The New 4K Amazon Fire TV Stick Still Has This Disappointing Feature

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If your old Fire TV Stick has started to feel dated, then there are several things you can do to make your Fire TV device feel brand-new. If that doesn't work, though, Amazon has the latest Fire TV Stick 4K that costs $59.99 and replaces the Fire TV Stick 4K Select and 4K Plus in Amazon's lineup. It's also slimmer 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 to the wall.

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

Unfortunately, Amazon has carried over one of the biggest drawbacks from its newer 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, that probably won't matter if all you ever do is download Netflix, Disney+, and other big streaming apps. But if you like installing apps that aren't traditionally available in Amazon's ecosystem, then the new Fire TV Stick is a lot less flexible.

Sideloading has been one of the more useful things you could do with Fire TV hardware for years. Because Fire OS was originally based on Android, users could install Android APKs on Fire TV devices even if they weren't available through Amazon's App Store. Vega OS isn't just another branch based on Android, though; it's a closed-off Linux-based replacement.

That means Android APKs aren't compatible with it. Much like Google's move 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 concerns with piracy-driven third-party apps. Technically, there is still a way to sideload apps onto Amazon's newer Vega OS devices, but it isn't as open as the Android-based Fire OS streamers were.

Amazon requires users to be registered to turn on Developer Mode, and even then you can only install specially built Vega packages for testing on Fire TV devices. Because it's tied to a development workflow, though, it isn't going to be all that 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 multiple 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 staying within the Fire TV ecosystem. The Fire TV Stick 4K Max from 2023 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 has a 2.0 GHz quad-core processor, 2GB of RAM, 16GB of storage, Wi-Fi 6E, and support for Dolby Vision and Dolby Atmos. If you want to keep sideloading apps and using a Fire TV Stick, the 4K Max is the one you'll probably want to go with.

Of course, some might argue that the Fire TV Stick is good, but there are smarter buys out there. So that's definitely worth keeping in mind if you want the most bang for your buck. If you'd rather not stick with 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 through ADB the same way you could on older Fire TV Sticks. Walmart also offers the slightly cheaper Onn 4K Plus if you want sideloading while still saving a little extra cash.