# New Kindle Fire update???



## MrKnucklehead (Mar 13, 2013)

I'm not sure how new it is,but, it updated my Fire 6" yesterday...it removed Carousel and removed logo for "home"...

I figured out how to use it but it's a P.I.T.A.!!! is there a backdoor to get back to Home screen with Carousel


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## Gertie Kindle (Nov 6, 2008)

Now that I'm used to it, I like it a lot more than the old carousel. It's a lot easier to find things.


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## MrKnucklehead (Mar 13, 2013)

since I only use the Kindle Fire for reading, what is the quickest way o get to screen with all the apps (with icon for books) without weaving thru all the screens of nonsense like special offers etc

#PleaseBringBackCarousel!!!


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## Ann in Arlington (Oct 27, 2008)

When I open my Fire, after swiping to clear the advert* it is generally wherever I left it, usually the home page which shows the books or magazines that are 'most recent'. And you can always get back tot heir by touching the circle at the bottom in the middle.

If I swipe to the right, it goes to a favorites page which has only what I've put there. If I swipe the menu bar, that's the fastest way to get to something other than the home page without flipping through the categories.

If I touch the icon to the right of the circle, I get a sort of stacked tile menu which shows the most recent things I've used and I can vertically page through to get to something I want. It's a sort of rolodex, rather than a carousel. 

* I don't like the 'swipe' to get the advert off as well with the new os. A quick swipe doesn't do it, you have to specifically start in the middle at the bottom with the lock and swipe up. And sometimes it doesn't take and I end up with the advert anyway. Fortunately, it's easy to get to 'home' by touching the circle in the middle. I'd consider paying to get rid of the ads altogether, but I'm not willing to spend that money as I don't _love_ the device. It turns out I've not _loved_ any of the Fires I've tried -- maybe I'm just not the tablet type. This one is moderately better in terms of weight and size -- but there's still something for me that isn't quite right. I haven't decided if I'm going to give up on tablets, or try some other brand.


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## Atunah (Nov 20, 2008)

MrKnucklehead said:


> I'm not sure how new it is,but, it updated my Fire 6" yesterday...it removed Carousel and removed logo for "home"...
> 
> I figured out how to use it but it's a P.I.T.A.!!! is there a backdoor to get back to Home screen with Carousel


There is a official way to downgrade back to the last update. Its done from the manage my devices page. You can always later update to the new one again. Here is amazon's description on how to do it. 
http://www.amazon.com/gp/help/customer/display.html/ref=hp_left_v4_sib?ie=UTF8&nodeId=201980430

That makes your Fire the way it was. It will though remove everything as it has to be factory reset.

Otherwise, to get to the page with all the apps, like Ann says, you hit the home icon (Circle) in the middle on the bottom bar. That gets you to that app page and it has the kindle book icon there. Give it a couple of days. If you use your fire basically for reading only and you want the recenet page, which is the one to the left of the home page, to only show books that you have read lately, you can do that in the settings. You can turn off a lot of the stuff like suggestions of stuff, or on the home page you can make the stuff on top also not show and only show the apps and app collections. Here is how.

swipe down and go to settings -- apps and games -- Amazon Application settings -- Home Screen Settings.
Here are 4 things you can turn on or off. Home recommendations, Show new items on home page, show apps on the recent page, change home page navigation.

IF you turn off the show apps on recent page, it will pretty much just show your books on that recent, which is kind of a type of carousel. Recent is to the left of the home page. If you turn off Show new items on the home page, it will just show the apps on the home page and not have that bar of new items on the top. New items are your new items you got on your device. 
Home recommendations I guess some call them ads, based on what you purchased, rated and all that they suggest stuff.

If you turn that stuff of, it will be already less cluttered.

Another thing one can turn off is advertising ID.

Settings - Apps and Games -- Advertising ID -you can turn off that thing that allows apps to use your advertising ID to show you interest based ads. Not sure what that does yet, I still have it on.

Hope this helps a bit.


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## MrBill (Nov 25, 2012)

Stick with the new update without the carousel.  Once you get used to it, you'll find that you like it and you will no longer miss the carousel!


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## Gertie Kindle (Nov 6, 2008)

The "recent" tab is sort of like the carousel except it's vertical rather than horizontal. It's the tab I use the most.


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## The Hooded Claw (Oct 12, 2009)

I'm not following Fire stuff closely, so I haven't researched it further, but this article claims that Amazon rolled back data encryption in the latest Fire update.

http://www.wired.com/2016/03/amazon-dropping-fire-encryption-nothing-apple/

Wired is reputable, so I assume this is accurate. I don't use my Amazon tablets much anymore, so it means little to me. I still keep them around because I do occasionally use the ability to hook them up to my Samsung TV.


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## Gertie Kindle (Nov 6, 2008)

I use my Fire for just about everything, including forum posts. I don't use it for anything financial, but I use it for just about everything else. Gah!


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## tsemple (Apr 27, 2009)

Encryption is coming back (in case you didn't read the other thread here). Did anyone use it in Fire OS 4? I didn't think so. I use a PIN code, that is enough 'security' for me.

I didn't like Carousel, but the new UI is a little worse IMO. But it's not so bad that I will revert to 4.5.5.1 (which requires factory reset).

I've made my peace with it by replacing the photo background, turning off all of the options in Home Screen Settings, and instead of swiping to BOOKS, VIDEO, GAMES etc., I use the shortcuts on the HOME screen for Books, Audiobooks, Music, Newsstand etc. which go straight to 'Library' view without having to hope what I want is in the 'mini Carousel'. And mostly I operate from RECENTS as that lets me switch between books more easily, and compensates for being unable to pin Collections to HOME screen.

Annoyances:
- why can't I move or add RECENTS items to collections directly from that screen?
- Collections have some bugs (items not showing up when they should, custom sort order doesn't stick, etc.)
- the Firefly app is gone and I don't know how to restore it


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