Firestick Remote Blinking Orange (or Yellow): 6 Quick Fixes [2023]

Your Firestick remote’s blinking orange light is frustrating at best. At worst, it can ruin your evening plans or embarrass you in front of your guests. In this guide, you’ll learn how to quickly and easily deal with a flashing orange or yellow light on your Fire TV remote.

Why Is My Firestick Remote Blinking Orange?

Firestick remotes blink orange when they are looking for a Fire TV device to pair with. This is the remote’s Discovery Mode. The orange light should turn off when the remote pairs with your Firestick or when you deactivate Discovery Mode.

While the blinking orange light is a signal that the remote is trying to pair with the Fire TV device, it’s important to understand why this might be happening when it shouldn’t. Here are a few common causes:

1. Interference: Fire TV remotes use Bluetooth to communicate, and other devices that also use Bluetooth can interfere with this signal. This includes other remotes, mobile phones, laptops, or any other Bluetooth-enabled device.
2. Distance: If the remote is too far away from the Firestick, it may struggle to establish a connection. Walls and other physical obstructions can also weaken the signal.
3. Battery Issues: If the batteries in the remote are low, this can affect its ability to communicate with the Firestick. Similarly, if the batteries are inserted incorrectly, this can also cause problems.
4. Software Glitches: Sometimes, software issues in either the remote or the Firestick can cause connection problems. This could be due to bugs in the software or issues with updates.

By understanding these potential causes, you can better diagnose and resolve the issue when your Firestick remote blinks orange.

In some cases, the orange light will only appear when you press a button on your remote. That means that your remote isn’t paired with any Fire TV device but also isn’t in Discovery Mode.

Note: It may appear that your Firestick remote is flashing yellow instead of orange from some angles. There is no separate yellow light on the Firestick, so you can follow these instructions whether the light looks yellow or orange.

1. Move Your Remote Closer to Your Firestick

Fire TV remotes communicate using Bluetooth instead of the infrared (IR) signals used by most remotes. That’s often better since Bluetooth doesn’t require a direct line of sight to the TV.

However, Bluetooth does have a relatively short range and can be prone to interference from other Bluetooth devices, Wi-Fi devices, and even some household appliances like microwaves. If there is too much interference, your remote may be having a hard time seeing your Firestick even if they are in the same room.

Try moving your remote closer to your Firestick, preferably within 10 feet (3 meters). This may not cause the orange light to go away immediately, but it will make it easier to fix the pairing problem.

Troubleshooting tip: If you’ve moved your remote closer to the Firestick and it’s still blinking orange, check if there are any physical obstructions between the remote and the Firestick that could be affecting the Bluetooth signal.

2. Power Cycle Your Firestick

Often, the problem is with your Firestick, not the remote. To test this, we’ll use the classic tech support solution: turning it off and back on again.

1. Unplug your Firestick’s power cable. You can disconnect it from the Firestick or the wall, whichever is easier.
2. Wait 10 seconds.
3. Plug the Firestick back in.

Now try the remote again. If your remote doesn’t see the Firestick, don’t worry. That’s what we’re going to deal with in the next step.

Troubleshooting tip: If power cycling doesn’t resolve the issue, try plugging your Firestick into a different HDMI port on your TV or use a different power outlet. Sometimes, the issue might be with the port or outlet, not the Firestick itself.

3. Manually Pair Your Firestick and Remote

This fix is only useful if your remote isn’t flashing orange until you press a button. If it’s constantly flashing orange, you can skip to the next solution.

1. (If you didn’t already) Power cycle your firestick using the steps above.
2. Make sure your Firestick is turned on and fully booted. If you have multiple Fire TV devices, unplug the other ones to avoid pairing your remote with the wrong device.
3. Press the Home button on your remote and hold it until the light flashes orange rapidly (about 10 seconds).
4. Let go of the Home button and wait for the light to flash blue three times or for a message to appear on your TV telling you that it found the remote.

Try the remote again to make sure it paired properly. If your Firestick doesn’t respond to your remote, try the pairing process again or move on to the next section.

Troubleshooting tip: If manual pairing doesn’t work, ensure you’re pressing the correct buttons on the remote. Some users accidentally press the wrong buttons during this process.

4. Reset Your Fire TV Remote

We’ve tried all the easy fixes, so it’s time to do a factory reset of your remote. This won’t impact any of the apps or settings on your device. However, it will likely remove the shortcut assignments if you have the Alexa Voice Remote Pro (I haven’t been able to test that yet.)

