So if you use a plain old fireTV device you seem to run into a limit of how many apps can be installed. The memory runs out of available space to actually use apps. Right now am down to 1.5gigs available under MY FIRETV and ABOUT. If we go any further with app installations the fireTV gets sluggish and might even stall/stop.
Point is that there is no warning from Amazon about what that limit is. Sure my fire cube and fire max work a little better even with pushing the limit to 1.5 gigs. But not much discussion or hard rules about what the limit is. And forget about upgrading the OS when you have this low space.
Actually there is not only a warning but Amazon posts it’s recommendations, although imho it’s wrong, and that is a minimum free space of 500MB. But, like you, I find a minimum of 1.5GB is best. Now I literally have close to 100 apps for my Max. With the Max adding storage is as simple as adding an OTG cable and say a 16GB Sandisk 3.0 USB drive. Plug the Sandisk in and follow the on screen prompts. I keep my Max with over 3 GB of free space by putting 3rd party apps onto the Sandisk. I keep main apps only directly in the Max ROM.
Ya you can put the APK on the usb drive, but really, apks are everywhere, and easy to get, no real need to save them, not to mention they are obsolete when an update rolls out.