The Amazon Fire TV Stick line is one of the most popular families of streaming devices on the market. For many years, these budget-friendly gadgets were also some of the easiest streamers to load apps. Sideloading is simply the process of adding third-party software that is not listed on an official app store, giving users more freedom in choosing the apps and services that make up their streaming entertainment. Unfortunately, the future doesn’t look bright for Fire Stick-powered sideloading, as Amazon’s new Vega operating system was designed to prevent you from integrating third-party software.
Amazon also isn’t exactly transparent about which products use Vega OS. So we’ll just tell you: both the Fire TV Stick HD 2026 and Fire TV Stick 4K Select 2026 run Vega OS, making them the models to avoid if you want to sideload. All other Fire TV products (including the Fire TV Cube and smart TVs with Fire TV built-in) still use Fire OS, which should continue to support sideloading for the foreseeable future. This is because Fire OS is technically just a modified version of Android, a platform known for giving users and developers the freedom to install unofficially supported apps and tools.
Unlike Fire OS, Vega OS is Linux-based, which prevents the two new Fire TV products we mentioned from being able to sideload. Currently, there are two versions of the Fire TV Stick HD on the market, and only the older model supports Fire OS. Fortunately, it’s easy to tell the difference between the two, as only the Wi-Fi 5 edition of the Stick HD runs Fire OS.
Sideloading via Fire OS is still possible on older Fire TV hardware
Consumer technology is constantly evolving, and it’s only a matter of time before Amazon starts releasing new versions of its other Fire TV Stick models, as well as the Fire TV Cube and all Amazon-licensed smart TVs, available from brands like Hisense, TCL, and Insignia. And while it doesn’t look like Amazon will update existing Fire OS products to Vega OS, that’s always a possibility as well.
Fortunately, there are several other options when it comes to streaming platforms. Android is a popular system and is the underlying framework at the heart of Google TV, an operating system and user interface you’ll find on many smart TVs. There are also the Google TV Streamer, Nvidia Shield TV, and Nvidia Shield TV Pro streaming devices, all of which run on Android (the Google TV Streamer uses Google TV) and can be configured for sideloading. You can even integrate third-party launchers like Projectivy Launcher and Arc Launcher, the latter of which looks familiar to anyone who’s ever used an Apple TV (Arc is essentially the Android version of tvOS).
If you already own Fire TV products running Fire OS, or are considering purchasing a compatible model from a third-party seller, the Downloader launcher – developed by AFTVnews – is a well-approved tool that eliminates much of the ads and other interface bloat inherent to Fire OS.
