Use Jetpack Compose on Android TV

Compose for TV is the modern approach for building Android TV user interfaces. Compose for TV unlocks all the benefits of Android's Jetpack Compose for your TV apps, making building beautiful and functional UIs for your app much easier.

Some specific benefits of using Compose for TV include the following:

Flexibility: Compose can be used to create any type of UI, from simple layouts to complex animations. Components work out of the box but can also be customized and styled to fit your app's needs.
Simplified & Accelerated Development: Compose is compatible with existing code and enables developers to more efficiently build apps with less code.
Intuitive: Compose uses a declarative syntax that lets you to make changes to your UI, debug, understand and review your code.

If you are unfamiliar with using the Jetpack Compose toolkit, check out the Compose pathway. Many of the development principles for mobile Compose apply to TV as well. See Why Compose for more information about the general advantages of a declarative UI framework. To learn more, also see the Compose for TV samples repository on GitHub.

Compatibility

Compose for TV works on Android TVs with Android 5.0 (API level 21) or higher. Using version 1.0 of Compose for TV requires version 1.3.0 of androidx.compose libraries and Kotlin 1.7.10.

Setup

Using Jetpack Compose on Android TV is similar to using Jetpack Compose for any other Android project. The main difference is that Compose for TV adds libraries that offer TV-optimized components and make it easier to create user interfaces tailored to TV. In some cases those components share the same name as their non-TV counterparts, such as androidx.tv.material3.Button and androidx.compose.material3.Button.

Jetpack Compose toolkit dependencies

To use Compose for TV, include Jetpack Compose toolkit dependencies in your app's build.gradle file as follows:

Kotlin

dependencies {
   val composeBom = platform("androidx.compose:compose-bom:2024.10.01")
   implementation(composeBom)

   // General compose dependencies.
   implementation("androidx.activity:activity-compose:1.9.2")

   implementation("androidx.compose.ui:ui-tooling-preview")
   debugImplementation("androidx.compose.ui:ui-tooling")

   // Compose for TV dependencies.
   implementation("androidx.tv:tv-material:1.0.0")
}

Groovy

dependencies {
   def composeBom = platform('androidx.compose:compose-bom:2024.10.01')
   implementation composeBom

   // General compose dependencies.
   implementation 'androidx.activity:activity-compose:1.9.2'

   implementation 'androidx.compose.ui:ui-tooling-preview'
   debugImplementation 'androidx.compose.ui:ui-tooling'

   // Compose for TV dependencies.
   implementation 'androidx.tv:tv-material:1.0.0'
}

What's different

The TV material components are designed for the living room, with clear focus indicators and remote-friendly input behavior. For details on how to use these specific components, check the TV UI design guides.

Figure 1. Sample components from the TV material library.

Use the TV version of APIs wherever possible to benefit from these features.

While it is technically possible to use the mobile version of Compose Material, it is not optimized for the unique style of interactions on Android TV. In addition, mixing Compose Material with Compose Material from Compose for TV can result in unexpected behavior. For example, because each library has its own MaterialTheme object, there's the possibility of colors, typography, or shapes being inconsistent if both versions are used.

The following table outlines the dependency differences between TV and Mobile:

TV Dependency (androidx.tv.*)	Comparison	Mobile Dependency (androidx.compose.*)
androidx.tv:tv-material	*instead of*	androidx.compose.material3:material3

Additional resources

TV design guides
An overview of dedicated TV components for building user interfaces with links to relevant developer resources.
TV Material Catalog sample
A catalog app that demonstrates how to implement Material Design principles using Compose for TV.
JetStream sample
A media streaming app that demonstrates the use of TV Compose with a typical Material app and real-world architecture.
Introduction to Compose for TV
This codelab steps through building a video-player app with a catalog-browser screen and a details screen.