Support Different Types of Devices

Alexa Presentation Language works with different types of devices, including devices with screens, devices with character displays, and speakers that play audio.

Build responsive APL documents for devices with screens

Users can invoke skills on devices with a wide variety of screen sizes, shapes, and aspect ratios. To make your skill look good across all these different devices, build a responsive APL document. A responsive Alexa Presentation Language (APL) document can adjust to the characteristics of the viewport.

For details and best practices, see Build Responsive APL Documents.

Support devices that change size and other characteristics

Some devices, such as tablets, can change screen size and other characteristics while your document is still displayed on the screen. For example, a user might invoke your skill on a tablet in landscape mode, and then flip the device into portrait mode. You can design your APL documents to handle this situation.

For details, see Support Tablets and Other Devices that Can Change Size.

Configure the viewports your skill supports

When you configure your skill to support APL, you also select the set of viewport profiles your skill supports. These options determine how different devices display your content.

For details, see Select the Viewport Profiles Your Skill Supports.

Support devices with character displays

An Alexa-enabled device with a character display (such as the Echo Dot with clock) provides an alphanumeric display. When users invoke your skill on this type of device, your skill can use APL to display brief, textual messages. These messages are useful for skills that provide short answers, such as weather, trivia, conversion/math results, and so on.

For details, see Support Devices with Character Displays.

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Last updated: Nov 28, 2023