Amazon’s crackdown on dodgy IPTV apps has finally reached UK Fire TV devices – several months after the blocking system launched in other markets.
Users across the UK are now reporting that illegal streaming apps installed on their Fire TV Sticks are being blocked from launching, greeted instead with a message stating the app “has been disabled because it has been identified as using or providing access to unlicensed content.”
The blocking appears to be rolling out gradually, with some UK users reporting disabled apps over the past few weeks whilst others haven’t seen any changes yet.
The inconsistency seems to depend on which specific Fire TV device you own, which apps you’ve installed, and which versions of those apps you’re running.
But one thing’s clear: the enforcement programme that started in other countries last October is now very much active in the UK, and Amazon is now also addressing user concerns about the blocking, including whether you can get a refund if you bought your Fire TV specifically for these apps.
What Amazon Is Blocking
When Amazon detects a blacklisted app on your Fire TV device, you’ll see a full-screen warning when you try to launch it.
The message explains the app has been disabled due to unlicensed content, and offers two options: dismiss the warning (without running the app) or uninstall the app entirely.
There’s no third option to override the block and use the app anyway. Once Amazon has flagged an app, that’s it – it won’t run on your device anymore.
The blocking system targets sideloaded IPTV apps – applications installed from outside the Amazon Appstore that provide access to pirated streams of Premier League football, films, TV shows, and other premium content.
Popular targets include apps like BeeTV, Cinema HD, and various IPTV services that have become synonymous with the “dodgy Firestick” phenomenon in the UK.
Amazon is working with the Alliance for Creativity and Entertainment (ACE) to identify which apps should be blocked.
ACE is a coalition of over 50 major entertainment companies – Netflix, Disney, Sky, the Premier League, Warner Bros, and ironically Amazon itself through Prime Video – all united in fighting digital piracy.
Through what’s known as a “trusted notifier” agreement, ACE provides Amazon with intelligence about illegal streaming apps, and Amazon blocks those apps from working on Fire TV devices.
The Timeline: How We Got Here
Amazon first announced this blocking system back in October 2025, though at the time it only applied to users in the United States and certain other markets – not the UK.
Speaking to Cord Busters in October, an Amazon spokesperson confirmed the company would “block apps identified as providing access to pirated content, including those downloaded from outside our Appstore.”
The announcement came after months of intense pressure from broadcasters, particularly Sky.
Back in February 2025, Sky’s chief operating officer Nick Herm publicly claimed Fire TV Sticks accounted for “probably about half of the piracy” of Premier League football in the UK, and demanded Amazon impose controls on sideloaded apps.
Amazon’s response was two-pronged: launch the Fire TV Stick 4K Select with its locked-down Vega operating system that doesn’t support sideloading at all, and implement active blocking of illegal apps on existing Android-based Fire TV devices.
UK users didn’t see any immediate changes – but that’s now changed.
Over the past few weeks, reports have started appearing on forums, social media, and in comments on Cord Busters articles from UK users seeing their dodgy apps get blocked. I was also able to verify this myself this week.
How The Blocking Actually Works
In the UK, Amazon is currently blocking apps at launch. That means you can still install illegal IPTV apps from third-party sources if you want to – the installation process itself isn’t blocked.
But when you try to actually open and use the app, you’ll hit the “app disabled” screen and won’t be able to proceed.
However, according to AFTVNews, Amazon has recently started blocking apps at the installation stage in some other markets.
In those regions, when you try to sideload a blacklisted app, the installation fails before the app is ever saved to your device.
The installation-level blocking is technically more restrictive, because it prevents people from using app cloning tools directly on their Fire TV to create modified versions that evade detection.
But both methods achieve the same practical result – you can’t use the blocked app.
This Isn’t About The Fire TV 4K Select
There’s been considerable confusion online about what’s happening with Fire TV and sideloading, largely because Amazon has made two separate changes that people have blurred together in their minds.
