Fire Stick owners threaten to ‘throw gadget away’ as Amazon quietly makes a major change that could kill favourite apps

A RUMOURED change to Amazon's biggest devices appear to have started sooner than anyone expected.

And users are worried it could spell the end for their favourite apps.

Earlier this week it was reported that the tech giant was working on a replacement for Android - the backbone of Fire OS - which it uses on Echo display devices as well as Fire TV kit.

Instead, Amazon has apparently developed its own operating system dubbed "Vega OS".

While it probably won't look very different to what people are used to on the surface, the software functions behind-the-scenes will be very different and mean Amazon will have more control over what will and won't feature.

It wasn't expected to arrive until next year but some users have reported that the change has happened already on their devices.

The new OS has been spotted on the latest Echo Show 5, according to .

Eagle-eyed users noticed that the settings now say it's running "OS 1.1".

Previously, it listed "Fire OS" with a much higher digit, which suggests it could be the rumoured Vega OS.

But Amazon hasn't confirmed anything just yet.

Users have not welcomed the possible change over fears popular side-loading could be blocked.

Side-loading allows people to add third-party apps that aren't available from the Amazon Appstore.

"If you can’t sideload then I’ll most likely be walking away from the FireTV Sticks," one user wrote on Reddit.

"Will this stop being able to sideload? If so, then I’m done with Fire TV’s," another commented.

A third added: "If you can't side load apps, Amazon will put out the fire on fire tv."

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