Amazon is blaming the threat of malware for its decision to stop releasing new Fire Sticks that support sideloading apps from outside Amazon’s Appstore.
Amazon has released two Fire Stick models that use its proprietary, Linux-based operating system, Vega OS. Previous Fire Sticks ran Fire OS, which is an Android fork based on the Android Open Source Project. One of the biggest differences between Vega OS and Fire OS is that the former doesn’t support sideloading.
It wasn’t surprising when Amazon released its first Vega OS-based Fire Stick. Although many tinkerers sideloaded apps, especially from the Google Play Store, for added functionality, sideloading had also become largely associated with streaming piracy, especially of sporting events.
For years, stakeholders, including UK soccer channel Sky Sports, England’s Premier League professional soccer league, and the world’s largest European soccer streamer, DAZN, blamed Fire Sticks for a lot of streaming piracy. In May 2025, a report from Enders Analysis, a media and telecommunications research firm, said that Fire Sticks enabled billions of dollars’ worth of streaming piracy.
Amazon no longer making new Fire Sticks with sideloading addressed that concern, particularly as streaming service providers like Amazon display heightened interest in live events to make ad sales.
