Don't throw away your old Fire TV Stick, it's more valuable than ever before

An unexpected side effect of Amazon switching to its newer Vega OS for its streaming devices was that it made the older Fire Sticks much more useful. The devices built on the Android-powered Fire OS continue to offer the power, flexibility, and customization that made them popular in the first place and that are largely absent from the newer models. Instead of throwing your old device in a drawer, now might be the best time to keep it around.

The problem with Vega

Vega OS removes much of what made Fire TV devices appealing

Back in April, Amazon confirmed that all its future Fire Sticks would use the Vega OS. It wasn't unexpected. The old Android-powered devices were very open. Too open, perhaps, for Amazon's liking. The new platform gives the company more control over the ecosystem, makes it less reliant on Google, and enables it to tackle the piracy that Fire Sticks had become somewhat renowned for.

But it's hard not to see it as a major downgrade. It creates the odd situation where the old hardware that runs on the Android-based Fire OS is now significantly better than the new models.

And because Vega OS is so locked down, that's unlikely to change. The OS is unlikely to ever support sideloading, meaning that the only apps you can install have to be officially approved and available through the Amazon Appstore. And there aren't many of them.

Because Android apps don't work on the new OS, they need to be rewritten for Vega. That's fine for the big streamers, but for the smaller apps built by independent developers, it's unlikely to be worth their time. The result is that the store currently has many gaps. Major apps that haven't been ported across are delivered via Amazon's cloud-based app system that's less efficient and more bandwidth-heavy than native apps. Anything more niche will probably be missing completely.

If you want app downloaders and file managers, downloadable games or emulators, or Jellyfin and other lesser-known media apps, you're likely to be out of luck. Even your choice of VPN might not be available, as there are only a couple in the store. I use the excellent NOVA Video Player with external storage, and that's not an option for Vega OS devices.

Some Vega OS sticks also use weaker hardware than the older Fire TV models they replace, making the trade-offs even harder to justify.

Older Fire TV Sticks are more powerful and capable

Why the old software is suddenly an advantage

All of this means that the old Fire TV Stick that you already own, and which you might have thought was getting a bit long in the tooth and ripe for an upgrade, is better than ever.

Existing FireOS devices won't be switched to Vega OS, so they will continue to deliver all the benefits that come with Android. As well as the more fully featured app store, it includes the ability to sideload apps once you've activated it through the Developer Options menu, as well as support for even more advanced customizations using ADB. Even if Amazon decides to restrict the official app store further, you'll still be able to get your own APKs on there, or even use third-party stores like F-Droid.

Admittedly, a lot of this is for enthusiasts and more advanced users. But not all are. For the less tech-proficient, switching to new platforms can often be difficult to navigate. There's a vast wealth of communities, tutorials, and tools that exist for the old Fire TV devices that will take some time to replace.

It's worth noting that the really old Fire Sticks no longer work with Netflix, and the hardware is unlikely to be able to handle much in the way of apps either. But the one I bought in 2020 is still going strong. Amazon has confirmed that it will continue supporting most of its Android devices until 2030, so it's still worth picking one up now while you still can.

But if you do want to move away from Amazon, then Walmart's Onn streaming devices that use Google TV are proving to be very popular and powerful alternatives.

Old Fire TV Sticks could become enthusiast favorites

Cheap, hackable streaming hardware is getting rarer

For enthusiasts, it's a sad truth that devices are becoming more restricted and less customizable than ever. Just as Android phones that could be easily rooted and mod-friendly game consoles are disappearing, the same is happening to the cheap but flexible streaming sticks. Chromecast with Google TV is gone, and Roku and Vega are locked down.

It means that your old Fire Stick is becoming more useful and valuable, and could even become an enthusiast favorite.

If you've long since retired yours to a drawer or you just haven't explored its full capabilities before, you might not even realize the kinds of things you can do with it. On top of the extra apps, an old Fire Stick is useful for local media playback, home server access, retro gaming, to revive an old non-smart TV, and for streaming while traveling.

They are the last generation of truly flexible Fire TV hardware. For media enthusiasts and tinkerers especially, these modest devices are suddenly worth holding onto.