Starting today, developers can sign up for the Fire OS 5 Developer Preview for Amazon Fire TV. This preview is designed for developers looking to get their apps and games ready for the next major release of Fire OS for Amazon Fire TV. Fire OS 5 is based on Android 5.1 (Lollipop) and API 22. Since this is a significant upgrade to the existing Fire OS 3 (API 17) for Fire TV, we wanted to make sure that as many developers as possible can sign up for the preview and test their app or game. The key new features for Amazon Fire TV developers in Fire OS 5 are support for Android TV and the v17 Leanback library. If you have an app that supports Android TV or Leanback, those features should work as-is in the Amazon Fire TV developer preview. Here are a few of the other features available in the Fire OS 5 Developer Preview for Amazon Fire TV:

• Android 5.1 Behavior Changes
• Android 5.1 APIs
• V17 Leanback Library (android.support.v17.leanback package reference)

Deprecating the Amazon Fire TV SDK Add-on and Amazon Fire TV SDK APIs

To make building for TV more seamless for Android developers, we are deprecating all portions of the Fire OS 3 platform software that were unique to Amazon Fire TV. This includes removing:

• The Amazon Fire TV SDK add-on. This add-on was optional for Fire OS 3 and should no longer be used. Note that you may still need to use the Mobile Apps SDK for APIs such as In-App Purchasing.
• The Amazon Notifications API. Notifications on Fire TV are now standard Android heads-up notifications. Use the standard Android notifications API.
• The GameController API. The player number functionality that GameController provided is now available in Android InputDevice.

If you have an app that uses the current Amazon Fire TV add-on or Amazon APIs, that app will continue to work on Fire OS 5, but those APIs will be removed from Fire OS and the Amazon Fire TV platform at a later date. Now is a great time to prepare your app or game to support the new features of Fire OS 5 for Amazon Fire TV.

How to Get the Fire OS 5 Developer Preview for Amazon Fire TV

In order to get access to the Fire OS 5 Developer Preview for Amazon Fire TV, you’ll need to make sure you have a registered developer account with the Amazon Appstore and an Amazon Fire TV or an Amazon Fire TV Stick. Then, you can sign up for the Developer Preview. Use the following links below to get started:

• Register for a Free Amazon Developer account
• Sign up for the Fire OS 5 Developer Preview for Fire TV
• Learn more about Fire OS 5

Note that the Fire OS 5 Developer Preview for Amazon Fire TV is beta-quality software with a stock Android Lollipop appearance. Please report bugs and other issues here as you test your apps in the preview. There are no new features in the Developer Preview for end users of the Amazon Fire TV platform.

- Jesse Freeman (@jessefreeman)

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