These 4 tricks make my 9-year-old Apple TV 4K feel brand new

I have a first-gen Apple TV 4K that's approaching a decade old at this point. It's clear that its clock is ticking, but it continues to work for the time being. That's because I know a few tricks that can keep it running smoothly, and some could argue that it's almost back to feeling brand new -- at least until it's time to pull out some of these tricks again.

All streaming devices have some hang-ups from time to time, and the Apple TV is no different. Many of these tips will work across all of your devices, but some of them are exclusive to the Apple TV 4K. What's even better is the fact that many of these tricks take only a few seconds to pull off, so you can get back to watching your favorite shows and movies before you know it. Of course, if none of these things help speed up your Apple TV, it might be time for a new one. I know that time is coming for me, but these four things work just fine for me.

Force close apps that have been open for a while

Take back your speed

You might think that exiting out of an app and opening another might close the old one, but that's not the case. Your Apple TV 4K and other streaming devices, for that matter, keep it running in the background in an effort to make it a seamless transition back to other apps. While this is true, it actually slows down your devices if you keep all of these going. This is why I like to periodically force close some of these apps.

To do this, you have to double-tap the home button on your remote. Doing this brings up all of the apps you have open, and from there you can scroll through all of them and swipe them up to get rid of them. It means Netflix will take a few extra seconds to start up again, but I think this is well worth it if you value your device running smoothly. That's especially the case for apps you don't use very often that just run in the background, eating up your memory.

A nice restart works wonders

The most noticeable option

When my Apple TV 4K slows to a halt, a restart typically fixes the problem. This essentially reboots all of the apps and gives the Apple TV a fresh start. You can do this through the settings, but the easier way for me is to unplug the Apple TV from my power strip. If you leave it unplugged for about 10 seconds, you can plug it back in and turn it on. You'll know the restart is happening if your Apple TV takes a little bit longer to cycle through its startup phase.

This works for all kinds of devices, so if you're running into trouble with your TV or Xbox, try it there as well. My TV especially benefited from doing this before getting a streaming box. For whatever reason, it felt like my TV became sluggish very fast, and that's what eventually pushed me toward streaming devices in the first place. As it turns out, the same trick will help your Apple TV 4K, so don't be afraid of a reset.

Uninstall old apps that you don't need

Clean it up a bit

My Apple TV 4K has been with me for several years now, and over those years, I've downloaded quite a few apps. Many of those apps are things I don't use anymore. For example, I use Hulu + Live TV, so there's no reason for me to keep the Fubo TV or YouTube TV apps installed any longer, so I got rid of them. Having full storage isn't good for anything, and apps take up a bulk of that space for an Apple TV 4K. What's working in favor of the Apple TV 4K is a massive 64 GB (or 128) of storage space, so it can take a long time to fill this up.

I still think it's good practice to get rid of things you don't need, even if it's just a way to speed up your home screen scrolling. If you have to scroll for a while, it's just slowing you down from enjoying your favorite shows. I'm a big proponent of cutting down on downtime when you can, and having to sift through countless apps isn't a good way to use your time. This leads me to my final point.

Organize apps into folders

A cleaner, simpler look

Folders are a great way to make your Apple TV 4K home screen look clean. I already think the Apple TV has the best home screen thanks to the lack of ads, but you're able to organize things even further by putting apps into folders. This doesn't inherently result in a performance boost, but it does cut back on needless scrolling, and that could feel like a boost.

If your device is running slowly, I would want to spend as little time as possible on my home screen, and folders help accomplish that. You can also get everything organized once you uninstall unused apps. See, I told you these two points went together. This is something you should do regardless of your Apple TV 4K's age, because it's one of the cool things the Apple TV can do. I love that I can have a lot of customization over my home screen.