App persistence for Smart TV

BrowserStack preserves your Smart TV app and its state across sessions by default.

BrowserStack App Automate preserves your Smart TV app and its state across consecutive sessions on the same dedicated device. App state includes cached content, sign-in credentials, stored preferences, and any data the app writes to its local data directory. Sign in once and your app stays installed, authenticated, and configured. Uploading a new build applies as an in-place upgrade, so state carries over by default.

How app persistence works

App state is wiped only when one of the following is true:

• browserstack.forceReinstall is set to true.
• The app is uploaded with a different bundle ID (Android TV and Apple TV only).

In all other cases, including uploading a new build with the same bundle ID, the build applies as an in-place upgrade and state is preserved.

Platform support

App persistence and browserstack.forceReinstall are available on all supported Smart TV platforms:

Force a clean install

If you pass capabilities inside bstack:options, set forceReinstall: true there. It is equivalent to browserstack.forceReinstall when passed outside bstack:options. The following snippet uses the bstack:options form.

DesiredCapabilities capabilities = new DesiredCapabilities();
capabilities.setCapability("platformName", "<platform-name>");
capabilities.setCapability("platformVersion", "<version>");
capabilities.setCapability("deviceName", "<device-name>");
capabilities.setCapability("app", "<app-url>");
capabilities.setCapability("automationName", "<automation-name>");

HashMap<String, Object> bstackOptions = new HashMap<String, Object>();
bstackOptions.put("forceReinstall", true);
bstackOptions.put("projectName", "<project-name>");
bstackOptions.put("buildName", "<build-name>");
bstackOptions.put("sessionName", "<session-name>");
bstackOptions.put("dedicatedDevice", "true");
bstackOptions.put("deviceId", "<device-id>");
capabilities.setCapability("bstack:options", bstackOptions);

let capabilities = {
  platformName: "<platform-name>",
  platformVersion: "<version>",
  deviceName: "<device-name>",
  app: "<app-url>",
  automationName: "<automation-name>",
  "bstack:options": {
    forceReinstall: true,
    projectName: "<project-name>",
    buildName: "<build-name>",
    sessionName: "<session-name>",
    dedicatedDevice: "true",
    deviceId: "<device-id>",
  },
};

desired_cap = {
    'platformName': '<platform-name>',
    'platformVersion': '<version>',
    'deviceName': '<device-name>',
    'app': '<app-url>',
    'automationName': '<automation-name>',
    'bstack:options': {
        'forceReinstall': True,
        'projectName': '<project-name>',
        'buildName': '<build-name>',
        'sessionName': '<session-name>',
        'dedicatedDevice': 'true',
        'deviceId': '<device-id>',
    },
}

caps = {
  "platformName" => "<platform-name>",
  "platformVersion" => "<version>",
  "deviceName" => "<device-name>",
  "app" => "<app-url>",
  "automationName" => "<automation-name>",
  "bstack:options" => {
    "forceReinstall" => true,
    "projectName" => "<project-name>",
    "buildName" => "<build-name>",
    "sessionName" => "<session-name>",
    "dedicatedDevice" => "true",
    "deviceId" => "<device-id>",
  },
}

Reinstall behavior by platform

Each Smart TV platform has its own install mechanics, which determine when app data is preserved and when it is cleared. A version bump or code change alone never clears state. The build is always applied as an in-place upgrade.

Frequently asked questions