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The Amazon Appstore for Android devices will be discontinued on August 20, 2025
- david_allison 2y ago> Amazon Appstore will continue to be available elsewhere, including on Fire TV and Fire Tablet devices.
- rob74 2y agoWell, it'd better continue to be available, seeing that Amazon's devices don't support the Google Play store...
- dsr_ 2y agoI have two Kindle Fire tablets (they're low-quality as general purpose tablets, but cheap and good for reading comics or books) and both have Google Play on them. Mind you, I had to sideload it for both of them.
- metalliqaz 2y agoI did that too but it turned out to be just too much trouble. Play store kept trying to update the handful of apps that exist in both Amazon's and Google's ecosystems, and it completely them.
- ignoramous 2y ago> Amazon's devices don't support the Google Play store... FireOS devices aren't certified by Google and so, they do not come with "Gapps" (including the Play Store) preinstalled. Even if they were, Amazon might have some reservations about preinstalling Gapps (which run with higher than normal privileges), effectively letting Google get hands on its user's purchasing habits. All that to say, this is a business limitation not a technical one. See also: Google's iron grip on Android: Controlling open source by any means necessary, https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=6582494 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=6582494 (2014).
- gruez 2y agoIt might not be "supported", but I thought you could easily sideload play store and play services? You don't even need to muck around with rooting or even adb.
- password4321 2y agoI wouldn't call sideloading the play store and services "easy", especially for Kindle Kids/FreeTime profiles.
- bdavbdav 2y agoNot at all easy. It’s a PITA using all sorts of odd sources.
- gruez 2y agoIt's literally downloading a few apks and installing them. You don't even need to use adb. You can do it all within the preloaded browser that's on the tablet. https://www.howtogeek.com/232726/how-to-install-the-google-play-store-on-your-amazon-fire-tablet/ https://www.howtogeek.com/232726/how-to-install-the-google-p...
- bdavbdav 2y agoI don’t remember it being that easy when I did it 3-4 years ago. I was also a bit uncomfortable downloading the google support libraries from APKmirror, as my life is on my google account. IIRC the APKs were unsigned.
- andrewaylett 2y agoCurious timing, what with the EU DMA opening Play Store to make it easier for people to install it. Of course, Amazon are subject to the DMA and (I suspect) not overall a fan, so maybe it makes sense for them to not make use of the capabilities it allows?
- yobid20 2y agoI didnt even know this existed.
- SapporoChris 2y ago"What happens to my apps after the discontinuation of the Amazon Appstore on Android?" "Starting August 20, 2025, any apps downloaded from the Amazon Appstore will not be guaranteed to operate on Android devices. Amazon Appstore will continue to be available elsewhere, including on Fire TV and Fire Tablet devices. " --------- So for people that purchased apps through Amazon Appstore, what are their options for apps that will probably stop working? If there are no options for a refund, then this is another reason not to purchase items that you never truly own.
- beardyw 2y agoMove fast and break (your) things.
- mattmaroon 2y agoDoes Amazon have something like Google Play Services that will be leaving and break them? Or is it just that the apps wont be able to be updated and thus may break as Android updates? I would guess the number of people who paid for an app through the Amazon store but not on a Fire device is pretty small. And do you ever really own an app? I have so few that I paid a one time payment for.
- beerandt 2y agoThey jumped through some pretty giant hoops to make their play services "drop in" replacement, but idk if that's just for fire tablets or if it gets installed on Android too.
- orf 2y agoWhat giant hoops? I’m interested in reading more
- beerandt 2y agoMy very basic understanding is: They wanted android developers that used google play services to basically be able to submit the same app to the amazon/fire store (without major revisions), so they reverse engineered the framework used by Google for api/hooks between the apps/apks and the "play-services"/OS levels. Sort of spoofed the environment to prioritize compatibility in order to make it as easy as possible to grow the Amazon app store. People don't realize that despite Android being nominally 'Open Source', the closed source Google layer on most phones makes it very difficult to exclude Google entirely from the picture and have a user friendly phone environment (both end-user and app-developer/playstore-user). Basically only Amazon and China had resources to counter it directly with Android, or you could drop that layer and go the less user friendly route of st like AOSP 'pure' phones.
- develoopest 2y agoMy bet is that Amazon is working on a new OS that's not compatible with Android
- Hackbraten 2y agoWhy would they?
- deleted 2y ago[deleted]
- develoopest 2y agoFull chain control, I suppose, there are rumours about Vega OS. https://www.androidauthority.com/android-14-based-fire-tvs-3524320/ https://www.androidauthority.com/android-14-based-fire-tvs-3... If that's the case, it's a bad idea, Amazon is not prepared to maintain their own OS.
- jfengel 2y agoOr is it the other way around: they're giving up on "FireOS" and just going to let Google do the work?
- doubled112 2y agoGood idea. Most people would probably be happier on a more stock Android with the Google Play Store.
- agos 2y agomy bet is they fired a few too people and now maintaining it is a burden
- micromacrofoot 2y agothey'd probably be better off setting a pile of money on fire instead
- Apocryphon 2y ago
- IlikeKitties 2y ago[flagged]
- mattmaroon 2y agoAll 6 people who used Amazon app store on a non-Fire tablet must be very upset!
- bambax 2y agoI'm one of them. DJI "pro" remotes are Android devices that for some reason are completely un-googled but can run the Amazon app store; if you want to run, say, Litchy on such a device (an alternative to DJI Fly app), Amazon is (was) the only option. Now there appears to be no option left.
