS 7 include:
- Updates to app permissions — users will have to grant permissions on a per-app basis.
- Stricter controls over background services, which should help with battery life and security/privacy.
- Restricted app access to WiFi
Visually, Fire OS 7 doesn’t look much different from older versions of Amazon’s tablet operating system. But the update to a newer version of Android should help with compatibility with newer apps that may require more recent APIs.
The updates should be rolling out automatically soon, but if you don’t want to wait, you can download the latest software updates from Amazon’s Fire Tablet Software update page.
via Android Police
fire OS 7 has compatibility problems with some apps
like Fahrenheit, jade empire, castlestorm, and optical inquisitor
it also has touch compatibility issues with after earth , the last dream, Nicolas Eymerich Inquisitor – Book 1: The Plague, paper galaxy, pettsons inventions, total recall, and ravensword: shadowlands, it also had problems with amazons “app compatibility enforcer” which disallowed the installing of apps that aren’t available on your device
and even apps that were available like boss monster, can you escape – tower, dissembly 3d draw a stick man: epic, eternal journey, plants vs zombies, reigns, runbot, the sandbox, and evertree inn. fire OS 7 also had optimization issue’s some apps don’t run as well as they used to like the shadow sun other things like apps and notifications menu actually crashes when it didn’t before
overall, fire OS 7 was a big step down from fire OS 6 which was a big step down from fire OS 5 these os’s are getting worse each time which is disappointing.
“Restricted app access to WiFi”
We use Fire Tablets in our business to connect to internally hosted intranet sites. After the FireOS 7.3.1.5 update the tablets can no longer connect to any internally hosted website with any browser. 60+ tablets completely out of commission for our critical business software. I’m not sure if it’s because it’s ignoring our DNS servers and going through 8.8.8.8 first or what. We’ve blocked all traffic to 8.8.8.8 trying to fix it and that didn’t help at all. We purchased Lenovo M8’s to start replacing the Fire tablets but it will be expensive to replace them all.
You know weeks later. The update isn’t very good. It feels like the performance is lower and things take longer to process.
Yes
Send downgrade feedback ti Amazon
Yeah, and this update broke my old tablet ðŸ˜
Send downgrade feedback ti Amazon
What about the HD10?
The 2019 model already runs Fire OS 7, while the 2017 model only supports Fire OS 6.
I do still use an Amazon device that is so confused with its own identity it displays the expression “kindle fire” as it boots. Neither a Kindle, nor a Fire, but some sort of transitional thing…
Not available for my 7th gen 2017 Fire HD 8! Since no updates are available, I’m gonna replace the HD 8 with a Samsung Galaxy tablet.
So because your three-year-old device isn’t receiving the absolute newest update… you’re going to replace it with a similar device from a company known for providing updates for about six months (maybe one year for their absolute top-end lines)? I’m not sure I follow that logic.
Anyway, it looks like an assortment of updates are being pushed to a ton of Fire devices–not just the one Brad mentioned. My 2017 Fire HD 8 7th Gen didn’t get Fire OS 7, but it installed 5.6.7 just yesterday. Then I turned on my ancient Fire HD 6″, and it received the 5.6.7 update today. Its last update was 5.6.1–in January 2019. Hopefully the HDX 8.9″ also receives that same update (5.6.1 to 5.6.7). Despite its age, the HDX is still a pretty nice tablet.