Not a brand to miss the starting gun, NordVPN has announced its app for Vega OS, the OS used on Amazon's brand-new Fire Stick 4K Select. However, VPN support is yet to come to Vega OS, meaning the best VPNs aren't currently available to unblock streaming content and protect your data.
The 4K Select was released back in October 2025 but VPNs weren't supported at launch. This is due to the fact it ran on the Linux-based Vega OS.
NordVPN leads the way
NordVPN is the first big name to have its Vega OS VPN app ready. The VPN provider has had its app ready since October, as it wants users to be able to "protect their streaming privacy from the very beginning."
VPN functionality relies on Amazon releasing a software update. This was initially expected in mid-October but has reportedly been delayed until mid-November.
Once the update goes live, to protect your Fire Stick with a VPN, simply search for your provider of choice on the Amazon Appstore. If the provider has a compatible app, click download and off you go – just make sure you have an active VPN subscription.
NordVPN's Vega OS Fire Stick VPN app will offer the same server coverage as its other apps. There will be over 8,000 servers to choose from, with 165 locations in 127 countries.
There's debate over how much VPN server count actually matters, but it's important to have a varied spread of global locations and high-performing servers. NordVPN covers all major locations worldwide so you'd be unlucky not to find the server you're looking for.
With speeds of 900+ Mbps seen in our testing, NordVPN is one of the fastest VPNs available. This speed, combined with its server spread, makes it one of the best streaming VPNs we've tested.
NordVPN unblocked Netflix, BBC iPlayer, Disney+, and Amazon Prime Video with ease, and the Australian-based 10Play was the only streaming service we experienced any trouble with.
The new NordVPN Vega OS Fire Stick app will support its NordLynx VPN protocol, which should provide you with high-speed, buffer-free streaming. Its UI is similarly designed to its Android TV app.
"Amazon's shift to Vega OS brings notable improvements in efficiency and performance, and we've ensured NordVPN users won't miss a beat during this transition," said Marijus Briedis, CTO at NordVPN.
"We built our new TV app from scratch to deliver the same reliable VPN protection our users expect, optimized for the new system's architecture."
VPNs now supported – but not many
As it stands, NordVPN is one of only two VPN providers to have a Vega OS app for the Fire Stick 4K Select ready.
ExpressVPN, Surfshark, Private Internet Access, and IPVanish are the other providers featured in our best Fire Stick VPN guide – but only IPVanish has joined NordVPN in unveiling a dedicated Vega OS app.
Justas Pukys, VPN Product Manager at Surfshark, said the provider is "actively working to make a supported Surfshark VPN application version." However there was no specific timeline for release to share.
We would expect all of these providers – plus more – to launch Vega OS compatible apps sooner rather than later.
Targeting illegal streaming?
As noted above, the switch to a Linux-based OS means modified Android apps can't be installed on the 4K Select devices. This makes it harder, if not impossible, to turn the devices into "dodgy" Fire Sticks.
Illegal sports and movie streaming costs these industries millions of dollars a year. However the rising, and often unaffordable, costs of streaming services and live sports tickets mean people often have no option but to turn to illegal streaming.
Research by Deloitte in 2024 found that 25% of American consumers watched pirated content or used someone else's password in the previous 12 months.
For now, Amazon's old Fire OS won't be going away. It's still the OS used on older Fire Sticks and Amazon said it "will continue to launch new devices on Fire OS" – describing itself as a "multi-OS company."
The move may see illegal streamers turn to non-Amazon devices or simply stick to modifying older Fire Sticks.
Whether Amazon's decision signals the beginning of serious effort to eradicate illegal streaming remains to be seen.
VPNs have been caught up in the fight against illegal streaming and often unfairly blamed for facilitating the practice.
In July 2025, Cloudflare blocked VPN access to numerous pirate sites in the UK. In May 2025, VPN providers lost a court case in France relating to illegal sports streaming. The Motion Picture Association called on VPNs to co-operate with its anti-piracy measures in June 2025.
At the time, the VPN Trust Initiative (VTI) said the targeting of VPNs was wrong and that "VPNs are not facilitators of piracy." It added that "ethically-operated VPNs do not host, store, or promote illegitimate access to copyrighted material" – they "prohibit" it.
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We test and review VPN services in the context of legal recreational uses. For example: 1. Accessing a service from another country (subject to the terms and conditions of that service). 2. Protecting your online security and strengthening your online privacy when abroad. We do not support or condone the illegal or malicious use of VPN services. Consuming pirated content that is paid-for is neither endorsed nor approved by Future Publishing.
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