Glossary (Fire TV)

A| B| C| D| F| H| I| G| L| M| N| P| T| U| V|

A

app: Your app as shown in the Appstore. A single app can have multiple APKs designed for different devices or locales.
APK: Android Package Kit. The file that gets downloaded to a device when a user installs your app from the Appstore.
Alexa skill: A capability or ability of Alexa. Alexa provides a set of built-in skills (such as playing music), and developers can use the Alexa Skills Kit to give Alexa new skills. A skill includes both the code (in the form of a cloud-based service) and the configuration provided on the developer console.
Alexa Voice Remote: A remote control for Fire TV that offers a voice button. Interacting with this voice-enabled remote (even if you're far away from your TV) is still considered "near field" control because you're near the microphone array of the remote control.
AWS Lambda: An AWS compute service that runs your code in response to events and automatically manages the compute resources for you. This lets you run code (referred to as a Lambda function) in the cloud without managing servers. The code for your skill must be hosted as a Lambda function and is required for smart home skills. You can also choose to use a Lambda function for the service for a custom skill. AWS Lambda is a service offering by Amazon Web Services.
AWS Lambda function: The code uploaded to AWS Lambda. Lambda supports coding in Node.js, Java, Python, or C#. A smart home skill must be implemented as a Lambda function. You can also choose to use a Lambda function for the service for a custom skill.

B

binary: Can refer to Android App Bundle (AAB) or APK file. "Binary targeting" or "device targeting" refers to filtering the devices available for your binary file based on the manifest.
build.gradle file: A file in the APK where build dependencies are declared. The build.gradle file indicates the minSdkVersion and versionCode, which influence the Appstore's filtering logic that determines device compatibility. Note that there are two build.gradle files in each Android Studio project. One is a project-level configuration file (in the project's root directory); the other is an app-level configuration file (in the folder called app). For device filtering, all manifest-related configuration is in the app-level build.gradle file.

C

Catalog: Refers to the index of media on your app. Catalog ingestion is the process of submitting your catalog to Amazon so that the content can be surfaced to users. You define all the metadata about your media (movies, tv shows) in a catalog file that conforms to the Catalog Data Format schema. When you upload your catalog file to Amazon, your content can be discoverable through universal search on Fire TV and on other devices (such as Echo Show and Spot) as well. Note that catalog ingestion is only part of the process of making your content discoverable. Both Fire TV and Echo Show require additional steps for implementation beyond merely submitting your CDF file. For example, see Getting Started with Universal Search and Browse on Fire TV.
compatibility: The suitability of your APK for the device — based on the API level, features, and other attributes in the manifest and build.gradle file. If your app isn't compatible with a device, the Appstore won't let users install it on their device.
Cordova: Apache Cordova provides a wrapper that allows you to include native Android functionality in HTML5 web apps. Using Cordova, you can create an APK file for your web app.

D

debug APK: After you submit your web app for review, Amazon turns it into an APK (Android application package file), which is the format needed for distribution on the Amazon Appstore. A copy of the APK is available for download from the Debug Packages link on the developer portal. You can use this APK for testing and debugging on Android-based devices, including Amazon Fire TV devices and Fire tablets. See Install and Run the Debug APK to Test Your App.
deep linking: A deep link launches media playback directly in a third-party app rather than playing the media in Fire TV's default media player. When users search for media using Fire TV's universal search (whether voice search or text search), media results appear on search results pages. With deep links, the media results launches media playback in the third-party app rather than playing the media in Fire TV's default media player.
device: The tablets, TV, etc. where the APK is installed. The list of supported devices shown for your APK include both Amazon and Android devices because Amazon apps can be installed on Android devices through the Amazon Appstore for Android app.
device filtering: The process of automatically determining which devices your app can be installed on, based on the features, API levels, and other attributes in the APK manifest and build.gradle file. The features declared in the manifest (and build.gradle file) act as filters that determine which devices your app is compatible with. For details on Amazon's supported filters, see Manifest Filters Supported by the Amazon Appstore.
device targeting: Refers to actively designing your app for compatibility with a particular device (similar to device filtering). When you upload multiple APKs, there is no automatic filtering that determines device support for the additional APKs. You manually select which devices each APK supports. This manual selecting of device support with multiple APKs is sometimes referred to as device targeting.

F

far-field: Using an Echo device that is paired to a Fire TV to issue a voice command.
Fire TV Cube: The first Fire TV device offering a hands-free TV experience (far field control). Without a remote, you can use your voice to access, launch, and control content, turn on your TV and AV devices, switch inputs, adjust the volume, search for content, and more from a distance. For details, see Device Specifications: Fire TV Cube.
Catalog: An index of the media on Fire TV. Integrating your media catalog with Amazon allows your content to be discovered and launched from Amazon devices. It will then be discoverable on the Fire TV home screen when users search for it (either through voice or text search). See Getting Started with Catalog Ingestion for details.
Fire TV launcher: In contrast to the Android launcher, the Fire TV launcher is the default launcher used on Fire devices. In general, the launcher refers to the UI that organizes apps, settings, and navigation. It is the UI that sits on top of the operating system.

H

hosted app: is an application whose assets are hosted on a web server. Clients connect to the host and download the app's assets to their device before being able to run the app.
HTML5 hybrid apps: platform-native apps that use web content for the user interface.

I

intent: A message describing some operation to be performed by any service on the device. See Intent.

G

Gradle: The build system Android uses to gather dependencies and package up the APK.

L

local search: A search for content within a specific catalog-integrated app on Fire TV.

M

manifest: A required file in your APK that describes the features and activities in your app. The manifest and build.gradle file are used to determine which devices your app is compatible with.
media catalog: The list of media in your app that you ingest into the Amazon Catalog in order to make the content searchable.

N

near-field: Using the Fire TV Voice Remote to issue a voice command. In the case of the new Fire TV Cube, requests made to the Fire TV Cube initialize Alexa on the device, so although it uses the microphone array, it is a near-field experience.

P

package name: An attribute (package) in the manifest that provides a unique identifier for your app in the Appstore. The package name for your app must remain the same and cannot change with new releases. Multiple APKs for the same app should use the same package name for each APK. Different application listings, however, should have different package names. The package name must not include amazon in the name.
packaged app: A full-fledged client-side web standards-based application whose assets are bundled together in a ZIP archive for distribution.

T

transport controls: Playback controls while watching media (Play, Pause, Stop, Rewind, Fast-forward, etc.). Also called "media controls."

U

universal search: A search for content across all catalog-integrated apps on Fire TV. You can initiate a universal search using voice or text. All voice searches by default are universal searches. Any search using the search button within the Fire TV UI (rather than using the search provided within a specific app) is also a universal search.
utterance: The words the user says to Alexa to convey what they want to do, or to provide a response to a question Alexa asks.

V

Video Skill API: A set of APIs that enable the far-field control of video devices and streaming services using an Alexa-enabled device. For details, see Video Skills Kit (VSK) for Fire TV Overview.

Last updated: Oct 29, 2020