How webOS apps are built
Like Samsung's Tizen, webOS TV apps are web applications built with HTML, CSS and JavaScript and run in the television's browser engine. LG provides a software development kit, an emulator and television-specific services. Video plays through the platform's media pipeline with hardware decoding and DRM.
What a webOS streaming app needs
- Navigation for the standard remote, and for LG's pointer remote, which works like a cursor
- Playback with PlayReady or Widevine for protected content
- Testing across model years, which ship different browser engine versions
- Careful memory and performance management on television hardware
- Listing artwork and metadata to LG's specifications
Publishing
Apps are submitted through LG's seller portal and go through quality testing before appearing in the LG Content Store. As with other television platforms, review happens on real devices and takes longer than a mobile store.
webOS and Tizen together
Because both are web-based, a large part of the code can be shared between a webOS app and a Tizen app. The player integration, remote-control handling, packaging and store submission are separate. Together LG and Samsung account for a large share of smart TVs sold, so they are usually launched as a pair.
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