The new 4K Amazon Fire TV Stick still has this disappointing feature

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If your old Fire TV Stick is starting to look dated, there are several things you can do to make your Fire TV device look new. If that doesn’t work, Amazon has the latest Fire TV Stick 4K which costs $59.99 and replaces the Fire TV Stick 4K Select and 4K Plus in Amazon’s lineup. It’s also thinner than older models, and according to Amazon, a new Direct Power feature lets you power the Fire TV Stick directly from your TV’s USB port instead of running another cable through the wall.

As for hardware, the new Fire TV Stick 4K comes with a 1.7GHz quad-core processor, 8GB of storage, Wi-Fi 6, and support for 4K video up to 60 frames per second. It supports HDR10, HDR10+ and HLG, although it lacks Dolby Vision and Dolby Atmos decoding. Amazon also makes big claims when it comes to speed, saying the new model can get you to streaming between 20% and 40% faster than a similarly priced 4K streaming stick from another major brand.

Unfortunately, Amazon has retained one of the biggest drawbacks of its new Fire TV hardware: it doesn’t support sideloading. That’s because the latest Fire TV Stick 4K runs Vega OS instead of the Android-based Fire OS found on older models. Now, this probably won’t matter if all you’re doing is downloading Netflix, Disney+, and other big streaming apps. But if you like to install apps that aren’t traditionally available in Amazon’s ecosystem, the new Fire TV Stick is much less flexible.

Sideloading has been one of the most useful things you can do with Fire TV hardware for years. Since Fire OS was originally based on Android, users could install Android APKs on Fire TV devices even if they were not available through the Amazon App Store. However, Vega OS isn’t just another offshoot based on Android; it is a closed replacement based on Linux.

This means that Android APKs are not compatible with it. Much like Google’s decision to limit sideloading on Android devices, Amazon is intentionally moving future Fire TV sticks away from sideloading to help protect users from malware, as well as to address issues with third-party apps motivated by piracy. Technically, there’s still a way to sideload apps on Amazon’s new Vega OS devices, but it’s not as open as Android-based Fire OS streamers.

Amazon requires users to be registered to enable Developer Mode, and even then you can only install Vega packages specifically designed for testing on Fire TV devices. However, because it’s tied to a development workflow, it won’t be very useful for the average Fire TV owner. Amazon has added more than 2,000 apps to Vega OS since last year, including VLC, Xbox, Spotify, and even several VPN apps. If sideloading is how you got the most out of your Fire TV Stick, then these newer devices are probably going to miss the mark.

Funny enough, Amazon still sells a great option for anyone who wants the flexibility of being able to sideload apps while remaining within the Fire TV ecosystem. The 2023 Fire TV Stick 4K Max runs Fire OS 8 and is based on Android 11, so it still supports Android APKs. It’s also still available for purchase on Amazon and features a 2.0GHz quad-core processor, 2GB of RAM, 16GB of storage, Wi-Fi 6E, and support for Dolby Vision and Dolby Atmos. If you want to still load apps and use a Fire TV Stick, the 4K Max is the one you’ll probably want to use.

Sure, some might argue that the Fire TV Stick is good, but there are smarter purchases. So this is definitely worth keeping in mind if you want to get value for your money. If you’d rather not stick to Amazon at all, then Walmart’s 2026 Onn 4K Pro is a solid alternative. At $59.98, the Onn 4K Pro comes with 3GB of RAM, 32GB of storage, Wi-Fi 6, Ethernet, Dolby Vision, and Dolby Atmos. And since it runs Google TV on Android 14, you can also install APK files via ADB the same way you could on older Fire TV Sticks. Walmart also offers the Onn 4K Plus slightly cheaper if you want side loading while saving a little extra money.