There is a migration happening in the streaming community, more specifically, the part of the streaming community that likes to use side-loaded apps on their streaming devices. But the push towards Walmart’s ONN box is a mistake.
For years, the Fire TV Stick has been a go-to for those who wanted an inexpensive option that they could use to load apps like Unlinked, Flixoid etc. It got so common that fire sticking became a verb and a cottage industry developed around people showing how to change options on the Fire TV Stick, add Downloader and so on.
That is coming to an end. Not only is Amazon locking down and disabling current Android-based devices, it is also transitioning completely away from Android as an operating system in favor of its own Linux-based “Vega OS”. One day, they will stop selling Android-based devices completely.
So now a lot of people are recommending the ONN Box from Walmart. Why? Because it’s cheap and available at Walmart. And almost everyone has a Walmart nearby. But as Lee Corso used to say. “Not so fast, my friend!”
Why you should avoid the ONN Box
The ONN box is a solid piece of streaming hardware. It has the full Google Play Store built for TV, so it will be able to provide all of the normal paid and free apps one would expect, with a nice, sleek interface. But that is not why people want it. The crew moving on from Fire Sticks are looking for something that can run side-loaded apps. And right now the ONN box will do that for you. But it will not do it forever.
Let’s just say I know because I know. This crackdown on sideloading has been a long time coming. Amazon is getting tough now after years of officially pretending it wasn’t going on. It started with companies selling boxes that were preloaded with apps used for piracy. That is still going on. Servers get shut down all the time, and the people who run them get arrested. Amazon was part of the group that was pursuing these purveyors, and it became pretty ridiculous to be suing people for using a product that Amazon made for piracy. Frankly, I have no idea why it didn’t happen a long time ago. But if Amazon decided to shut it down, you can be pretty sure Google will too. And soon.
What should you buy instead?
If you are trying to play this game with the side-loaded apps, all you need is an Android box. Any box that will run a modern version of Android. Lots of companies make them. When I say modern version of Android, I mean say something running Android 11 and above. Google is on Android 16 now. But these little streaming boxes are usually at least a couple of generations behind.
Android 11 is good for these kinds of applications because that version of Android can more easily be set up with a TV-based user interface. Once you have it you can add the Downloader or whatever else you want from the Google Play store just like you would from an ONN box or Fire Stick. As long as the Downloader stays in the store. And there is very little chance that it will be nerfed down the line.
Why off-brand Android Boxes will not be disabled
The reason side loading will not be shut down on these boxes is that they are not using the full official version of Android that Amazon products and ONN use. So Google can’t shut it down. They use an open-source version of Android. Even if it looks like the same OS you would find on a Chromecast or ONN Box. It is almost always a version of Android that does not have the same level of digital rights management (DMR) as products sold directly by Google, Nvidia and Walmart. Google is really strict about its official supported software and charges a lot of money to license it, which is what Walmart is doing with the ONN boxes. They have to do what Google tells them to do. You can ascertain whether you have one of those boxes because, typically, you will not be able to find and load Netflix and some other apps on them. Though sometimes you can find some that are built with a version of Netflix that will still run on the boxes with a standard TV controller. Typically though, those boxes have a more premium price like $250.00-$400.00.
There is no one box to get. But if you just do a search for Android media player you will find tons of options. There are so many. For a little bit of future proofing, I would get one with the most recent version of Android I could find. In my one minute of searching, I found a number of boxes running Android 14, including one for $39.00.
One major recommendation I can make is that you may want to invest in an air mouse. Those are remote controls that are built with the ability to be used with a curser that you can click on to move things around the screen just like you would with a traditional computer mouse or a track pad. Sometimes you may have to download something directly from a website, and it will be so much easier to navigate with a controller that allows you to scroll as though you were using a touch screen than it is with a little cursor or even worse clicking a little arrow around.
We will have a lot more on this topic going forward.