Troubleshooting tip: If resetting your Fire TV remote doesn’t stop the orange blinking light, it’s possible your remote’s batteries are low or faulty. Try replacing the batteries and repeat the reset process.

Reset instructions for most Fire TV remotes

Most Fire TV remotes use the following reset process.

1. Unplug your Firestick and wait a full 60 seconds.
2. Press the Left, Menu, and Back buttons at the same time and hold them for 12 seconds.
3. Let go of the buttons and wait 5 seconds.
4. Remove the batteries from the remote.
5. Plug in your Firestick and wait another 60 seconds.
6. Put the batteries back in the remote.
7. Press the Home button.
8. Wait for the LED to flash blue.

If the remote doesn’t pair automatically, try the manual pairing instructions above.

Reset instructions for Fire TV Basic Edition Remote

The Fire TV Basic Edition Remote follows an older reset process. This is the original Fire TV remote that has no voice or power button above the directional buttons.

1. Press the Home button and hold it.
2. While holding the Home button, press the Menu button 3 times.
3. Let go of the Home button.
4. Press the Menu button 9 times.
5. Remove the batteries from the remote.
6. Unplug your Firestick and wait a full 60 seconds.
7. Put the batteries back in the remote.
8. Plug in your Firestick.
9. Wait for the home screen to appear.
10. Press the Home button and hold it for 40 seconds.
11. Wait 60 seconds for the setup process to finish.

5. Use the Fire TV App To Replace Your Remote

You can use your smartphone as a temporary replacement for your Fire TV remote. This isn’t an ideal long-term solution, but it lets you control your Firestick until you finish fixing or replacing your remote. It will also help if you need to pair a new Firestick remote without the old one.

1. Download the Fire TV app on the iOS app store or Android Play store.
2. Open the Fire TV app.
3. Click Set Up New Devic.
4. Select Fire TV from the list of device types.
5. Wait for the pairing process to complete.

Troubleshooting tip: If you’re having trouble pairing your Fire TV app with your Firestick, ensure your smartphone and Firestick are connected to the same Wi-Fi network. Also, check if your smartphone’s Bluetooth is turned on.

Once the app is paired, you’ll see an interface that looks a lot like your Firestick remote. There are a few limits to what it can do, but those shouldn’t become important unless you ever need to do a factory reset of your Firestick or set up a new Firestick.

The Fire TV app provides most of the controls of a physical Fire TV remote, including navigation, playback, and voice controls. It even has the added advantage of allowing you to input text using your phone’s keyboard, which is much faster than selecting letters on the Firestick’s on-screen keyboard.

However, the app does have some limitations. It requires a Wi-Fi connection to communicate with your Fire TV device, and it may not work if your phone is connected to a different network than your Fire TV. Also, the app may not have all the functionality of certain Firestick remotes, such as power or volume control for your TV. Lastly, if your Firestick is not responding or cannot connect to your Wi-Fi network, the app will not be able to control it.

6. Replace Your Firestick Remote

A factory reset should solve most problems. If it didn’t, you will likely need to replace your remote.

Amazon’s Fire TV warranty covers many remote issues. If your remote is still under warranty (usually 1 year), you should contact Amazon through the order page to see about a free replacement. Otherwise, you’ll probably have to purchase it at full price.

Make sure you buy a remote that’s compatible with your Fire TV or Firestick model and generation. You can find that info by opening your Firestick to Settings > My Fire TV > About > Fire TV Stick. You’ll need a working remote or the Fire TV app (see the previous section) to get to that menu screen.

My suggestion for most cases is the new Alexa Voice Remote Pro. It’s just a few dollars more than the standard remote and includes a few nice pretty awesome improvements like Find My Remote and customizable buttons that can open apps or trigger Alexa routines.

The Voice Remote Pro is compatible with every Fire TV Stick after the 1st generation and every Fire TV after the 2nd generation. You can find a complete compatibility list here for the Voice Remote Pro and the other latest Fire TV remotes.

Troubleshooting tip: Before purchasing a new remote, ensure the problem is indeed with your remote and not the Firestick itself. You can test this by trying to pair your Firestick with the Fire TV app or another compatible remote.

What’s Next?

It never hurts to have a backup option for your remote. Your phone is a good option, but I also like to have a universal remote for controlling my Firestick. And when all else fails, it’s handy to remember a few Alexa Fire TV voice commands

Firesticks are a lot more versatile than people think. I recently discovered that I could Airplay to Firestick, even though Fire TV is based on Android. That’s a pretty cool way to share your mobile finds with a group or to make your Firestick useful without the internet (it’s a dark thought, but outages do happen.)