Amazon Fire TV will now block apps used for piracy, even if you sideloaded them

November 12, 2025

Amazon has confirmed that Fire TV devices will now block apps that are known to be used for piracy, even if you sideloaded them on the company’s Android-based streamers.

Speaking to The Athletic (part of The New York Times), Amazon has confirmed that it is actively working to block access to apps on Fire TV devices if they are known to provide access to pirated content. This applies even if the app was sideloaded on the device.

Amazon explains:

Piracy is illegal and we’ve always worked to block it from our app store. We’ll now block apps identified as providing access to pirated content, including those downloaded from outside our app store. This builds on our ongoing efforts to support creators and protect customers, as piracy can also expose users to malware, viruses and fraud.

This comes after data reported by The Athletic found that, at least in the UK, over 30% of illegal streams in the country were from “Fire Stick” and other IPTV devices, second only to web browsers.

Advertisement – scroll for more content

Amazon’s new effort was working with the Alliance for Creativity and Entertainment which fights piracy for over 50 media companies and brands including Disney, HBO, Netflix, and Sony Pictures, just to name a few.

The blocking of piracy apps on Fire TV will start in Germany and France, the report brings out, before expanding globally “in the coming weeks and months.”

This also comes after Amazon has launched its VegaOS platform for Fire TV devices which, as the company outright tells customers, does not support the installation of apps not available in Amazon’s app store. This is because the new platform, unlike the current foundations for Fire TV, is not based on Android.