Favoriting - Local vs Universal Favorites

Roku, Apple TV, and iOS Zype SDKs support saving videos as favorites. This feature gives your consumers flexibility when they want to save a video into a Favorites playlist and view it at a later time. Depending on the app, it will support local favorites, universal favorites (favorites via API), or both. Only one method can be used at a time and the method you choose depends entirely on the experience you want for your users. 

Local Favorites

Local favorites are the default method for most apps using the Zype SDK. This method allows consumers to save videos as favorites locally on their device and accesses them whenever they want. Local storage means the videos will not appear on any other device and videos cannot be shared on other devices.

Universal Favorites (Favorites via API)

Favorites are saved for consumers using Zype’s Video Favorites API. This method only works when a consumer is signed in or their device is linked. Once a consumer has either signed in to their account or linked their device, a Favorite button will appear on each video. When a consumer saves a video as a favorite, the app pulls these videos from Zype and displays them to the consumer. 

To enable Favorites in Roku:

*Note - your app must be up to date for this flow to appear. If your app is outdated, you must update it, rebundle it, and resubmit it to Roku for approval. 

1. Navigate to "Manage Apps" and click on your Roku App

2. Find "Features" at the top of the page of the Roku builder

3. Toggle "Universal Favorites" on and click "Save Settings" 

To enable on Apple TV:

*Note - Apple TV has local favorites enabled by default

1. Go to your Apple TV config files 

2. Find "static let kFavoritesViaAPI = false" 

3. Change "false" to "true"

4. After you've updated the config file, you will have to resubmit your app to Apple