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 life cycle events, such as:
- Playback interruption when a user interacts with Alexa
- App goes into background mode because:
- A user wants to start a different apps
- A user presses the home button
- A user turns the TV off 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 are run on apps submitted to the Amazon Appstore. 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 Back button on remote to exit the playback and continue pressing back button till we exit the app and reach FireTV launcher 3. Relaunch the app Repeat above steps for both on-demand and live contents in the app. |
App should launch without any issues and user should be able to use the app i.e. navigate across the app sections, play contents etc. |
Exit the app with Home Button and relaunch | 1. Launch the app and play any video content in the app 2. Press home button on remote to exit the playback 3. Relaunch the app Repeat above steps for both on-demand and live contents in the app. |
There should not be audio leak from app on FireTV launcher. App should launch without any issues and user should be able to use the app i.e. navigate across the app sections, play contents etc. |
Switching between apps | 1. Launch the app and play any video content in the app 2. During playback press home button on the remote to go to FireTV launcher 3. Launch any other app, e.g. one of the sample applications that can play video and play video in that application 4. Exit the app by pressing home button on the remote 5. Relaunch the app and resume the playback |
App should smoothly exit for both the apps, there should not be any audio leak or audio overlap. No crash or blank screen or Audio/Video sync issues should be observed during playback in any of the apps. User should be able to Play/Pause/forward/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 plug-in the device back |
Playback should be paused when FireTV is reconnected 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 FireTV 4. Launch the app Repeat step #2 to #4 by turning off the TV using power button of remote and then turning on the device |
Playback should be paused when FireTV 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. Re-launch the app and resume the video playback |
User should be able to launch the app successfully after device restart. App log in details should retain and user should be able to navigate across the app sections, play contents etc. |
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 5mins 3. When screensaver appears, press back button to navigate back to app |
Ensure video playback remains in paused state and no audio from the app is heard over screensaver/Ambient screen. For audio streaming apps, playback should continue even when screensaver/Ambient screen appears. On pressing back button from screensaver, user should be redirected back to the app under test and user should be able to resume the playback. |
Interruptions with Alexa during playback | 1. Launch the app and play any video content in the app 2. During playback use remote to perform voice search to invoke Alexa cards Ex: "what is the weather in Sunnyvale?" or any similar command. 3. Verify the playback after 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 that was searched. There should not be any audio overlap observed between Alexa response and app audio. After Alexa card dismisses, audio/video playback in the app should resume correctly. |
Playback with BT device | 1. Connect FireTV to 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 should be correctly routed through soundbar/headset, video playback should be fine and audio-video should be in 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.
Related resources
You can also find some more requirements for media apps, including recommendations for background and foreground mode in General requirements for media apps.
Last updated: Oct 13, 2025