The Fire TV Stick 4K Select, which launched in October 2025, runs Vega OS – a completely new operating system built directly on Linux rather than Android.
Because Vega OS is fundamentally different from the Android-based Fire OS that powers other Fire TV devices, it doesn’t support sideloading at all. That’s a technical limitation of the platform, not active blocking after the fact.
On the Select, you can only install apps from the Amazon Appstore, full stop. There’s no way to enable sideloading, no simple developer mode workaround, nothing. The platform simply doesn’t support it.
The Select has had plenty of other problems since launch – limited app availability (around 900 apps compared to over 30,000 on Android-based devices), delayed VPN support that only arrived in late November, being left out of the new Fire TV interface rollout announced in January, and aggressive price cuts.
But the Select’s inability to run sideloaded apps is completely separate from what’s happening with the blocking on other Fire TV devices.
Android-based Fire TV devices – the Fire TV Stick 4K Plus, Fire TV Stick 4K Max, Fire TV Cube, and older models – still support sideloading.
You can still enable developer options, you can still use tools like Downloader to install apps from third-party sources, and the technical capability to sideload remains intact.
What’s changed is that Amazon is now actively scanning those devices for specific apps that ACE has identified as providing pirated content, and blocking those specific apps from working.
This is enforcement, not a platform limitation. Amazon isn’t preventing sideloading entirely on Android-based devices – they’re blocking individual apps after you’ve installed them.
What Amazon Says About The Blocking
Amazon has published a dedicated FAQ page addressing the blocking, where the company frames the changes as protecting “both customers and content creators.”
The company says it has “a thorough review process that identifies apps that use or provide access to unlicensed content,” though it doesn’t provide details about how that process works beyond the partnership with ACE.
If you believe your app has been blocked incorrectly, Amazon’s stance is clear: “We can’t make exceptions as these measures protect all customers and content creators.”
The FAQ also addresses the question many people have been asking – can you get a refund if you bought a Fire TV device specifically for running these apps? Amazon says you can return the device “within our standard return window” if you’re eligible, but doesn’t offer refunds beyond that.
For third-party app subscriptions, Amazon directs users to contact the app developer directly for refunds – which is unlikely to be helpful when the app in question is an illegal IPTV service.
The company emphasises that the blocking only affects apps identified as providing unlicensed content, and that “the Amazon Appstore offers a wide variety of apps, including free options” as alternatives.
Will This Actually Work?
Whether this blocking will significantly reduce Fire TV piracy is still debatable. IPTV sellers are resourceful – when one app gets blocked, they create new versions with different identifiers that evade detection, at least temporarily.
There are also plenty of alternative Android TV boxes that Amazon has no control over. If Fire TV becomes too restrictive, some people will simply buy different devices.
But Amazon doesn’t need to eliminate piracy completely – they just need to make it difficult enough that Fire TV stops being the poster child for illegal streaming in the UK.
If fewer people are chanting about Fire Sticks at football matches and fewer criminal prosecutions feature Amazon devices, that’s probably success enough.
The legitimate concerns about false positives remain. Kodi, for example, is completely legal software but can be configured with piracy add-ons.
So far, legitimate Kodi installations appear unaffected, but there’s always uncertainty when you’re relying on someone else’s blacklist.
For most Fire TV users watching legitimate services like Netflix, BBC iPlayer, and Disney+, nothing changes. But if you’ve got dodgy apps installed, expect them to stop working – if they haven’t already.
For more TV and streaming news, Subscribe to our free newsletter.
Never liked the fire stick, I’ve always used android boxes which can still use hundreds of streaming apps and IPTV apps.
Sale of fire sticks will reduce drastically
Is there a list available anywhere online of the apps that are being blocked?
Is Kodi on that list? Whilst there are add-ons for it that can, (allegedly), get illegal content, in its standard unmodified form it is perfectly legitimate – which is how I use it.