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Automate smart TV apps

Test Android TV, Samsung Tizen and LG webOS apps with one tool and remote-control keys.

Intermediate, about 10 min

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You can test a TV app the way a viewer uses it: press arrow keys on the remote, open a tile, start playback and check what's on screen. Optics drives Android TV, Samsung Tizen and LG webOS through Appium, the same server it uses for phones. Your tests are rows in CSV files, so one suite style covers your phone, web and TV apps.

This page walks you through the job and links to the pages that hold the details. Test TV apps is the full reference.

Check what each TV supports#

Each TV platform has its own Appium driver. You pick it with platformName in config.yaml.

TV platformplatformNameHow you move aroundHow Optics sees the screen
Android TVAndroidAndroid key numbers, plus taps and typingUI tree and screenshots, like an Android phone
Samsung TizenTizenTVRemote key names onlyPage source and screenshots
LG webOSLGTVRemote key names onlyScreenshots, plus OCR to read text

Tizen and webOS TVs have no touch screen. Touch and typing keywords, such as Press Element, Swipe and Enter Text, fail with E0105 there. You move the focus with Press Keycode instead. What doesn't work on Tizen and webOS lists every keyword.

Set up#

  1. Install Optics and Appium#

    Install Optics, then add the Appium engine and the Appium server:

    $ optics setup --install appium
$ npm install -g appium

  2. Prepare the TV#

    Turn on developer mode on the TV, install the vendor's tools, and put the TV on the same network as your machine. Each Appium driver's project page covers these steps.

  3. Add the driver for your TV#

    • Android TV uses the same setup as an Android phone. Follow Test Android apps and connect with adb connect <tv-ip>.
    • Samsung Tizen: appium driver install --source=npm appium-tizen-tv-driver, then copy the Tizen config.
    • LG webOS: appium driver install --source=npm appium-lg-webos-driver, then copy the webOS config and add an OCR engine with optics setup --install easyocr.

  4. Check the setup#

    Start appium in another terminal, then run optics doctor on your project. On Tizen and webOS, the doctor warns about phone settings such as appActivity. You can ignore those warnings as long as config: driver and config: appium element source show ✅. See Check the setup.

Write the test with remote keys#

A TV test is a list of key presses with a check after each page change. This module opens the second tile in a row and checks the title:

modules/modules.csv
module_name,module_step,param_1,param_2
Open Birch TV,Launch App
Open Birch TV,Assert Presence,Featured,30
Open the second shoe,Press Keycode,DOWN
Open the second shoe,Press Keycode,RIGHT
Open the second shoe,Press Keycode,ENTER
Open the second shoe,Assert Presence,Trail Runner 2,10

On Tizen and webOS, Press Keycode takes key names such as UP, ENTER, BACK and PLAY. On Android TV, it takes Android key numbers instead: 19 to 22 for the arrows and 23 for Select. Move around with remote keys has both tables.

To type on a Tizen or webOS TV, move over the on-screen keyboard with arrow keys and press ENTER on each letter.

Keep TV tests reliable#

  • Assert after each page change. Keys don't wait for the app. Assert Presence waits for the next page, so the next key lands in the right place.
  • Start from a known place. Begin each test with Launch App and an assertion on the first screen.
  • Check text that's drawn large and clear. On webOS, Assert Presence reads the screen with OCR.
  • Use images for icons. Add image matching when a tile or button has no text.

Run it on every build#

Run the suite with optics execute, as you would a phone suite. Before each run, Optics checks that the Appium server answers. It doesn't check the TV itself, so make sure the TV is on and reachable. Run tests in CI covers the JUnit report your CI system reads.

See also#