No — you can't sideload a VPN app onto Amazon's new Vega OS Fire TV Sticks, but you don't need to. Amazon has confirmed that its future Fire TV Sticks will run Vega OS, a locked-down system that only installs apps from its own Appstore. The simplest, most reliable answer is to put a UK residential IP on your router instead — then any Fire Stick works abroad with nothing to install.
Here's what's changed, why it matters for streaming your own UK subscriptions abroad, and how to keep watching on a Fire Stick without fighting the device.
In April 2026, Amazon confirmed that all its future Fire TV Sticks will run Vega OS — a Linux-based operating system that replaces the older, Android-based Fire OS. It isn't Android under the bonnet any more, and that single change is what affects VPN users. The rollout has already begun:
Amazon has said this is the direction of travel for the whole range, so a newly bought Fire Stick is increasingly likely to be a Vega device rather than one of the familiar Android ones.
The catch with Vega OS is that it blocks sideloading entirely. On the older Android Fire Sticks you could install apps from outside the official store — including VPN apps, and less legitimately, third-party IPTV apps. Vega OS closes that door: you can only install what Amazon offers in its own Appstore.
Because the mainstream VPN apps generally aren't in Amazon's Vega Appstore, there's simply no way to load one onto the stick. The old trick of downloading a VPN's installer file and side-loading it doesn't work on these devices at all.
For now, two older models still run Fire OS (the Android-based system) and still allow sideloading:
If you already own one of these, you can still install a VPN app on it. But even there it's fiddly — and a VPN app on a stick usually connects through a commercial data-centre IP, which UK streaming services are very good at spotting and blocking. Our guide on whether your Fire Stick will work abroad covers this in more detail. In short: sideloading is on the way out, and even where it still works it tends to be the less dependable option.
Here's the good news: you don't have to fight the device at all. Instead of trying to put a VPN on the Fire Stick, you put the UK connection on the router the stick connects to.
Our pre-configured VPN router connects through a genuine UK residential IP — the same kind of address an ordinary British home uses. Every device on that router's Wi-Fi shares it, so UK services tend to see an everyday UK household rather than a VPN. Because the clever part sits in the router, any Fire Stick works — Vega or Android — with nothing to install on the stick itself.
That neatly sidesteps the whole sideloading problem: it doesn't matter that Vega OS is locked down, because you're not installing anything on it.
There's nothing to sideload and no codes to enter. The router supplies the UK residential IP; the Fire Stick just runs the apps as it normally would.
Vega OS quietly puts a stop to the so-called "fully loaded" or "dodgy" Fire Sticks — the ones sold with pirated IPTV apps sideloaded on. Those apps were always illegal and unreliable, and they've long been blamed for slowing home broadband to a crawl. On a Vega stick they simply can't be installed.
The router route is the legitimate alternative. You use your own valid UK subscriptions — BBC iPlayer, ITVX, NOW, Sky and the rest — and the router simply gives you a UK residential IP so those services work while you're away. It's the honest, more dependable way to watch, rather than relying on a dodgy box that could stop working at any moment.
Because the router supplies the UK connection, every device on that network benefits — not just the Fire Stick. Phones, tablets, laptops, smart TVs and games consoles can all stream at the same time, each appearing to be an ordinary UK household. Set it up once and the whole household is covered, wherever you're staying.
The Fire TV Stick 4K Select (launched October 2025) and the Fire TV Stick HD (shipped 29 April 2026) run Vega OS, and Amazon has confirmed all its future Fire TV Sticks will use it too. The older Fire TV Stick 4K Plus and 4K Max still run the Android-based Fire OS.
No. Vega OS only installs apps from Amazon's own Appstore and blocks sideloading entirely, so you can't load a VPN app onto it. The more reliable approach is to put a UK residential IP on your router instead, which lets any Fire Stick work abroad with nothing to install on the stick.
Yes. The older Fire TV Stick 4K Plus and 4K Max still allow sideloading, and any Fire Stick — old or new — works abroad when it's connected to a SmartHub VPN router with a UK residential IP, because the UK connection comes from the router rather than the stick.
No. With a VPN router there's nothing to sideload onto the Fire Stick. You just connect the stick to the router's Wi-Fi and open your usual apps, and the router provides a UK residential IP so the services see an ordinary UK household.
Amazon's move to Vega OS means sideloading a VPN onto a new Fire Stick is no longer an option — but it was never the most dependable route anyway. Put the UK residential IP on the router and any Fire Stick works abroad with nothing to install, using your own valid UK subscriptions. Order ahead so you're set up before you travel, and the whole household can watch from day one.
