by: y-c-o-m-b

I'm personally seeing an explosion of people embracing piracy. People that were previously vehemently opposed to it (like my in-laws) are now pirating large amounts of content. The rise in streaming service costs while simultaneously reducing catalog content is pushing a lot of these folks over. What we have now is almost worse than cable TV, so it makes sense.

4/18/2026, 4:40:44 PM

by: fishgoesblub

"Sideloading" is just a term to make installing software on your own hardware sound scary.

4/18/2026, 4:33:22 PM

by: BFV

Sideloading was basically the main reason people picked Fire Sticks over more locked-down options. Without it, it just becomes another closed streaming box, and a lot of the “power user” appeal disappears.

4/18/2026, 4:22:04 PM

by: yjftsjthsd-h

So does the fire stick have any advantages over Walmart's Onn streaming sticks?

4/18/2026, 5:01:38 PM

by: bigyabai

Boy, I sure am glad that HN contributed to the vilification of sideloading.

4/18/2026, 4:21:25 PM

by: dataflow

What's the best Fire Stick model that doesn't have this issue?

4/18/2026, 5:20:41 PM

by: spwa4

This sort of thing brings back the late 2000's in Europe. Governments demanding devices "don't support piracy". Tech giants (really: Microsoft) responding, kind of, and failing.

4/18/2026, 6:19:54 PM

by: croes

So goodbye FireTV sticks.<p>Getting worse on every metric isn’t a system seller

4/18/2026, 4:09:13 PM

by: an0malous

I don’t know how, but somehow this is Apple’s fault

4/18/2026, 5:22:28 PM

by:

4/18/2026, 5:04:05 PM

by: ranger_danger

How does this work when apps use GPLv3? Isn&#x27;t the user supposed to be given a way to replace&#x2F;update the code themselves?

4/18/2026, 4:20:41 PM

by: cyanydeez

On the plus side, they&#x27;ll probably vibe code a bunch of security vulnerability and the highseas will be filled with a new generation of pirates!

4/18/2026, 4:19:09 PM

by: mattmaroon

Meh. These sorts of restrictions are a problem with cell phones because you have two choices.<p>For this application, you can just get a raspberry pi for about the same price. And they’re not even taking it away from ones that I already had it. They just aren’t selling the ability anymore so you know it when you bought it.

4/18/2026, 4:37:14 PM

by: j45

Is this supposed to stop Android folks?

4/18/2026, 4:28:59 PM