10/19/2026

The Hidden Obstacle Course of Publishing a TV App (and How to Skip Most of It)

Getting your channel onto Roku, Fire TV, Apple TV and Android TV looks simple until you meet developer accounts, signing keys, testers, billing libraries and store reviews. Here is what actually stands in the way, and how Fluger handles most of it for you.

You have the videos. You have the audience. Maybe you already run a 24/7 channel on Fluger. The next step feels obvious: put your channel where people actually watch, on the TV in their living room.

So you search "how to publish a Roku app", and a few hours later you're reading about SDKs, signing keys and certification checklists, and wondering why nobody told you it would be like this.

This post walks through what really stands between you and a live TV app on the four big stores, and which parts you can hand off.

Four stores, four rulebooks

There isn't one "TV app store". To be on most of the screens your viewers own, you need to be in four separate places, and each one runs its own show:

  • Apple App Store for Apple TV (and iPhone)
  • Google Play for Android TV (and Android phones)
  • Amazon Appstore for Fire TV
  • Roku Channel Store for Roku

Each has its own developer account, its own app format, its own review team and its own way of taking payments. Doing one is a project. Doing all four is a part-time job.

Hazard 1: Developer accounts that aren't just a sign-up form

Before you upload anything, each store wants to know who you are.

  • Apple charges $99 a year for its developer program. If you enrol as a company, you also need a D-U-N-S number for your business.
  • Google Play charges a one-time $25 fee and asks for identity verification. If you sign up as an individual, there's an extra hurdle: new personal accounts must run a closed test with at least 12 testers for 14 days in a row before the app can go public at all.
  • Amazon asks you to verify your identity with a government-issued ID, and the name has to match your account details exactly. Until that's done, you can't submit anything.
  • Roku has its own developer account, agreements, and a separate payout enrolment if you want to get paid.

None of this is hard on its own. But it's four sets of forms, four waiting periods, and plenty of chances to get stuck on a detail like a name that doesn't quite match.

Hazard 2: Building the app (four times)

A TV app isn't a website. Each platform expects its own kind of package:

  • Apple TV apps are built with Apple's tools and signed with Apple certificates.
  • Android TV apps are Android App Bundles, signed with an upload key you must keep safe forever. Lose it, and updating your app gets painful.
  • Newer Fire TV devices run Amazon's Vega OS, which uses its own package format and toolchain.
  • Roku apps are packaged and signed using a key generated on a Roku device in developer mode.

On top of that, the rules keep moving. Every year the stores raise the minimum versions your app has to target, and the libraries an app depends on, like the in-app billing library, get new required versions. An app that was fine last year can be blocked from its next update until someone rebuilds it.

Hazard 3: The store listing

Each store wants its own listing: titles, descriptions, keywords, category, content rating questionnaire, data-safety or privacy answers, a real privacy policy page, and screenshots in exact sizes for TV and for phones. Screenshots have to show the real app, not a mock-up.

Get one answer wrong (say, declaring your app is for kids when it isn't, or linking a privacy policy URL that's really your About page), and you won't hear about it until the review comes back.

Hazard 4: The review

Then you wait. Every store reviews new apps by hand, and a rejection usually arrives as a short paragraph that reads like a legal document. You fix the issue, resubmit, and wait again. One small mistake can easily turn a few days into a few weeks.

Hazard 5: Getting paid

If you want to charge for your channel, say $4.99 a month, each store has its own billing system: Apple's in-app purchases, Google Play Billing, Amazon's in-app purchasing and Roku Pay. Each needs its own subscription products set up in its own console, and the app needs a paywall that talks to each of them correctly.

That's four billing systems to learn for one price tag.

How Fluger takes this off your plate

Fluger was built so you can focus on your channel, not on store consoles. Here's how the work splits:

What you do (about 30 minutes in total):

  1. Subscribe to Premium and design your app in the browser: your logo, theme and channels. (~20 minutes)
  2. Order publishing. (~2 minutes)
  3. Share access to your store accounts. (~10 minutes)

What Fluger does: 4. Builds and signs your app for each platform, within one business day. 5. Fills in the store listing and submits it, within one business day. 6. Handles the review and fixes whatever the store asks for. This usually takes 2–7 days, depending on the store. 7. Your app goes live. In total, that's usually 3–8 days.

You get an email at every stage, so you always know where your app stands.

Paid subscriptions without code. Turn on the tiers you want (for example Weekly, Monthly and Annual) and type the price. Fluger sets up the subscription products in each store (App Store, Google Play, Amazon Appstore and Roku Pay) and adds the paywall to your app.

Two ways to launch:

  • Publish it yourself. Request a ready-made build and upload it to your own store account. This is included in Premium.
  • Let Fluger publish it. For $95 one time per app, Fluger builds, submits and follows up until your app is live.

Premium is $150 a month and covers all six platforms: Roku, Fire TV, Apple TV, Android TV, iPhone and Android.

The part only you can do: getting your store accounts ready

A few steps stay with you, because the stores tie them to your identity and your money. Fluger can't create these accounts for you, but once they exist, we take it from there. Here's exactly where to start.

Which store do you need for which app?

🍎 Apple App Store for your iPhone and Apple TV apps

▶️ Google Play for your Android phone and Android TV apps

🔥 Amazon Appstore for your Fire TV app

📺 Roku Channel Store for your Roku app

One Apple account covers both your iPhone and Apple TV apps, and one Google Play account covers both your Android phone and Android TV apps. So to be on all six platforms, you need four accounts. You only need the stores for the apps you want: if you're starting with Roku and Fire TV, two free accounts are enough.

What to have ready before you sign up

  • Decide: individual or company. Each store lets you register as a person or as an organization. Your choice decides whose name viewers see as the app's publisher.
  • A D-U-N-S number if you register as a company. Apple and Google ask organizations for a D-U-N-S number, a free business ID from Dun & Bradstreet. Requesting one can take a few days, so start early.
  • A government-issued ID. Google and Amazon verify your identity, and the name must match your account details exactly.
  • A payment card for the Apple and Google fees.
  • Bank and tax details if you plan to charge for subscriptions. Each store pays you directly and asks for your bank account and a tax form before it can pay out. On Roku, this is the Roku Partner Payouts enrolment.
  • A privacy policy page on your website. Every store asks for its link. It must be a real privacy policy, not your homepage or About page.
  • If you register on Google Play as an individual: new personal accounts must run a closed test with at least 12 testers for 14 days before the app can go public. Organization accounts skip this step.

Then give Fluger access

Once your account is active, invite Fluger as a team member. You stay the owner, and you can remove our access at any time.

  • Apple: App Store Connect → Users and Access → add a user with the Admin role.
  • Google Play: Play Console → Users and permissions → invite a user with Admin access.
  • Amazon: Developer Console → Settings → User Permissions → invite a user with the Administrator role.
  • Roku: Developer Dashboard → User access → Invite a user, and tick Administrator.

We'll send you the exact email address to invite when you order publishing. After that, everything else is on us: builds, listings, reviews and resubmissions.

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