

Kodi, the open source media player that so many love, has been entirely removed from the Amazon Appstore. The app was never available on the Fire TV appstore, but a few months ago, it was surprisingly approved by the Amazon Appstore for smartphones and tablets. I say surprisingly because Kodi is not in, and has never been in, the Google Play Store nor the Apple Appstore. The reasons for this are complicated, but they stem from licensing issues and Kodi’s open source nature. It’s unclear at this time why Kodi was removed and whether or not it will return.

Even though the app was never available in the Fire TV appstore, having it in the Amazon Appstore in some form allowed Fire TV owners to take advantage of a bug which caused the app to appear on the Fire TV’s homescreen, even when the app was sideloaded. I’ve been seeing word (and was in the process of confirming) that this bug had been squashed with the latest software update. Those who haven’t updated their Fire TV device to the latest software version were still able to launch Kodi from the homescreen due to its existence in the Amazon appstore.

If you’ve purchased Kodi from the Amazon Appstore in the past, it is still associated with your Amazon account, and therefore, will still appear on the Fire TV and Fire TV Stick homescreen’s “Recent” section if you’re running an older software version. Do not delete Kodi from your account using Amazon’s “Apps and Devices” page or you will not be able to repurchase it. Uninstalling it from your Fire TV or Fire TV Stick will not affect its association with your Amazon account, so uninstalling is safe to do.

ShareTweetShare+1