Service

webOS TV app development for LG smart TVs

LG webOS applications in Enact or plain web, built for the Magic Remote and the d-pad, packaged as an .ipk and submitted to the LG Content Store.

A web app that loads on an LG TV is not a webOS app: hover means nothing, click handlers without a keyboard path are dead, and focus has to be designed rather than inherited.

Most teams arrive at webOS the same way. The iOS and Android apps are live, a partner asks for the living room, and somebody discovers that the TV is not a big phone and the remote is not a finger. The platform is approachable, and that is exactly what catches people out: a webOS TV app is HTML, CSS and JavaScript, so everything feels familiar right up to the three things that actually decide whether it ships — the remote, the TV generations you support, and the LG Content Store. You have two sensible starting points. Plain web, where any framework that compiles to static assets will run and you own navigation and focus yourself. Or Enact, LG's own React-based framework, which ships the spatial navigation and TV-scale components that are tedious to write twice. Day-to-day work happens in webOS Studio with the webOS TV Simulator, but real hardware still decides: the simulator will not tell you the truth about memory or decode performance. The remote is the hard part, not the rendering. On a TV the viewer moves a highlight with a d-pad, and LG adds the Magic Remote, a pointer that behaves like a very imprecise mouse. The app has to work properly under both, on the same screen, with no mode switch. Web apps ported straight from the browser fail here first: hover states carry no meaning, and :focus styling that was an accessibility afterthought becomes the entire interface.

Scope

Enact (LG’s React framework) or plain web with your own focus model
Magic Remote pointer and d-pad navigation on the same screen
Ten-foot layout, focus states and a defined neighbour in four directions
.ipk packaging with ares-package and installation with ares-install
Back-support decisions across LG model years, priced in work
LG Content Store account setup, metadata, review and submission
Taking over an existing webOS app, including one that failed review

How we deliver

01Decide how far back the LG model years must go — the single largest lever on cost
02Design the focus map before the screens, because retrofitting focus is close to a rewrite
03Build in Enact or plain web against the webOS TV Simulator
04Test on real LG hardware through Developer Mode, not the simulator alone
05LG Content Store submission, then a support path

Technologies

LG webOS (HTML5, CSS, JavaScript) · Enact and @enact/cli · webOS Studio and the webOS TV Simulator · ares-package / ares-install (.ipk) · LG Content Store

Questions

Can our existing web app just run on an LG TV?

It will load. Whether it is usable is a different question, and the answer is almost always no without work. Hover states mean nothing, click handlers with no keyboard path are dead, and focus has to be designed rather than inherited. The codebase is reusable; the interface layer is not.

Do we need to support old LG TVs?

That is a commercial decision, and it is the single largest lever on cost. Every extra year of back-support means an older browser engine, less memory and slower decode. We will tell you what each year costs in work; you decide how far back your audience actually is.

Enact or plain web — which should we use?

If your team already writes React, Enact is usually the shorter road: it ships spatial navigation and TV-scale components you would otherwise build. Plain web is more work and more control. We decide it against your existing codebase, not as a preference.

Do you handle the LG Content Store submission?

Yes. Account setup, metadata, real-device testing through Developer Mode, and the submission itself. We do not hand over a build and a link to the documentation.

Can you take over an app someone else built?

Yes, and it is a common reason people call. Bring the repository and the rejection notice if there is one.

Discuss a webOS TV app