• << Fire OS Developer Docs
• Overview
  • Get Started with Fire TV
  • Fire TV Development Versus Android TV Development
  • TV App Design UX Guidelines
  • Submitting Your Fire TV App to the Appstore
  • Promote Your App On Fire TV
  • Glossary
  • Amazon Fire TV FAQs
  • Smart TV FAQ
  • What's New in Fire TV Development
• Fire OS for Fire TV
  • Fire OS Overview
  • Developing for Amazon Fire TV Devices Running Fire OS 16
  • Developing for Amazon Fire TV Devices Running Fire OS 14
  • Developing for Amazon Fire TV Devices Running Fire OS 8
  • Developing for Amazon Fire TV Devices Running Fire OS 7
  • Developing for Amazon Fire TV Devices Running Fire OS 6
• Set Up Your Development Environment
  • Set Up Your Development Environment
  • Connect to Fire TV through ADB
  • Install and Run Your App
• Controllers in Android Apps
  • Remote Control Input
  • Game Controller Input
  • Controller Input with Unity
  • Identify Controllers
  • Controller Behavior Guidelines
  • Controller Image Assets
• Voice
  • Overview for Voice-enabling Your App and Content
  • Voice-enabling Transport Controls with Media Session API
  • In-App Voice Scrolling and Selection
• Multimedia
  • Managing Audio Focus
  • Testing Audio Focus
  • Dolby Integration
  • Requirements for Multimedia Apps
  • AV Synchronization in Android Applications
  • APIs for HDMI Mode Switch
  • Tunnel Mode Playback
• Automotive
  • Automotive UX Guidelines
  • Add touch to Fire TV
  • Automotive Developer Reference
• Fire TV Integration SDK
  • Get Started with the Fire TV Integration SDK
  • Developer Tools
    • Setup the Sample Fire TV App
  • Content Personalization
    • Introduction to Content Personalization
    • Data Types
      • Watch Activity
      • Watchlist
    • Data Type Reference
    • Summary Reference Table
  • Fire TV Integration SDK General Troubleshooting
  • Test Cases for Validating Integration
  • Release Notes
• Live TV Integrations
  • Linear Integration
    • Introduction to Linear Television Integration
    • TV Input Framework on Fire TV
    • Step-by-step Integration Guide
      • Linear TV Integration Guide Overview
      • Step 1: Set Up Project Dependencies
      • Step 2: Set Up TvInputService
      • Step 3: Insert Your First Channel
      • Step 4: Playback in Fire TV UI
      • Test Cases for Linear Apps
    • Live TV Resources
  • Events Integration
    • Events Integration on Fire TV
    • Test Cases for Events Apps
• How to Build an Android App for Fire TV
  • Step 1: Create a Media Streaming App
  • Step 2: Understand the Anatomy of a Leanback-Enabled Android App for Amazon Fire TV
  • Step 3: Browse the Content of a Leanback-Enabled Android App
  • Step 4: Edit the User Interface Through Presenters
  • Step 5: Provide the Details of the App Content Through the DetailsFragment
  • Step 6: Play Video Content with the PlaybackOverlayFragment
• Developer Tools and System X-ray
  • Developer Tools Menu
  • System X-Ray
  • Customizing System X-Ray
  • Network Proxy
• Development Best Practices
  • Mouse Pointers
  • Display and Layout
  • Media Players
  • HDMI Events
  • Android Menu and ActionBar widgets
  • DIAL Integration
  • Matter Casting
    • Overview of Matter Casting
    • Matter Casting Integration
    • App Attestation
  • Search
  • Notifications
  • App Installation Location
  • Advertising ID
  • Deep Linking to Featured Content from the Fire TV UI
  • Resources for International Locales
• Web Apps for Fire TV
  • Get Started with Web Apps
  • Web App Controllers
  • Customize Your App
  • User Agent Strings
  • Migrate Your Existing Web App
  • Cordova plugin for Amazon Catalog Integration
  • Web App FAQ
  • HTTP Caching
  • Protect Your Web App
  • Install and Use the Amazon Web App Tester
  • Use the Debug APK to Test Your App
  • Install and Run the Debug APK to Test Your App
  • HTML5 Hybrid Apps
  • Build and Test Your HTML5 Hybrid App
  • HTML5 Hybrid App FAQs
• React Native for Fire TV
  • Get Started with React Native (Fire TV)
  • Add TV Support to an Existing React Native Project (Fire TV)
  • Supported React Native Libraries (Fire TV)
• Accessibility
  • Assistive Technologies for Fire OS
  • Implement Accessibility in Fire OS
  • Accessibility Features
    • Implement Reading and Subscribing to AD/CC Settings
    • Implement VoiceView Accessibility Features

Android Menu and ActionBar Widgets (Fire TV)

This page describes how to modify the Android Menu and ActionBar widgets to work for your Fire TV app.

• Scope of Support
• Menus and Action Bar

Scope of Support

Amazon Fire TV supports the majority of the existing Android UI framework (android.widget.*) with no changes. The two exceptions are Menu and ActionBar. All other Android widgets work without modifications, although those widgets might have a different appearance in the Fire TV user interface.

Menus and Action Bar

When your app uses Android's ActionBar, it is important to note that, to avoid cluttering the user interface, the action bar items do not appear on the screen. Instead, items from the action bar are displayed in a modal dialog box when the user presses the Menu button on one of the Fire TV remotes or the Fire Game Controller. The user can then pick an Action Item or a Navigation Tab from the dialog.

Currently, only the action items, tabs, options menu, and submenus on the action bar are handled. On the launch of any app or activity, the action bar does not show up by default. Pressing the menu button brings up a dialog window containing two listviews arranged side by side, at a max. The left list view contains all the tabs and the one on the right contain the action items.

Users can navigate the lists with the directional navigation buttons on the remote or game controller. If for an item, a submenu exists, clicking on the item causes its submenu appear as a list in the place of its parent. This implementation does not track the menu hierarchy and the navigation state. Pressing Back at any point dismisses the dialog window.

You can get a handle to the action bar using the getActionBar() method in the onCreate(Bundle) method for your activity. Access to its complete API is possible in your activity.

---

Last updated: May 29, 2026