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.

Additionally, running its own Fire Stick OS gives Amazon greater control over the devices, including ensuring that users can’t circumvent ad placement on Fire Stick software—as well as supporting new features, including Amazon’s subscription and generative AI-based chatbot, Alexa+, and managing app support.

Malware threat

Yet, Aidan Marcuss, VP of Fire TV, advertising, and Appstore, didn’t mention these direct impacts of Vega OS when discussing motivation for the new software. In a recent interview, Or Goren, editor-in-chief of Cord Busters, a UK-based streaming news outlet, noted the negative reaction to Vega being a closed OS. Marcuss responded, per the publication, by saying that Vega OS was Amazon’s opportunity to “innovate and deliver more capabilities, even on the least expensive devices.”

He also said that making a platform around security and privacy was “sort of utmost in my mind.” The statement is somewhat ironic, considering Vega OS blocks custom launchers and other third-party apps that helped users avoid Amazon tracking and ads.