- starfox64_ 2y agoCouldn't people move over to another app store like F-Droid?
- nguyenkien 2y agoF-Droid only accept opensource app.
- arielcostas 2y agoYou can host your own repo (or someone else can) and just add it to the app
- jeroenhd 2y agoAdding a new source for every app becomes tiresome, especially when switching devices. I do see potential for a closed source repo managed like an app store, but adding a repo for every app adds unnecessary security risks (as the app specific repo can contain any number of apps).
- mdaniel 2y ago> adding a repo for every app adds unnecessary security risks Could you speak more to your security concerns about adding repos? To the very best of my knowledge it doesn't auto-download from all the repos, that would be crazy, and it for sure doesn't auto-install from them
- rs186 2y agoDid Amazon start a new round of cost cutting, layoffs or something? Yesterday they discontinued Chime. As if Amazon is doubling down on cutting "unnecessary" services
- OJFord 2y agoI don't know if I'd reach that conclusion because of Chime - there's also Blink & Ring, a lot of overlap and confusion in cameras & security.
- dowager_dan99 2y agoChime is their online meetings app, not their doorbell camera
- OJFord 2y agoAh I was thinking of Ring Chime. (I'm sure there is a third overlapping with Ring & Blink though, can't recall name.)
- specialp 2y agoEveryone at Amazon (The only company I have seen using it) hated using Chime, and it wasn't at all on the level of competitors. So I think it was just an unsuccessful product.
- malfist 2y agoSlack huddles use chime under the hood.
- viraptor 2y agoI could not find a reliable source for this. Got a link?
- radioblahaj 2y ago
- portaouflop 2y agoJust stop giving Amazon money—at this point you can only blame yourself.
- reaperducer 2y agoJust stop giving Amazon money—at this point you can only blame yourself. Done. Mostly. I dropped Prime last year, and have been surprised by the results. 1. I don't buy a bunch of pointless plastic crap that I don't need anymore. It was the thrill/affirmation/addiction of near-instant gratification delivery that made me buy stuff on impulse. 2. I've saved a bunch of money because of #1. 3. Unless it's same-day delivery, "Prime" delivery is meaningless. Even with Prime, about 80% of my same-day, next-day or second-day deliveries were delayed. A couple of times for a week or more. I can't count the number of times the Amazon.com delivery tracker told me "You're next!" with a little cartoon truck on a map next to my home. Then an hour later, "We're doing a few more deliveries first." And then "Delivery date unknown." I do still occasionally buy from Amazon, when there's something I can't get locally. But without the instant gratification, I buy much less. And sometimes the things I do buy arrive with the same speed of Prime delivery anyway.
- fuomag9 2y agoIf I need to to buy electronics here in Italy I either go on aliexpress (and goodbye warranty) or Amazon. There’s no Best Buy or Newegg here to go to
- jszymborski 2y agoWould Euronics work for you? https://www.euronics.it/ https://www.euronics.it/
- fuomag9 2y agoUnfortunately they all suck, this is the "gpu selection" https://www.euronics.it/informatica/componenti-per-pc/schede-grafiche/ https://www.euronics.it/informatica/componenti-per-pc/schede... They literally sell only 4 cards.
- devinprater 2y agoAh, fond memories of using it on the BraillePlus 18, an old, discontinued Android-based Braille device that, since it didn't have a screen, couldn't be Play certified. Of course this was around Android 4.
- belter 2y agohttps://www.failory.com/amazon https://www.failory.com/amazon
- yapyap 2y agoWhat took them so long
- powerofmAnNnyYy 2y agoStopped "purchasing" from them after i found out they wrapped their whole Store crap around apps and repackaged them.
- alok-g 2y agoWhile this would negatively affect some of the apps I am using, I am overall glad Amazon is closing this. They should close all things they have done that lower the quality bar and more importantly, make sure the leaders in particular learn some hard lessons.
- sirjaz 2y agoThis explains why Windows wsa is going away, since it was tied to this.
- bigbacaloa 2y ago[dead]
- jjbinx007 2y agoFunnily enough I installed this recently to install a game I bought years ago. I tried searching for it and found several outright scam apps. I figured Amazon had given up with it.
- kccqzy 2y agoAt this rate, in a year of two, Amazon will have a reputation for killing products just like Google. It was Chime yesterday and now this. Personally I still haven't gotten over Amazon's killing of the magazine subscription service.
- TomMasz 2y agoThe Amazon Appstore is a steaming puddle of absolute crap for the most part. I have a Fire tablet I play some simple games on, they're all chock-full of ads. Very few mainstream apps are available, though plenty of cheap knockoffs of those apps are. If you want something good, it's easiest to grab the .apk and sideload it. There are ways to install the Play Store but they're likely beyond most of the Fire's userbase. Regular Android users won't notice or miss this nor should they. If I needed a tablet for anything serious, I'd buy an iPad or Pixel Tablet, both of which come with a real app store.
- BuckRogers 2y agoNot a problem for me, I only took the free apps from Amazon's store. If the same app was available on Play, I bought it there. It never made sense to me to pay for an app that was not on the native appstore and while I do have a Fire tablet and multiple FireTV Cubes, I was always more vested into the non-Amazon side of Android for phones.
- znpy 2y agoIs amazon essentially going through a firing spree? Between rto friction and dropping stuff it looks like it wants to shed a lot of people from its payroll.
- deleted 2y ago[deleted]
- dvh 2y agoBut Java doesn't even have union types