--- title: Amazon is slowly destroying everything that made the... description: Amazon's new Vega OS, shipping on Fire TV Sticks since late 2025, abandons the Android-based Fire OS that made the device beloved among enthusiasts. The switch... canonical: https://daily.dev/posts/amazon-is-slowly-destroying-everything-that-made-the-fire-tv-stick-worth-buying-9jwizy3qp twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:site: @dailydotdev og:type: website og:site_name: daily.dev og:title: Amazon is slowly destroying everything that made the Fire TV Stick worth buying | daily.dev og:description: Amazon's new Vega OS, shipping on Fire TV Sticks since late 2025, abandons the Android-based Fire OS that made the device beloved among enthusiasts. The switch... og:url: https://daily.dev/posts/amazon-is-slowly-destroying-everything-that-made-the-fire-tv-stick-worth-buying-9jwizy3qp og:image: https://api.daily.dev/og/posts/9jWizY3qp.png og:image:alt: Amazon is slowly destroying everything that made the Fire TV Stick worth buying og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 630 og:locale: en --- > ## Documentation Index > Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://daily.dev/llms.txt > Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further. # Amazon is slowly destroying everything that made the Fire TV Stick worth buying **[XDA Developers](https://daily.dev/sources/xda-developers)** · 9 min read · 0 upvotes · 0 comments ## Summary Amazon's new Vega OS, shipping on Fire TV Sticks since late 2025, abandons the Android-based Fire OS that made the device beloved among enthusiasts. The switch eliminates sideloading APKs, shrinks the app library from 40,000+ Android apps to roughly 3,000 native Vega OS apps, blocks custom launchers, and introduces slower app launch times for streamed apps. While average consumers likely won't notice, power users who used the stick for Kodi, RetroArch, SmartTube, and self-hosted media lose the flexibility that set Fire TV apart from Roku and Apple TV. Amazon retains Fire OS support for existing devices until 2030, but new purchases are Vega OS only. The author argues this shift pushes enthusiasts toward Google TV Streamer and other Android TV alternatives. ## Full article daily.dev links to this article rather than hosting it. Read it at the original source: ## Similar posts on daily.dev - [The Fire Stick's Vega OS takes away consumer control but gives back efficiency instead](https://daily.dev/posts/the-fire-stick-s-vega-os-takes-away-consumer-control-but-gives-back-efficiency-instead-lupq9q0ev) · XDA Developers · 0 upvotes · 0 comments - [Amazon’s new Fire TV Stick HD runs Vega OS and ditches the power plug](https://daily.dev/posts/amazon-s-new-fire-tv-stick-hd-runs-vega-os-and-ditches-the-power-plug-j0vg5qyb8) · XDA Developers · 0 upvotes · 0 comments - [I retired my Fire TV Stick after a week with a real Android TV box, and the difference is hard to ignore](https://daily.dev/posts/i-retired-my-fire-tv-stick-after-a-week-with-a-real-android-tv-box-and-the-difference-is-hard-to-ig-avk1mieox) · XDA Developers · 0 upvotes · 0 comments - [Don't buy the new Fire TV Stick if you actually plan to use Jellyfin or Kodi](https://daily.dev/posts/don-t-buy-the-new-fire-tv-stick-if-you-actually-plan-to-use-jellyfin-or-kodi-7rdrgh556) · XDA Developers · 0 upvotes · 0 comments - [A $40 streaming stick fixed everything wrong with my smart TV](https://daily.dev/posts/a-40-streaming-stick-fixed-everything-wrong-with-my-smart-tv-amfbewlfs) · XDA Developers · 0 upvotes · 0 comments --- Tags: [#amazon](https://daily.dev/tags/amazon) [View this post on daily.dev](https://daily.dev/posts/amazon-is-slowly-destroying-everything-that-made-the-fire-tv-stick-worth-buying-9jwizy3qp) ```json {"@context":"https://schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https://daily.dev/#organization","name":"daily.dev","url":"https://daily.dev","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://daily.dev/apple-touch-icon.png","width":180,"height":180},"sameAs":["https://twitter.com/dailydotdev","https://github.com/dailydotdev","https://www.linkedin.com/company/daily-dev-ltd"]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https://daily.dev/#website","url":"https://daily.dev","name":"daily.dev","publisher":{"@id":"https://daily.dev/#organization"},"potentialAction":{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https://daily.dev/search?q={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}}]} {"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"TechArticle","headline":"Amazon is slowly destroying everything that made the Fire TV Stick worth buying","url":"https://daily.dev/posts/amazon-is-slowly-destroying-everything-that-made-the-fire-tv-stick-worth-buying-9jwizy3qp","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://daily.dev/posts/amazon-is-slowly-destroying-everything-that-made-the-fire-tv-stick-worth-buying-9jwizy3qp"},"datePublished":"2026-07-15T19:01:01.859Z","dateModified":"2026-07-15T19:03:25.063Z","description":"Amazon's new Vega OS, shipping on Fire TV Sticks since late 2025, abandons the Android-based Fire OS that made the device beloved among enthusiasts. 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