Amazon's New Fire TV Sticks No Longer Support Sideloading (cordcuttersnews.com)
- Reference: 0181739586
- News link: https://entertainment.slashdot.org/story/26/04/17/180203/amazons-new-fire-tv-sticks-no-longer-support-sideloading
- Source link: https://cordcuttersnews.com/amazon-is-warning-some-users-that-you-cant-sideload-apps-on-the-new-fire-stick-hd/
> This week, Amazon [2]announced the upcoming launch of a new Fire TV Stick HD. The new model will run on Amazon's Vega OS, rather than Android, so most streaming apps will be supported, but users won't be add third party apps. Now, on the [3]product page to preorder the new Fire Stick, some Amazon customers are getting a message warning them that the new model won't allow sideloading. Interestingly, not all customers are getting the message, whether signed in to an Amazon account or not.
>
> The message, shown in a screenshot below, says: "For enhanced security, this device prevents sideloading or installing apps from unknown sources. Only apps from the Amazon Appstore are available for download." [...] The Fire TV Stick Select, [4]announced in September 2025, also runs on Vega and some customers will see the same message about sideloading on that [5]product page . [...] While Amazon continues to be a "multi-OS company," we should expect that future Fire TV models will also be built with Vega OS, limiting the apps users can access with their streaming devices to those from the Amazon Appstore.
[1] https://cordcuttersnews.com/amazon-is-warning-some-users-that-you-cant-sideload-apps-on-the-new-fire-stick-hd/
[2] https://www.aboutamazon.com/news/devices/fire-tv-stick-hd-slimmest-streaming-device
[3] https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0DJGDC3BD?
[4] https://developer.amazon.com/apps-and-games/fire-tv
[5] https://www.amazon.com/amazon-fire-tv-stick-4K-select/dp/B0C6W3D4RM
kodi (Score:2)
I have jellyfin, but sideloading Kodi allowed me to play video directly from remote filesystem. Hope there is another app that does that available.
Re: (Score:3)
Both the Google TV Streamer 4K and the Walmart Onn 4K Android streaming device have Google Play store and you can install Kodi directly from there without side loading, and there are other inexpensive devices that can do that.
Re: (Score:2)
Kodi is not available thru Google Play here, if you have seen it there send the link as it may be region difference. All devices I have seen with it have installed it in the factory or side loaded afterward.
I have sideloaded Kodi on smart TVs, Google Chromcasts and FireTVs and all of them deteriorated in usability over time and Google is hell bent on warning you about the dangers of sideloaded stuff and wanting to remove it. With smart TV and FireTVs Kodi became virtually unusable with every system sof
Re: (Score:2)
I just run Kodi on a Pi 4 and use an 8TB external drive, that acts as a backup to my main media drive.
Re: (Score:3)
I'm in the USA and loaded Kodi from the Google Play store. I use it frequently to play video and music from my Windows SMB server and haven't noticed any deterioration.
Here's the USA link: [1]https://play.google.com/store/... [google.com]
[1] https://play.google.com/store/search?q=kodi&c=apps&hl=en_US
Re: (Score:2)
I'm using a Google TV Streamer 4K as my device.
Re: (Score:2)
Really interesting. When I posted I first checked it was still not available I didn't see it. Followed your link and now it does show. Checked with Kodi's site and they link to Play Store so looks legit. It has been a few year since I installed it on an Android device. Back then sideload was the only way to install, not sure when or why that changed. I'm going to stick with the RPi and LibreELEC as my STB solution but will try this on my most recent Android tablet.
Re: (Score:2)
[1]https://play.google.com/store/... [google.com]
[1] https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=org.xbmc.kodi&hl=en_US
Re: (Score:2)
The Onn is an excellent device for the money and most questionable aspects can be disabled or piholed. Jellyfin and SmartTube and Projectivy are all fine.
I should go see if LineageOS has added any new low-power devices in the past year. That's the best option but nothing supported was for sale when I last looked.
They switched from Android (Score:5, Informative)
A more fundamental reason is that they switched away from Android to Vega. It's a custom OS with a React.Native-based UI. There is literally no infrastructure in it for side-loaded apps.
Re: They switched from Android (Score:2)
Which makes it not really something you own.
Re: (Score:2)
Yes, $35 buys you a dongle with just enough of an OS to bootstrap renting 4K content.
Re: (Score:2)
I'm glad I have all the firesticks I need right now. I actually bought a bunch of the original model when I heard that they were making this change.
Re: (Score:2)
Well, yeah. It's a dirt-cheap disposable device for content consumption.
Re: (Score:2)
...as long as they allow you to the functionality. They could lock you out after a year and then there is nothing you can do with it. At least the old Firesticks were still an android you could run Jellyfin on etc.
better off without Amazon (Score:3)
Just use a laptop or sbc like raspberry pi and pirate movies to stream to your TV, users should quit making the rich richer
TV sticks are just too poisonous now (Score:2)
Better to build a thin client, and install Linux on it.
That way, you're in control
Government ID required (Score:2)
I wonder if the timing of this is related to their recent forcing of developers to supply government issued ID to create apps for their app store. I got multiple warnings about this and when I looked at the process it was clear they want to 100% know who you really are. I couldn't even remember why I had a developer account, I'm guessing I created years ago when Alex was the hot new thing with the intent of customising my use if it. I ignored their demands and will continue ignoring their app store immed
Sales will drop (Score:2)
Nobody has a reason to buy one now.
Maybe (Score:2)
Software bugs and backdoors could provide surprises.
Re:Maybe (Score:4, Informative)
Or just don't fight it and get an NVIDIA Shield. It's a 10x better experience anyway.
Re: Maybe (Score:3)
You can buy a full pc for the price of a shield.
Re: (Score:3)
Okay, but that's not really helpful if you're looking for something comparable to a firestick but still want to sideload Android apps.
Re: (Score:2)
Nor is recommending a shield very helpful when we are talking about a $35 device replacement.
Re:Maybe (Score:4, Informative)
The Raspberry Pi 4 with 2GB runs LibreELEC just fine and was cheap pre-AI RAM pricing. Pair it with a cheap Chinese Bluetooth FireTV remote for control. Add a POE hat for power and you just need a HDMI cable to the TV/monitor and an Ethernet cable to your network. Set up PXE booting from the NAS your media is from so no need to worry about SD cards. I have been running 5 of them in this configuration for several years, super reliable and no enshitification to worry about.
Re: Maybe (Score:2)
As an owner of both, you're very mistaken, the FireTV stick is much better considering its price, which is a fraction of the shield, and most people don't use anything else as their streaming/media apps on these things. But if you're into native gaming with better graphics, yeah, than the shield is better, but most don't use it for that.