Amazon Firestick Development: Introduction

Have you ever wanted to develop an app for Amazon Firesticks/FireTV's? We have the resources to get you started with free video and text tutorials.

To get started you will need a Firestick/FireTV, a computer with VSCode or other code editor, and an idea.

Amazon firesticks and FireTV's use FireOS which is a fork of Android. Which means that android apps can be modified to work on Fire devices. At antimonySb we specialize in javascript and web development so we won't be talking to much about android development, instead we will talk about how you can deploy your website as an Amazon App.

Amazon allows you to deploy your hosted website as an app. This means that when a user downloads your app they are basically downloading a shell that when launched runs a browser loading the url that you specify. This makes it seem like the user has downloaded the app but they are really just accessing your website without all of the annoying tabs, searchbars, and other browser features. Allowing for a seamless completely branded experience.

This method makes it really easy for users to access your website because when they launch the app it automatically loads it. So its basically like making a shortcut to your website.

Another method is to package your app. So instead of providing a link to your website you would just upload your files as a folder containing everything. This allows people to use the app offline. But most FireTV apps will probably need internet access anyway to retreive data. So in our opinion this option isn't that great because even though its a little more efficient, everytime you make an update you have to go through Amazon Approval which can take time.

The final option for developing for Amazon using web dev tools is React Native. This is not a great option for two main reasons:

  1. No Ads

    Amazon Fire devices are not compatible with Google AdMob and there is no Amazon ad service anymore so you won't be able to display ads.
  2. Invisible Actions

    React Native does not have a way of determining which element is in focus. This is because it was designed for use with touch screens where there is no hover/focus feature. This means that your user has no idea which button they are currently acting on and makes navigation nearly impossible.

Stay tuned for more tutorials to come and learn how to make, deploy, and publish your first Amazon Fire App.