If you bought a new Kindle Fire HDX and you’ve decided you don’t like its user interface, or being locked into Amazon’s ecosystem, then you’ll be pleased to know it has now been rooted. This opens the device up to the possibility of custom ROMs, and the ability to manually install Android APKs.

While the Kindle Fire HDX is a decent tablet with impressive specifications — especially for the price — it runs a heavily modified version of Android that actually looks nothing like the original OS. Furthermore, users can only download and install content from Amazon’s own marketplaces — it doesn’t even have access to Google Play.

But that’s all likely to change now that the device has been rooted. Users will now have the opportunity to install Android APKs manually, giving them access to apps and games that aren’t available through the Amazon Appstore.

It also means that there’s a possibility we’ll see custom ROMs like CyanogenMod developed for the device — though these will likely be some way off yet.

The root is only compatible with the Kindle Fire HDX 8.9 for now, so you’ll have to wait a little longer for the 7-inch solution. You can download the file you’ll need from the source link below. Enjoy!

• SourceXDA Developers
• ViaAndroidBeat