Android TV

D-pad navigation on Android TV

The remote control of Android TV has a D-pad control that sends commands that arrive as key events at dispatchKeyEvent(KeyEvent) of your Activity. These need to be delegated to the PlayerView:

override fun dispatchKeyEvent(event: KeyEvent?): Boolean {
  return playerView.dispatchKeyEvent(event!!) || super.dispatchKeyEvent(event)
}
AndroidTv.kt

@Override
public boolean dispatchKeyEvent(KeyEvent event) {
  return playerView.dispatchKeyEvent(event) || super.dispatchKeyEvent(event);
}
AndroidTv.java

Requesting focus for the PlayerView is important for navigating playback controls and skipping ads. Consider requesting the focus in onCreate of the Activity:

override fun onCreate(savedInstanceState: Bundle?) {
  super.onCreate(savedInstanceState)
  // ...
  playerView.requestFocus()
  // ...
}
AndroidTv.kt

@Override
public void onCreate(@Nullable Bundle savedInstanceState) {
  super.onCreate(savedInstanceState);
  // ...
  playerView.requestFocus();
  // ...
}
AndroidTv.java

If you are using Compose on Android TV, you need to make the AndroidView focusable and delegate the event by passing the modifier parameter into the AndroidView accordingly:

AndroidView(
  modifier = modifier.focusable().onKeyEvent { playerView.dispatchKeyEvent(it.nativeKeyEvent) },
  factory = { playerView },
)
AndroidTv.kt

Use the Player composable

If you use the Player composable from the media3-ui-compose-material3 library, D-pad navigation is supported by default. The Player and PlayerDefaults components have an automatic FocusRequester instance that traverses the components with the D-pad, so you don't need additional code or Modifier.focusRequester to handle focus and key events:

The PlayerDefaults are arranged in top, center, and bottom slots so the D-pad navigation feels intuitive. For any customizations and overrides to those slots, ensure you provide a well-navigable component. Note that most Compose components, such as Slider or Row containing buttons, manage focus out-of-the-box.