App Submission for Vega - Amazon Vega Docs

You submit a Vega OS app through the Developer Console using the same submission process as you do for Fire OS apps. For detailed instructions of the entire app submission process, see Submit Your App to the Amazon Appstore. If you have an existing Fire OS app and want to add a Vega OS version, or if you want to submit a new app for both Fire OS and Vega OS devices, review the guidance on this page.

Prerequisites

The following are prerequisites to submit a Vega OS app:

You must have a VPKG file available as an app binary. For help locating your VPKG file, see Locate your VPKG file.
Your app must register the main category (com.amazon.category.main) in the app manifest. Without the main category, your app can’t launch from the Fire TV Home launcher and will fail the Amazon Appstore submission process. For more information, see .

Locate your VPKG file

When you build your app, the locations of the generated VPKG files are as follows.

General path structure:

<project-root>/build/<cpu-architecture>-<build-type>/<project-name>_<cpu-architecture>.vpkg

Debug build:

<project-root>/build/<cpu-architecture>-debug/<project-name>_<cpu-architecture>.vpkg

Release build:

<project-root>/build/<cpu-architecture>-release/<project-name>_<cpu-architecture>.vpkg

For example, if you have the following:

Project name is “hellovega”
Located in ~/workspaces

The release VPKG that you upload for app submission would be at:

~/workspaces/hellovega/build/armv7-release/hellovega_armv7.vpkg

Considerations for targeting Fire OS and Vega OS devices

If you plan to target both Fire OS and Vega OS devices, you can submit the binaries using the same app listing in the console. For example, if you have an existing Fire OS version of your app, you can add the Vega OS version to your existing app. With a single app listing, metadata and other app features, such as in-app purchasing, are shared across both versions. Although not recommended, you can also choose to submit your Vega OS binary as a new app submission for Vega OS devices only, separate from the Fire OS version of your app. If you have a paid app, or use in-app purchases, this method would require a customer to separately pay for each app and any in-app purchases. The following table lists the differences between submitting the Fire OS and Vega OS version of your app as part of the same app listing, and submitting them as a separate apps.

Area for consideration	Same app listing	Separate app submission
App metadata	Metadata like app title, description, pricing, and screenshots, needs to be completed only one time.	You must maintain metadata like app title, description, pricing, and screenshots, separately for Fire OS and Vega OS apps.
In-app purchases	In-app purchase items added in the Developer Console are automatically available for both Fire OS and Vega OS apps.	You must separately set up in-app purchase items for the Fire OS and Vega OS apps. A customer who is entitled to content on the Fire OS app won’t be entitled to the content in the Vega OS app.
Customer reviews	Customer reviews for the Fire OS app and Vega OS app are shown together.	Customer reviews for the Fire OS app and Vega OS app are separate.
App discovery	When you search for the app on the Amazon retail website, only one app is listed.	When you search for the app on the Amazon retail website, the Fire OS app and the Vega OS app are listed separately.
Pricing	You can maintain the same pricing for the app and in-app items for both Fire OS and Vega OS.	You can maintain same or different pricing for the app and in-app items for Fire OS and Vega OS. However, the entitlements will not be interchangeable.
App acquisition	If a customer purchased the app on another compatible Amazon device, they own the app and the in-app purchases associated with the app. Whether the customer downloads the app on a Fire OS or Vega OS device, they retain access to their purchases.	The customer must purchase the Vega OS app and in-app purchases separately from the Fire OS app.

If you use the recommended method and submit both Fire OS and Vega OS binaries to the same app listing, make sure your app meets the following conditions:

Your package name for both the Fire OS binary and Vega OS binary are the same.
If your app supports in-app purchasing (IAP), your app has Vega IAP libraries integrated.

Submission steps

This section provides a condensed version of the app submission process. For complete details on each screen in the submission process, see Submit Your App to the Amazon Appstore. To submit your Vega app

Sign in to the Developer Console.
If uploading your VPKG file to an existing app, navigate to that app and select Add Upcoming Version. Otherwise, on the console home page, click Add a New App and complete the information on the new app submission screen.
On the Upload Your App File screen, upload your VPKG file.
On the Target Your App screen, click Edit supported devices.
Select the Amazon Fire TV tab.
In the Amazon Vega TV section, choose the device you want to target.
On the Appstore Details screen, complete the metadata fields. If this is your first time targeting a Fire TV for this app, make sure to upload all required Fire TV assets. In the Release notes field, copy your existing Fire OS app release notes. Do not mention “Vega” in any field.
On the Review & Submit screen, review and address any issues, then click Submit App.

Manage app updates and versions

You can submit updated versions of your Vega OS app in the Developer Console. Defining an app version helps the Amazon Appstore determine which version to show your users. Versioning is critical because:

Other apps—including apps you publish as a suite—need to query the system for your app’s version to determine compatibility and identify dependencies.
Services where you publish your app might also need to query your app for its version so that they can display the version to users. A publishing service might also need to check the app version to determine compatibility and establish upgrade or downgrade relationships.

The Appstore uses the build number value to protect against downgrades by preventing users from installing a VPKG with a lower build number than the version currently installed on their device. For more information about setting the version and build number for your Vega VPKG, see .

Guidelines for maintaining multiple APKs and VPKGs

You can submit both APKs and VPKGs in the same app listing and must maintain versioning for both binary types. Since each binary has a distinct development process, follow these guidelines for versioning your APKs and VPKGs:

The Fire OS version codes and Vega OS build numbers are independent of each other. When you submit both APKs and VPKGs for an app, the Appstore checks the new version code with the version code of the previous APK submission, and checks the new build number with the build number of previous VPKG.
For app updates, both the version code and build number need to be greater than the previous version code and build number respectively.

Submit Your App to the Amazon Appstore

​Prerequisites

​Locate your VPKG file

​Considerations for targeting Fire OS and Vega OS devices

​Submission steps

​Manage app updates and versions

​Guidelines for maintaining multiple APKs and VPKGs

​Related topics