Test Your App Before Submitting to the Appstore

This page highlights some common issues that can cause failures when submitting an app to the Amazon Appstore. Most of these cases involve app lifecycle events, such as:

Playback interruption when a user interacts with Alexa
The app goes into background mode because:
- A user wants to start a different apps
- A user presses the home button
- A user turns off the TV while the app is running, including while media playback is running in the app
- User inactivity results in the screensaver being launched
Playback interruption when a user temporarily disconnects the Fire TV device from HDMI
A user uses a bluetooth device as the audio output for their Fire TV device

Test cases

Below are some of tests that Amazon Appstore runs on submitted apps. We recommend that you perform these tests before submitting your app to ensure that your app can pass these test cases.

Test Scenario	Test Steps	Expected Result
Exit the app with Back button and relaunch	1. Launch the app and play any video content in the app. 2. Press the Back button on the remote to exit the playback. Then continue pressing Back button until exiting the app and reaching the Fire TV launcher 3. Relaunch the app. Repeat the above steps for both on-demand and live contents in the app.	The app should launch without any issues and a user can use the app. For example, users can navigate across the app sections, play contents, and so on.
Exit the app with Home button and relaunch	1. Launch the app and play any video content in the app. 2. Press the Home button on the remote to exit the playback. 3. Relaunch the app. Repeat the above steps for both on-demand and live contents in the app.	No audio leaks from app on the Fire TV launcher. The app launches without any issues and user can use the app. For example, a user can navigate across the app sections, play contents, and so on.
Switching between apps	1. Launch the app and play any video content in the app. 2. During playback, press the Home button on the remote to go to Fire TV launcher. 3. Launch any other app, such as one of the sample apps, and play a video in that app. 4. Exit the app by pressing the Home button on the remote. 5. Relaunch the app and resume the playback.	The app should smoothly exit for both the apps without audio leak or audio overlap. The app should not observe a crash or blank screen or Audio/Video sync issues during playback in any of the apps. Users can play, pause, forward, or rewind the video playback.
HDMI hot plug	1. Launch the app and play any video content in the app for 5-10 minutes. 2. While the playback is in progress, unplug the device from HDMI port. 3. Leave the device unplugged for 5 minutes and then plugin the device.	Playback should pause when the Fire TV reconnects and content should resume from the same position.
App usage after changing the HDMI ports or TV Power OFF	1. Launch the app and play any video content in the app for 5-10 minutes. 2. While the playback is in progress, switch to a different HDMI input of the TV. 3. Wait for 5 minutes and then switch back to Fire TV. 4. Launch the app Repeat step #2 to #4 by turning off the TV using the power button of the remote and then turning on the device.	Playback should pause when the Fire TV is up and content should resume from the same position.
App relaunch after device restart	1. Launch the app and play any video content in the app. 2. Exit the app and restart the device. 3. Relaunch the app and resume the video playback.	A user can launch the app successfully after the device restart. The app log in details should retain and a user can navigate across the app sections, play contents, and so on.
App behavior after Screensaver/Ambient	1. Launch the app and play any video content in the app. 2. Pause the video and keep the device idle for 5 minutes. 3. When the screensaver appears, press the Back button to navigate back to app.	Ensure video playback remains in a paused state and no audio from the app is heard over the screensaver or Ambient screen. For audio streaming apps, playback should continue even when screensaver/Ambient screen appears. Pressing the back button from screensaver redirects the user back to the app under test. The user can resume the playback.
Interruptions with Alexa during playback	1. Launch the app and play any video content in the app. 2. During playback, use the remote to perform a voice search to invoke Alexa cards. For example, What is the weather in Sunnyvale? or any similar command. 3. Verify the playback after the Alexa card dismisses. Repeat the steps with both on-demand, Ads and live playback.	Video pauses and the weather card appears and Text to Speech (TTS) broadcasts a short forecast for the area the user searched. No audio overlap observed between Alexa response and app audio. After the Alexa card dismisses, audio/video playback in the app should resume correctly.
Playback with bluetooth (BT) device	1. Connect the Fire TV to the BT sound bar/headset. 2. Launch the app and play any video content in the app. Run this same test and connect the BT speaker during media playback.	Audio correctly routes through the soundbar or headset, video playback functions appropriately, and audio and video sync.

Test on a physical device

You can use Vega Virtual Device for initial development and testing, but you must test your app on a Fire TV Stick before submitting to the Amazon Appstore. Currently, Vega OS is supported on the Fire TV Stick 4K Select. You can also find some more requirements for media apps, including recommendations for background and foreground mode in General requirements for media apps.

​Test cases

​Test on a physical device

​Related resources

Test cases

Test on a physical device

Related resources