/react-native-tv-best-practices

Testing Strategy for React Native TV Apps

TV testing should prove the remote-controlled paths that break differently from mobile: focus order, Back/Menu behavior, player controls, low-memory carousels, and platform packaging.

Quick Reference

• Use integration tests for JS-owned focus state, player-control state, and remote event handlers
• Use E2E tests for native focus engine behavior, app launch, routing, playback startup, and Back/Menu behavior
• For agent-run accessibility smoke, load the agent-device skill and read agent-device help workflow, then inspect labels, roles, states, and focused elements from the accessibility tree
• Use real hardware for overscan, remote latency, memory pressure, video decode, DRM, and display/color checks
• Keep emulators/simulators for fast route, focus, and smoke coverage; do not treat them as final device validation
• Reuse the same user flows for performance baselines where possible

JS Integration Tests

Prefer a saved or generated app state that includes rows, entitlement state, player state, and modal state:

const snapshot = require('my-state.json');
const { Wrapper } = loadStateFromSnapshot(snapshot);
render(<Wrapper><VideoPlayer /></Wrapper>);

• Mock native player/focus modules when JS tests cannot load them
• Mock timers for auto-hide controls, debounce, and "are you still watching" flows
• Avoid mocking app state in tests that are meant to prove focus restoration or navigation paths

See test-javascript.md for the local tvRemote helper pattern.

CI Scope

• PR checks: static checks, unit tests, integration tests, and changed-platform build checks
• Nightly/release checks: E2E on representative TV devices, playback startup, agent-device accessibility-tree smoke, memory-sensitive carousel flows
• Device matrix: at least one Apple TV target, one Android TV/Fire TV target, and any required Vega/Tizen/webOS target

Related Skills

• test-javascript.md — JS test setup and tvRemote helpers
• test-e2e.md — E2E testing with Appium and device farms
• perf-overview.md — Performance KPIs to test