Amazon to restore sideloading on Fire TV via software fix

Amazon has announced that an upcoming software update will restore sideloading capabilities to Fire TV devices running Fire OS. The company clarified that the recent inability to install third-party applications, such as Downloader, was caused by a technical bug rather than an intentional policy change to block external software.

The issue stemmed from a synchronization error in a recent settings update. This bug caused the ‘Install unknown apps’ menu to appear incomplete or empty on certain devices, preventing users from granting permissions to APK files. The problem primarily affects devices running Fire OS 7 and Fire OS 8.

Amazon plans to roll out a fix automatically via a system component update within the coming week. This news comes amid a broader shift in Amazon’s hardware strategy, as the company begins transitioning newer Fire TV Stick models to Vega OS, a Linux-based operating system designed for improved performance that does not support Android-based sideloading.