Reporting from Android TV apps
On your own desk, adb still works over the network: Android TV and Fire TV bug reports covers developer options, adb connect, adb bugreport and the logcat crash buffer on a TV, and where that stops scaling.
Android TV apps are among the hardest to debug from the field: a tester sees a glitch in the living room and has to describe it from memory, or film the screen with a phone. On a TV there is no keyboard and no screenshot key, so Everframe does not put a reporter on the TV. The Android SDK reports crashes and errors on its own, and a linked TV files a quick capture with one remote gesture. Quick capture on real devices covers linking, team devices and the gestures.
Linked TVs
A TV is linked to one teammate, whose captures are private drafts, or to the project as a team device, whose captures land in the shared inbox. A TV can pass from one person to the next and be taken over in seconds, and each capture is attributed to whoever held it.
The same envelope as every other screen
The Android SDK you ship on phones runs unchanged on Android TV. An Android TV report is the same envelope as one from your phone or web app, so webhooks, triage rules and the dashboard treat it the same way — screenshot, console, network, the trail of screens, device, and who filed it.
Crash reporting on Android TV
Uncaught Java and Kotlin exceptions become reports on their own, with the breadcrumb trail and the device, sent on the next launch. On Android 11 and later, native crashes and ANRs are reported from the exit record the OS keeps. A low-memory kill is reported only when the OS records it as one; on a TV the kernel can end the app first, and that exit is not reported.
What every Android TV report carries
- A screenshot of exactly what the TV rendered on a quick capture — masked before it leaves the device.
- Console output, network calls and the trail of screens from the seconds before. Replay when it is enabled for the app.
- App, SDK, OS and device metadata, and who holds the linked TV.
Install
// gradle.properties
everframeVersion=1.2.1
// build.gradle
implementation("dev.everframe:core:$everframeVersion")
implementation("dev.everframe:reporter-ui:$everframeVersion") Questions
How do I file a bug from an Android TV?
Link the TV under Project settings → Devices in the dashboard, then do the capture gesture on the remote. A draft with the screenshot, replay and logs lands in the dashboard's capture card, and you title it there.
Does the Android TV app need a keyboard or a special remote?
No. Nothing is typed on the TV. The gesture captures and the title is written on the dashboard; the D-pad remote stays a remote.
Do people watching on other TVs see anything?
No. Quick capture only fires on a linked TV or a debug build. End users of a release build see no change.
