Amazon has promised to bring back encryption for its own Fire OS operating system after removing it in its latest update. The retail giant’s decision was met with anger and confusion by Fire tablet owners when Fire OS 5 rolled out last week.

Amazon says it removed encryption from Fire OS — along with other “enterprise” features — because very few people were using them, according to its analytical data. But with Apple’s fight for encryption dominating the news, it couldn’t have come at a worse time.

Understandably, those who care about keeping their data secure weren’t happy about the decision. Many Fire tablet owners threatened not to buy another Amazon device, while other just refused to update to Fire OS 5. But Amazon has now reversed course.

“We will return the option for full disk encryption with a Fire OS update coming this spring,” the company told Engadget.

If you don’t want to miss out on encryption in the meantime, don’t bother upgrading to Fire OS 5 just yet — wait for this spring’s update. Amazon hasn’t provided a more specific release date yet, but with spring on the horizon, we shouldn’t have to wait too long for it.

• SourceEngadget