- Amazon cracks down on illegal streaming on Fire Sticks
- Where to find legit free streams
- How to watch your regular streams from abroad with a VPN
Watching live sports – like soccer, F1, UFC and boxing – on illegal IPTV streaming apps has been commonplace for years, but Amazon is cracking down on piracy with its Fire Stick sideloading ban.
But there are plenty legal Free sports streams showing all Premier League football matches, Ashes cricket and combat sports too. Here’s what you need to know…
The end of streaming on “questionable” Fire Sticks?
Amazon blocks apps it calls “piracy” at the device level. This means that some downloaded third-party IPTV apps will soon be disabled – and a VPN won’t magically hide IPTV apps.
Expect to receive a warning; if you don’t take action, Amazon will remove the “questionable” app.
Which sticks are not affected by IPTV repression?
Probably not affected (yet): If you still want full sideloading and VPN compatibility for legitimate purposes, try an Android-based device such as the Chromecast with Google TV or an NVIDIA Shield. These allow you to install APKs and run VPN apps today.
Piracy is illegal: Sideloading apps is not illegal, but piracy is. Using downloaded apps to access copyrighted content without permission could land you a fine or worse.
How to Watch Free Streams (Legally)
You can still watch free and legitimate sports streams. It all depends on where you live.
Broadcasters around the world hold various rights packages, meaning streaming services offer free sports streams to local fans. Here are a few we discovered:
How to watch your streams from anywhere with a VPN
A good streaming VPN unblock services and allow you to watch your local and legit free stream when you travel abroad (provided this does not breach any terms and conditions). No IPTV apps, no “dodgy” sticks, no risk of fraud and no high monthly fees.
It’s easy to use a VPN for streaming:
- Sign up for a streaming VPN. We consider NordVPN to be the best streaming VPN.
- Open the VPN app on the device you want to view on.
- Connect to a server based in the country of your usual streaming service.
- Go to your usual streaming service and start watching normally!
As we say, we consider NordVPN the best VPN we’ve tested, but also take a look at Surfshark, which is our #2 pick. It’s the best cheap VPN and, like NordVPN, it offers excellent live customer service and is easy to use.
Both NordVPN and Surfshark come with a 30 day money back guarantee and limited-time Black Friday VPN deals…
We test and review VPN services in the context of legal recreational uses. For example: 1. Access a service from another country (subject to the terms and conditions of that service). 2. Protect your online security and strengthen your online privacy abroad. We do not support or condone illegal or malicious use of VPN services. Consumption of paid pirated content is not endorsed or endorsed by Future Publishing.
