Jetpack Compose Channels SDK (Android): Get Started

The Jetpack Compose Channels SDK lets you embed a fully branded video streaming experience inside an Android app built with Jetpack Compose.

1.0 | What is it?

The Jetpack Compose Channels SDK lets you embed a complete Blue Billywig Channel — with swim lanes, carousels, search, and detail pages — directly in an Android app built with Jetpack Compose. It uses the native player under the hood, so users get hardware-accelerated playback with full Chromecast support.

If you are already using the Native Player SDK for standalone video playback, the Channels SDK builds on top of it. Both can be used together: the player for individual videos and the Channels SDK for curated content experiences.

2.0 | Features

• Branded video portal with custom colors, fonts, and logo
• Multiple layout options: swim lanes, grids, carousels, and featured headers
• Built-in search across all content
• Detail pages with related videos
• Native playback on Android
• Chromecast support
• Full ad support (VAST, VPAID, Google IMA)
• Deep linking to specific videos or pages
• Analytics and event tracking
• JWT authentication for restricted content

3.0 | Getting started

The Channels SDK is distributed as a private Maven package hosted on GitHub Packages. A GitHub Personal Access Token (PAT) with read:packages scope from Blue Billywig is required to install it.

Here is a minimal example to get a channel up and running:

import androidx.compose.runtime.Composable
import com.bluebillywig.channel.compose.BBChannelWithPlayerView
import com.bluebillywig.channel.compose.BBChannelWithPlayerViewModel
import com.bluebillywig.channel.compose.BBChannelCallbacks

@Composable
fun ChannelScreen() {
    val viewModel = BBChannelWithPlayerViewModel()
    BBChannelWithPlayerView(
        channelUrl = "https://yourpublication.bbvms.com/ch/1234.json",
        viewModel = viewModel,
        callbacks = BBChannelCallbacks(
            onReady = { println("Channel loaded") }
        )
    )
}

For full setup instructions, system requirements, and configuration options, visit the Jetpack Compose Getting Started guide.

4.0 | System requirements

• Android API 24+
• Kotlin 1.9+
• Jetpack Compose 1.5+
• Compose BOM 2024.01+

5.0 | Also available for iOS and React Native

The Channels SDK is also available for other platforms:

• SwiftUI (iOS): via Swift Package Manager. SwiftUI guide
• React Native: via npm. React Native guide

All three SDKs share the same feature set and connect to the same channel configuration.