Yes, the Amazon Signage Stick keeps playing when the internet drops. The signage app saves your content on the stick and plays it from there. What stops is anything new: changes you make in the CMS, live web pages and feeds, and remote commands all wait until the stick reconnects.
Amazon's FAQ says the stick "automatically caches content locally and continues playback" without a network. How long, and how much fits, depends on the signage software on the stick (the "Fire Stick" only provides the storage).
What keeps working offline
- Saved images, videos and designed slides. Anything already downloaded plays as normal.
- Opening hours. In most signage apps the TV turns on and off by the stick's own clock.
- A restart. In most apps, a stick that loses power and restarts with no internet goes back to its saved content. Test this with your CMS before you rely on it.
What stops until the stick reconnects
- Changes. A new file, an edited playlist or a new schedule reaches the stick only when it is back online.
- Live web pages. A web page shown live needs the internet. It goes blank or shows an error unless your app saved a snapshot of it.
- Data feeds. A Google Sheet, JSON feed or news ticker stops updating. Most apps hold the last reading.
- Remote control. Screenshots, reboots and other commands from the CMS wait for the connection.
- Updates. Amazon notes that stick software and CMS app updates are not delivered offline. They install after the stick reconnects.
How much content fits
The stick has 16 GB of storage, shared with Fire OS, Amazon's services and the signage app. Each signage app then decides how much of the rest it may use for your content. Plan on a few gigabytes, not 16.
| Content | Rough size |
|---|---|
| A photo or designed slide | Under 1 MB to a few MB |
| 1 minute of 1080p video at a typical signage bitrate | About 40 to 80 MB |
| 1 minute of 4K video | About 150 to 300 MB |
To fit more, export video at the screen's resolution (1080p for most TVs) and shorten long loops. A 4K file on a 1080p TV fills the stick and looks no sharper. When the space runs out, see storage full.
Setting up a site with unreliable internet
- Pair the stick and let all content download on a good network before it ships.
- Check your signage app shows every item as downloaded.
- Use Ethernet where you can. Power the Ethernet adapter from the wall, not the TV. See keeps disconnecting.
- Keep live web pages out of the main loop, or use a saved snapshot.
- Switch off the Wi-Fi (or unplug the Ethernet adapter) once, on purpose, and watch the screen. Then pull the power too.
Where Brix fits
Brix saves each screen's content on the Signage Stick and plays it from there:
- No time limit and no license check. A screen keeps playing offline for as long as the outage lasts. A dropped connection never unpairs a screen. Only removing it in Brix does.
- Schedules. The stick carries the next two schedule changes, so a breakfast-to-lunch switch still happens offline. Changes beyond those wait for the connection. Screen hours follow the stick's own clock for as long as it is offline.
- After a power cut, the stick plays its saved content before it reconnects.
- Storage. Across the Signage Sticks running Brix, a Stick reports about 12 GB of usable storage, and a typical one has about 10.7 GB free. On player version 9.1.52 and later, Brix lets its cache use up to half of the stick's storage (earlier versions stopped at 1 GB), and never removes content the screen is due to play. If the content does not fit, the screen reads Cache full and plays the rest from the internet, so those files do not play offline.
- Apps and snapshot web pages hold their last frame. A web page in live mode needs the internet.
- Proof of play (off by default) keeps a record of offline plays and sends it on reconnect. It holds the latest 500 records.
- A change or emergency takeover that starts and ends during the outage never plays. On reconnect the stick gets what is current.
A screen offline in Brix can still be playing normally on the wall. A Screen goes offline alert opens in the CMS with no setup. Add an alert rule so the right person also gets an email. See alerts and emergencies.
If a site is offline most of the time, a networked signage stick is the wrong tool. Content goes stale and nobody sees problems. Fix the connection first.
FAQ
Does offline playback cost extra?
Not in Brix. Every screen works this way at $6 per screen per month billed annually, or $8 billed monthly. See pricing.
Can I load content from a USB drive instead?
No. The stick gets content from a CMS over the network. For a screen that is never online, the TV's own USB media player is simpler.
Start a 7-day free trial, pair a stick, and switch off the Wi-Fi to watch it keep playing.