Is it true that firesticks are now finished?

[Billy315]

With the power of amazon and google not allowing you to download items?

People say get one of the many boxes. They are supposed to be free of the big companies power and allow downloads?

 

[unique]

I've been using my 4k firestick daily since I got it years ago. It's the first model. I use legit apps and use kodi daily and it works great. It's also cheap, especially when the amazon sales are on, which is pretty frequent. It depends on what you want to do with it really. At under £30 it's not a big spend. It's not like it will completely stop working and be no use if they block more stuff as it still does iplayer and most of the common legit streaming services. I don't have any plugins on my kodi or use any other "dodgy" apps. Alternate boxes, at least cheap ones, may not run the legit streaming services in 4k, which may be a downside if you use them. Basically do your research on what you want and if the device supports it.

 

[HiTecK]

I'm sure we have a dedicated section for this other than general chat 🤔..


Moved.

 

[Prim@l]

Or merged with one of the few threads discussing it:

Thread 'Amazon to block ‘dodgy’ Fire TV Stick apps from TODAY in new major global piracy crackdown'

Oct 31, 2025

DODGY telly apps that allow Amazon Fire Stick owners to watch premium TV illegally will stop working from today.

Amazon has launched a major global crackdown on Fire Stick piracy that will see illegal streaming apps blocked.

The tech giant has been keeping illegal TV apps off its official Appstore for years.

But TV pirates get around this by “side-loading” apps onto Amazon Fire Sticks.

These unofficial apps – installed from outside of the Appstore – grant widespread access to premium telly, including top Hollywood movies and live sports.

But Amazon has confirmed to The Sun that it...

• HiTecK
• Replies: 114
• Forum: IPTV Guides Support, Downloads and Discussions

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Thread 'Firestick alternatives'

Nov 16, 2025

Here are some alternative devices that have been selected by other members that I have put together into one single post to make them easier to find instead of having to look through an entire thread.

Tanix TX5 Plus

M11 Max

Vontar X4

X96 Max Plus

Xiaomi Mi TV stick

Transpeed M98 stick

Transpeed TV box Allwinner

TV98 ATV stick


Vontar r5 (bt remote)
https://a.aliexpress.com/_EuBiizO

X96 m200 (bt remote)
https://a.aliexpress.com/_EzyEOzQ

Vontar rt-x2 (bt remote)
https://a.aliexpress.com/_EJ0VuJS

Hk1 x4s...

• Satda06
• Replies: 225
• Forum: IPTV Guides Support, Downloads and Discussions

• 

J

Thread 'Block Firestick upgrades'

Jul 3, 2025

Hi,
I've read that new updates on the firestick will soon block some third party apps... IPTV smarters etc might get blocked I understand. I tried blocking updates with unbloat tools but no luck, does anyone know other ways? Thanks ☺️

• JackMehov
• Replies: 69
• Forum: IPTV Guides Support, Downloads and Discussions

Thread 'Amazon Firestick FINALLY Done IT - 3rd Party APPS BLOCKED !'

Jun 22, 2025

• Joe516
• android apps blocks iptv update vega os
• Replies: 66
• Forum: IPTV Guides Support, Downloads and Discussions

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[sandra51]

I haven't had any problems until last night when Smartube stopped working on my Firestick 4K.

I downloaded the TizenTubeCobalt .apk from this link this afternoon:

TizenTubeCobalt

Then installed it using ADBlink

It seems to work OK on my Firestick, Nvidia TV shield pro and an Android tablet.

 

[manic01]

I haven't had any problems until last night when Smartube stopped working on my Firestick 4K.

I downloaded the TizenTubeCobalt .apk from this link this afternoon:

TizenTubeCobalt

Then installed it using ADBlink

It seems to work OK on my Firestick, Nvidia TV shield pro and an Android tablet.

Smartube still works fine on my fs 4k and 4k Max

 

[Aristotle]

I haven't had any problems until last night when Smartube stopped working on my Firestick 4K.

I downloaded the TizenTubeCobalt .apk from this link this afternoon:

TizenTubeCobalt

Then installed it using ADBlink

It seems to work OK on my Firestick, Nvidia TV shield pro and an Android tablet.

Latest stable release is v30.98.

 

[mike142]

SmartTube wasn't working on my Firestick Max, it would open but wouldn't play any videos,
So I deleted it & went to the SmartTube website & downloaded this version - SmartTube_stable_30.98_armeabi-v7a
It works okay, I have posted it here - SmartTube

 

[sandra51]

SmartTube wasn't working on my Firestick Max, it would open but wouldn't play any videos,
So I deleted it & went to the SmartTube website & downloaded this version - SmartTube_stable_30.98_armeabi-v7a
It works okay, I have posted it here - SmartTube

I tried that but if I fast forwarded it stopped playing and came up with an error code. If I then tried to play any other videos it wouldn’t play and the same text and error code appeared.

 

[mike142]

I tried that but if I fast forwarded it stopped playing and came up with an error code. If I then tried to play any other videos it wouldn’t play and the same text and error code appeared.

Strange, it's working well with me, try some of the other versions on their website,
Home
Release 30.98 Stable · yuliskov/SmartTube

 

[sandra51]

I downloaded that and then it updated and has been Ok since, thanks 🙂