YouTube app removed from Amazon Fire TV kit early

Amazon Fire TV boxes now send people to the YouTube website

The YouTube app has been removed from Amazon's Fire TV devices four days earlier than expected, as a dispute between Amazon and Google continues.

Fire TV devices now encourage people to use the YouTube website in a web browser instead.

Google had warned it would remove the YouTube app from Fire TV devices on 1 January.

It said the two companies had not reached an agreement to provide access to each other's services.

Earlier in December, Google said: "Amazon doesn't carry Google products like Chromecast and Google Home, doesn't make Prime Video available for Google Cast users, and last month stopped selling some of Nest's latest products.

"Given this lack of reciprocity, we are no longer supporting YouTube on Echo Show and Fire TV. We hope we can reach an agreement to resolve these issues soon."

On Friday, Amazon said in a statement: "YouTube and millions of other websites are accessible by using a web browser like Firefox or Silk on Fire TV."