How to Sideload a Fire TV Stick: From Your Phone, Downloader or ADB

Fire TV runs Fire OS, Amazon's version of Android, but it has no Google Play Store. Everything that is not in the Amazon Appstore has to be sideloaded: you install the APK file yourself. This guide covers the three methods that work in 2026, the settings you need first, and how to tell whether your Fire TV Stick can sideload at all.

Can your Fire TV Stick sideload? Fire OS vs Vega OS

Amazon has started moving its streaming sticks to Vega OS, a Linux-based system that only runs apps from the Amazon Appstore. Amazon has stated that starting with the Fire TV Stick 4K Select, all future Fire TV Sticks will run Vega OS. Vega OS models cannot install Android APK files, so no sideloading method, including the ones on this page, works on them.

How to check: open Settings › My Fire TV › About and look at the software version. "Fire OS" followed by a number means your device can sideload. If it only says "OS" and the version starts with 1, it runs Vega OS. Reports also list the newest third-generation Fire TV Stick 4K as a Vega OS device, so check that screen before buying a stick for sideloading. If yours is Vega OS and you want Android apps, a Google TV or Android TV stick is the practical fix; see installing APKs on Google TV.

Step 0: enable Developer options and Install unknown apps

1. Open Settings › My Fire TV › Developer options. If Developer options is missing, go to Settings › My Fire TV › About and click your device name (for example "Fire TV Stick 4K Max") seven times, until a message says you are a developer. Go back and Developer options appears.
2. Turn on "Install unknown apps" and switch on the app you will install with: Downloader, the Silk browser, or SATV. Older Fire OS versions have a single "Apps from Unknown Sources" switch instead.
3. Turn on ADB debugging only if you plan to use Method 3 from a computer.

Method 1: Sideload Firestick apps from your phone with SATV

This is how to install an APK on a Firestick from your phone without typing links. SATV has to run on both devices: the phone sends, the Fire TV receives and installs. Fire TV has no Google Play, so the Fire TV copy of SATV comes from your phone the first time.

1. Install SATV on your Android phone. Get SATV: Send APK & Files to TV from Google Play.

   

2. Put both on the same Wi-Fi. Same network, ideally the same band. Avoid guest networks.
3. Get the Fire TV address from the phone. In SATV on the phone, choose Send and then Any device with a browser (Link). The phone shows an address in the form http://<phone-ip>:8385/tv to type on the TV.
4. Download SATV on the Fire TV. Type that address into Downloader (from the Amazon Appstore) or the Silk browser on the Fire TV and download the TV app. Install it when the installer opens, then open SATV on the Fire TV.
5. Pick what to send on the phone. Choose an app already installed on your phone, or an APK, APKS, XAPK or APKM file you have.
6. Choose the Fire TV. It appears in SATV's device list under its own name.

   

7. Accept and install on the Fire TV. Accept the transfer with the remote. If Fire OS asks, allow SATV under Install unknown apps, then press Install on the installer screen.

From then on, sending another app to the Firestick takes a few seconds. Because SATV sends installed apps with all their split parts, it also answers "how to install XAPK on Firestick": our XAPK and split APK guide explains the formats.

Method 2: Install APK on Firestick using Downloader

Downloader is a free app by AFTVnews and the most common way to sideload a Fire TV Stick without a phone.

1. On the Fire TV, search for Downloader and install it from the Amazon Appstore.
2. Allow Downloader under Settings › My Fire TV › Developer options › Install unknown apps.
3. Open Downloader, type the APK's web address (or a short Downloader code that points to it) and press Go.
4. When the download finishes, press Install, then delete the APK file to save space.

Downloader is fine for apps with a short official link, such as VLC from videolan.org or Kodi from kodi.tv. Typing long addresses with a remote is slow, it installs single APKs only, and it cannot reach an app that only exists on your phone. Use links and codes only for legal apps from their developers; our best apps to sideload list has good examples.

Method 3: Sideload a Fire TV Stick with ADB from a PC

1. Turn on ADB debugging in Developer options.
2. Find the Fire TV's IP address in Settings › My Fire TV › About › Network.
3. On a computer with Google's platform-tools, run adb connect <firetv-ip> and allow the connection on the TV.
4. Run adb install app.apk, or adb install-multiple with every part of a split APK.

This is the route for installing an APK on a Firestick from a PC, and the most flexible, but it needs a computer every time. Turn ADB debugging off afterwards.

Which sideloading method is best?

APK not installing on Firestick? Common causes

The full list of causes and fixes is in our App not installed fix guide. If the app installed but you cannot find it, look at the end of the app library, or read sideloaded app not showing.

If the Fire TV does not appear in SATV

• Different Wi-Fi bands: the phone on 5 GHz and the stick on 2.4 GHz is the most common cause.
• AP isolation on the router blocks devices from seeing each other. Turn it off.
• Guest network: move the phone to the main network.
• SATV not open on the Fire TV: open it so it is ready to receive.
• Still nothing? Work through the full network checklist.

Questions people ask