Fire TV is quickly becoming the worst streaming option for homelabbers

Published Sep 3, 2026, 2:30 PM EDT Sydney Butler is a technology writer with over 20 years of experience as a freelance PC technician and system builder and over a decade as a professional writer. He's worked for more than a decade in user education. On How-To Geek, he writes commerce content, guides, opinions, and specializes in editing hardware and cutting edge technology articles. Sydney started working as a freelance computer technician around the age of 13, before which he was in charge of running the computer center for his school. (He also ran LAN gaming tournaments when the teachers weren't looking!) His interests include VR, PC, Mac, gaming, 3D printing, consumer electronics, the web, and privacy. He holds a Master of Arts degree in Research Psychology with a minor in media and technology studies. His masters dissertation examined the potential for social media to spread misinformation. Outside of How-To Geek, he hosts the Online Tech Tips YouTube Channel, and writes for Online Tech Tips, Switching to Mac, and Helpdesk Geek. Sydney also writes for Expert Reviews UK. He also has bylines at 9to5Mac, 9to5Google, 9to5Toys, Tom's Hardware, MakeTechEasier, and Laptop Mag. Amazon's Fire TV streaming devices have been based on Android from the start, which made them an excellent choice for anyone who likes to tinker and modify things. Amazon subsidized the price of Fire TV streamers by monetizing them with ads and, of course, using them as a funnel for subscriptions and more Amazon purchases. This made the hardware itself cheap and plentiful, and truthfully, the specs weren't half bad for the price. However, the age of the easily hackable Fire TV is coming to an end. With the escalating prices of the alternatives, that's a sad state of affairs for homelabbers. Fire TV used to be an unusually good homelab companion It was open to suggestions Wait, don't these devices use "Fire OS"? Yes! However, that's just a skin and a rebranding of Android, which is in turn built on top of the Linux kernel. While most Android devices in the world have Google's services and the Google Play Store out of the box, that's completely optional. The Android Open Source Project doesn't include any of that. Raspberry Pi 5 Brand Raspberry Pi Storage 8GB It's only recommended for tech-savvy users, but the Raspberry Pi 5 is a tinkerer's dream. Cheap, highly customizable, and with great onboard specs, it's a solid base for your next mini PC. CPU Cortex A7 Memory 8GB Operating System Raspbian Ports 4 USB-A So Amazon took Android, renamed it "Fire OS," and added its own app store and other branded apps. But since it was still an Android device underneath, you could enable software installation from unknown sources and sideload your own Android APK files. That opened the door to software Amazon did not distribute. You could install applications directly from GitHub, test nightly builds, use alternative media players, or keep an app after it disappeared from Amazon’s store. That's perfect for a homelabber, since it means you could use a Fire TV with custom apps as an endpoint for your self-hosted services. The server is in a closet somewhere, but with the right app, a Fire Stick could be a thin client that lets you monitor and control that service. Sure, a Fire Stick is much less versatile than a Raspberry Pi or mini PC, but it's also a heck of a lot less expensive. Vega OS closes the Android side door Amazon's had enough Credit: Amazon All good things, as they say, must come to an end. So it is with Amazon's new Vega OS. The Fire TV Stick 4K Select debuted Vega OS in 2025, and the second-generation Fire TV Stick HD followed in 2026. According to the official Amazon site, Vega OS will ship on new Fire TV Sticks going forward. Credit: Hannah Stryker / How-To Geek Just like Android, Vega is based on Linux. However, the Linux kernel's licensing allows anyone to lock down their hardware. While you are legally required to publish the source code of what you build on top of the Linux kernel, that does not mean you have to allow anyone to modify the software on that device. This is often called "Tivoization" stemming from the TiVo devices that enforced this right in practice. Vega OS does not contain the app framework needed to install APK files, and while it obviously has a developer mode, it doesn't expose the option to install apps from unknown sources the way that Android does. Amazon’s testing documentation treats Android APK or AAB files and Vega VPKG files as mutually exclusive targets. Renaming an APK, transferring it over USB, or pushing it through developer mode will not make an Android application compatible. Jellyfin and Kodi are collateral damage Or should that be "collateral" damage? While Jellyfin provides official clients for Android and Fire TV, as of this writing, there isn't one for Vega OS. Our friends over at XDA tested an unofficial Jellyfin client called Astra, which is specifically for Fire Stick owners running Vega OS. However, while functional, it's still pretty basic at this point. Wholphin is another decent alternative Jellyfin app. Credit: Andy Betts / How-To Geek Kodi? You're out of luck. Because Kodi can "facilitate piracy," Amazon removed it from its app store in 2015, and the only way to get it was to sideload it. But, as you probably know, Kodi is perfectly legal and is no more or less connected to piracy than Jellyfin, Emby, or Plex. Even if there were a Vega OS version of Kodi, it's still not clear how you'd actually get it onto these new Fire Sticks. Existing Fire TV devices offer an escape hatch, but not a future This change does not immediately disable sideloading on every Fire TV product. The second-generation Fire TV Stick 4K Max, Fire TV Stick 4K Plus, and third-generation Fire TV Cube still use Android-based Fire OS. So if you're buying a Fire Stick specifically for Kodi, Jellyfin, or any sideloaded Android app, you'll have to choose carefully lest you accidentally choose a Vega OS device. If you're a homelabber, then it's time to look elsewhere. Grab a used mini PC or Raspberry Pi, or hack an old Android TV. Anything will give you less of a headache than dealing with Amazon's latest locked-down OS.