Android Question B4X app on a firestick

[davemorris]

Hi, Guys

Just a quick question - I am looking to develop an App that will work on the Amazon Firestick.

Background: Basically it is a App that will display a score screen on a TV and the scores are passed via the Wifi. I have already developed the App to work on a Android tablet or Phone so I know it is possible for B4X to perform the task.

Question(s) -
How simple, or is it possible, to convert a standard B4X App to work on Firestick?
Is a Firestick basically the same as a Smart TV or Android TV?
I had looked on the forum and nearest I found was the post https://www.b4x.com/android/forum/threads/android-tv-with-b4a.138432/#post-877808 which talked about using a Android TV. Can anyone point me in the directions of other posts I may have missed?

I would also be most grateful for some pointers on is best to solve this problem (if it is possible!)?

Very kind regards (as always) and thanks in advance for any comments.
Dave

 

[JohnC]

Firesticks run a special Amazon version of Android called FireOS:

Fire OS - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

It is simply a basic version of android and is usually based on an older version of android (ie. the latest FireOS 8 is based on Android 11)

The main thing to understand is that FireOS has NO google in it at all - no google maps, gmail, play store, .ect and especially no google play services. So if your app depends on some functionality that requires any google-centric API, it will not run on a FireStick.

So, if your app doesn't require any google services, it should run just fine on firesticks.

Also, you need to design the UI of your app so that the user can FULLY navigate your app using just the firestick remote because the user can not "touch" the tv screen to click on any views - so this might limit which views you can include in your app.

 

[davemorris]

Hi, John
Thanks for your input -

no google maps, gmail, play store, .ect and especially no google play services.

I will need to look at the services the current App needs (hopefully none) - I use the Wifi to communicate and I hope this is OK.

With regards user input (UI) - thankfully it is a display only App (simply displays the scores). However, may need some type of settings option which will need the user to interact with the App - I will need to make the setup as automatic as possible to avoid problems with user input.

Thanks so far for the input, please keep it coming.

Dave

p.s. I intend to post on the forum what I have done (if I get it working) as there does not appear to be any tutorial or post (apart previously mentioned post) on the subject.

 

[RJB]

Why Amazon? There are many other 'TV Boxes' / Sticks available running pretty much standard Android. I've used lots of them and, apart from the obvious (screen size/ keyboard/ remote/ 'mouse') differences, they run standard apps.

 

[JohnC]

Why Amazon? There are many other 'TV Boxes' / Sticks available running pretty much standard Android. I've used lots of them and, apart from the obvious (screen size/ keyboard/ remote/ 'mouse') differences, they run standard apps.

Firesticks make up a significant portion of the streaming device market - so if your app can run on it, you have many more potential customers.

Also, the Firestick Max stick or the Cube are more powerful (faster CPU for smooth/fast UI operation) than most Android TV boxes (except the Nvidia Shield Pro which is the best android streaming device IMPO)

 

[Computersmith64]

Here's another link to info you might find useful: https://developer.amazon.com/docs/fire-tv/fire-os-overview.html#:~:text=Fire%20OS%20is%20the%20operating,your%20app%20on%20Amazon's%20OS.

- Colin.