Fire TV SDK Setup

Airship SDK support and setup for Fire OS Fire TV applications

You can use Airship to send messages to your app on Fire OS Fire TV devices. You can also control which features are available in your app.

Message type and feature support

Send to Fire TV devices in the same way as for Fire OS mobile devices. In the dashboard, select the Fire OS channel. Using the API, specify amazon_channel in the audience object.

All supported messages message types and features can be implemented without development work.

Supported for Fire TV:

Message type or featureComments
Push NotificationA message that can appear on any screen on a mobile device. Push notifications appear as banners.Notifications appear in the notification tray. Not supported for Fire TV: buttons, the Summary field, the Share action, or heads-up notifications (high priority push).
Message CenterA place in your app where you can display persistent rich messages, including HTML, video, etc. Similar to email, Message Center represents both the medium (the in-app inbox) and the message type (the messages you send to the inbox).The MessageCenterAction opens the Message Center but does not directly open the message. If a web browser is installed, URLs function as button actions.
In-App MessageA message that appears inside of your app. You can send in-app messages to your entire app audience, not just users who have opted-in to push notifications. The standard format, as opposed to In-App Automation, is a banner that slides downward or upward from the top or bottom of a device screen. (standard)n/a
Feature FlagA toggle for controlling the availability of content or functionality in your app or website. A flag’s Configurations determine the audience, schedule, and property values to apply when the flag is enabled. Flag properties enable making immediate code updates, bypassing the need for traditional code changes and release processes.n/a

Requirements

  • Minimum Android version supported 21+
  • Compile SDK version 34+

SDK Installation

The Airship SDK is split into modules which allow you to choose the push providers and features to be included in your application. Fire TV receives messages via ADM, so you’ll need to include the urbanairship-adm provider in order to receive notifications.

Example installation

app build.gradle.kts

dependencies {

    val airshipVersion = "17.8.0"
    
    // ADM push provider
    implementation("com.urbanairship.android:urbanairship-adm:$airshipVersion")

    // Message Center
    implementation("com.urbanairship.android:urbanairship-message-center:$airshipVersion")
    
    // Feature Flags
    implementation("com.urbanairship.android:urbanairship-feature-flag:$airshipVersion")
}
 Note

All Airship dependencies included in the build.gradle.kts file should all specify the exact same version.

app build.gradle

dependencies {

    def airshipVersion = "17.8.0"
    
    // ADM push provider
    implementation "com.urbanairship.android:urbanairship-adm:$airshipVersion"
    
    // Message Center
    implementation "com.urbanairship.android:urbanairship-message-center:$airshipVersion"
}
 Note

All Airship dependencies included in the build.gradle file should all specify the exact same version.

ADM setup

Follow Amazon’s documentation to store your API key as an asset.

Configure and initialize Airship

Fire TV is supported via the native Android Airship SDK, and makes use of the same process to configure and initialize Airship on Fire TV devices. Refer to the Android SDK Setup guide for further set up instructions.