Introduction
This document does not replace the full Samsung guidelines for app submission, rather it identifies the necessary steps that are split across a number pages in Samsung’s developer documentation and where to find the detailed information.
Introductory reading
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Samasung app distribution policy (rating etc.) |
https://developer.samsung.com/smarttv/develop/distribute/distribute-policy/age-rating.html |
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Samsung app life cycle overview |
https://developer.samsung.com/smarttv/develop/distribute/seller-office.html |
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Samsung app launch checklist |
https://developer.samsung.com/smarttv/develop/distribute/launch-checklist.html |
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Samsung app publication process |
https://developer.samsung.com/smarttv/develop/distribute/application-publication-process.html |
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Link to the Samsung Seller Office |
Samsung Seller Console, App Release and Management
The full Samsung documentation on the entire app submission process is spread over these documents. Please read.
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Step |
Action |
Further detail |
Note |
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1 |
Sign up for a Samsung Seller Account https://seller.samsungapps.com/tv |
Signing up here will get you ‘Seller Status’ However, to distribute Apps outside of the USA a customer needs to apply for ‘Partner Status’ as a second step. Contact your local Samsung Partner person (Applicaster can help) by e-mail and when he has agreed that you can be a partner you can then formally request Partner Status through the Seller Portal https://developer.samsung.com/smarttv/develop/distribute/seller-office.html |
You can add other members of your organisation to the portal |
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2 |
Register an Application with the supporting App description information |
Start the app registration process |
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3 |
Prepare and submit the app basic information |
Fill in the basic information in the seller account for your app - category, rating, language, privacy policy, descriptions etc. |
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4 |
Submit pre-test information |
More detailed information about the app operation for Samsung testers plus the model groups of TV to be targeted. (note Applicaster apps only support Tizen 3.0 and later - 2017 model years and later). |
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5 |
Upload the application for pre-test |
Upload and check the pre-test report for submission errors |
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6 |
Respond to pre-test report |
https://developer.samsung.com/smarttv/develop/distribute/seller-office/applications/application-registration.html#app-upload-pre-test
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Fix any issues from the submission process stage (full app testing occurs after step 8) |
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7 |
Preview |
Preview all submission information prior to final app submission |
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8 |
Submit the app |
https://developer.samsung.com/smarttv/develop/distribute/seller-office/applications/application-registration.html#submit |
Acknowledge the release agreements and submit. The app will move to certification status |
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9 |
Respond to any defects in the certification process |
https://developer.samsung.com/SmartTV/develop/distribute/seller-office/applications/application-certification.html |
Check the link on the left to understand allowing app auto-releasing with minor (acceptable to Samsung) defects and responding to critical defects |
Basic Preparation
These are the key things to have in place for Samsung TV App Store submission
- A release build .wgt file of the application created in and downloaded from Zapp. This will contain the necessary file structure and certificates to submit to the Samsung Store
- Samsung Author and Distributor p12 Certificates plus a number of other files all generated during the Samsung certificate genertion process (see below)
- Graphical assets to upload to the app store (see "Assets Specifications" below
- A power point presentation that describes the app operation, screen functions etc. Samsung have a template for this https://dr1stk14alc8x.cloudfront.net/media/3297/app_description_template_eng_v142_edited3.pptx
- A Samsung Seller Account set up to manage the app submission process https://seller.samsungapps.com/tv
.wgt app release build
A Zapp "Build for Release" process will create the .wgt file for submission to the app store. When you select a release build you should add a number of files in the drop down fields. These are created during the Samsung author and distributor certificate creation process (see below).
After building you can then download the release build.
Certificate and supporting files Creation
Use the Tizen Studio tool Certificate Manager to create Author and Distributor certificates and all the other files required for a release build. Certificate Manager is a package installed when you install Tizen Studio to your MAC or PC
Follow the process here to create your author and distributor certificates
You must create SAMSUNG certificates NOT Tizen Certificates
Then download the entire certificate directory from your PC - the location is found by pressing the i button for the certificate in Samsung Certificate Manager. These files can then be added to Zapp for the release build.
The files required will look like this - all files are required for Zapp
IMPORTANT: Do not loose these certificates and their passwords. Author certificate cannot be retrieved if lost and an app will require full re-submission with new certificates if the original author certificate is not available
Samsung store information
Follow the store submission guidelines in this document https://developer.samsung.com/smarttv/develop/distribute/seller-office/applications/application-registration.html#basic-information
However, below is some additional help information
App naming
In the Samsung Store there are 2 app names that are entered during the submission process
App Title
- This is the visible name that appears in the store to app downloaders
- It is a free text field and can be anything and can be changed at any time
App Name
- This is the name that MUST match the App Name in Zapp which then gets imported by Zapp into the config.xml file that is automatically generated within the Samsung app package.
- Once set in the store this App Name cannot be changed.
- No spaces or special characters other than _ and . can be used in an app name
- Zapp will take the app name as entered in the Zapp name field (image below) and remove all spaces when it creates the config.xml file for the app
- e.g. My New App will be become MyNewApp in config.xml
- Therefore MyNewApp is the name to enter in the App Name field during the Samsung store submission process
Samsung Apps Store Asset Requirements
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Include all the graphical assets for the Samsung App Store listing Need to be provided by customer. |
Application icon, both foreground image and background components required. This icon is used in 16x9 format in various places in the UI and is also scaled by the TV to 1x1 for use in other parts of the TV UI. Therefore observe the icon design guidelines in this link so that it displays correctly |
Foreground: "Logo image: 1920px x 1080px 32b PNG RGBA (with transparency)" Background: 1920px x 1080px 24b PNG RGB (no transparency)" https://developer.samsung.com/smarttv/design/app-icons-and-screenshots.html NOTE 1: The 512px x 512px icon in The Samsung store is only used for 2016 TVs and earlier and TVs of that age are not supported by Quick Brick Samsung apps NOTE 2: In Zapp the 512px x 512px icon asset in the app is only used when side-loading the app on a TV device. |
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App operation description template |
This covers UI structure and flow, remote control key, use cases etc. https://developer.samsung.com/smarttv/design/ux-checklist.html https://d1oxlq5h9kq8q5.cloudfront.net/tvstore_stg/App_Description_template_eng_v.1.42.zip |
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4 screenshots of your application. These screenshots will be displayed on Smart TVs when a user is searching / browsing the 'Samsung TV Apps' section of their TV menu |
jpg, less than 500kB, sizes: 1280x720 or 1920x1080 pixels https://developer.samsung.com/smarttv/design/app-icons-and-screenshots.html |
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App title and description in each of the supported languages |
You can select your Samsung App Store listing languages and describe the app in each of those langauges | |
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Contact information as e-mail address for any operation enquiries and notifications from Samsung |
Supported model year types
Applicaster Samsung TV applications support TVs with Tizen version 3 or later.
You should select model year 2017 and onwards. Both Standard and Premium model ranges are supported.
Do not select model years 2016 or earlier.
App Submission States
An app will proceed through the various submission verification and testing processes.
- When an app is submitted the first check is an auto pre-check of the submitted .wgt file and certificates. This will immediately generate a pass or fail (and if so a list of the failed items).
- The items checked in this process are listed here under the "app upload and pretest section" https://developer.samsung.com/smarttv/develop/distribute/seller-office/applications/application-registration.html#basic-information
- After passing pre-check the app goes for actual usage and compliance testing by Samsung and usually takes around 4 days to get feedback of pass or fail
- The defect resolution process is described here https://developer.samsung.com/smarttv/develop/distribute/seller-office/applications/application-certification.html
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