How Long Does It Take to Upload Content to the Oculus App Store

April 17, 2022 Post a Comment

Ultimate Guide For Publishing And Monetizing In App Lab

Introduction

If you follow the news, you may have heard of App Lab, released by Oculus just a few weeks agone. Nosotros have received a lot of questions from our advanced master class and Bootcamp developers, our industry partners, and game developers on the XR Creators Discord server who would similar to publish their app/game in App Lab. We idea releasing a guideline could be the best solution to respond the most common concerns of the VR community in one single identify.

In this detailed Footstep-by-Step guide, you will see how easy it is to make use of App Lab and publish your app to this special release aqueduct. We too collected a (long) listing of open questions and answers in our FAQ section nearly everything regarding App Lab, from its connectedness to SideQuest to all-time strategies about Monetization and Promotion of applications, non to mention how to get your app to a larger audience through platforms similar SideQuest and App Lab DB.

Special cheers to the contributors who accept been working with us throughout the creation of this guide (Ayhan Sakarya from XR Bootcamp, Antony Vitillo from SkarredGhost and Orla Harris from SideQuest) This guide will go along to evolve and we will add updated info as well every bit answers to recently submitted questions.

Alright, without further due, permit's first!

Step-by-Footstep guide for your App Lab Submission

Step 1 – App Creation

First of all you accept to create the record for your application in your Oculus Dashboard:

Log in to the Oculus Programmer Dashboard
Click "Create New App" in the peak correct corner
In the following popup enter your App name and cull "Quest (App Lab)"

Step two – Upload your .apk

Afterward the creation, you are going to be redirected to the Overview page of the newly created app. To start the submission procedure merely click on one of all those links, they will all lead to the same upload procedure.

Equally you tin can encounter, there are quite a few steps to be performed for the submission, only don't worry, it is simpler than it looks!

The offset footstep requires the states to upload our .apk build. Click the button on the upper-left corner and and then select the file from your hard drive.

Oculus now prompts you with another popup, telling you what to accept intendance of in your build. If you are using Unity and if you accept tested your build on an Oculus Quest device, most of these things should already be ok.

One thing which you lot may have forgotten to perform is the "Application Signing". Again, if y'all are using the unity engine, this is a very easy thing to do. Just caput over to "Edit→Projection Settings → Histrion → Publishing Settings (Scroll all the mode downwards)" and click on the "Keystore Managing director". Fill in all the required fields and you have a freshly generated Android Signing Central in the course of a .keystore file. If you lot are going to build your experience once more, now it volition be signed using your keystore, and information technology can be approved past the submission process. Here is a link to the Unity Documentation which explains the Keystore Managing director fields in more detail: Unity Keystore Managing director

And if y'all are not using Unity but Unreal Engine, and then Oculus provides some useful links for you as well: General Information well-nigh Application Signing.

Another thing that is really important is to uncheck the developer build flag when building in Unity. The reason is that Oculus will reject your build if it finds "android:debuggable="true" in your AndroidManifest.xml. And this is unremarkably set if you are creating development builds. So just uncheck it and you are good to get.

Another feature that is required is creating a Store-compatible Manifest file. To exercise that, you accept just to head to Oculus→Tools→Create Shop Compatible Manifest File in Unity and y'all you're skillful to go.

Step 2 – Upload your .apk

Uncheck development flag
Create Store-compatible Manifest file
Create Android Signing Key with the Keystore Manager
Upload your .apk
Profit 🙂

Notes: It is worth noting that Oculus volition give you lot a hint and tell you that information technology would be better to create 64 bit builds instead of 32 chip builds. You lot can change this in "Project Settings → Player", where you can select the target compages that you want. ARMv7 is a 32-bit architecture and ARM64 is a 64-flake architecture. To enable building on ARM64, it may exist that y'all first accept to change the scripting backend from Mono to IL2CPP, which we would recommend anyway. After having done this, yous have to re-build your app, and information technology is better if you test it again, since in some rare conditions the backend alter may create some issues with some external libraries.
If this sounds also complicated to you, don't worry, at the moment it is not strictly necessary, so yous can skip this step for your beginning submission. It is recommended to learn how to do it, though, since soon it will be mandatory.

Step three – Filling in everything else

And so once your .apk upload is finished you can start filling in all the other fields. Each pace is pretty cocky-explanatory and Oculus does a good task in explaining them. One thing I noticed though is, nether the "Specs" stride, I could not enter "Hand tracking Only" equally supported controllers and had to add Oculus Touch likewise in guild to Save & Continue to the next footstep. For the sake of abyss I will list each step with a short description:

App Name – I bet you know this ane
Short Description – A short clarification of your app, which will be shown in the shop listing
Long Description – This volition be shown throughout the platform, including the store.
Game Mode – Is it a Single Player, Multiplayer or Coop game?
Supported Controllers – Which controllers practice you support? Choose betwixt Oculus Touch, Gamepad, Touch (as Gamepad), and Manus tracking. Though every bit mentioned in a higher place, "Hand tracking only" currently doesn't seem to work
Condolement Level – In an App Lab submission y'all tin can't change this
Cyberspace Connection – Is an Internet Connection required in your app? Choose what applies to you
External Subscription – Does your app crave the user to purchase an external subscription? Then you need to ready the appropriate flag
Category – Choose 1 of the categories "Apps", "Entertainment", "Games" and "System". At that place is another one chosen "Early on Access" but it is greyed out in the App Lab submission procedure and can not be chosen
Genres – Select the genre which suits your app the about
Developer – Well, tell the world your dev proper noun!
Publisher – If yous have a publisher add its name here
Website – Website of your app
Privacy Policy – Link to the privacy policy of your app. According to Oculus, "A privacy policy describes your data practices, including how you collect, use and share information about users"
External Support Link (Optional) – This field is optional. In case you have a link to an external support folio you tin can provide information technology here for your users. The link will exist shown on the review creation window for your users in the Oculus Store
Terms of Service (Optional) – This field is optional. This describes the agreement between you and the user of your app
Logo (Transparent) – "The logo allows your audience to rapidly recognize your experience, this is your brand. It is nigh frequently used in-headset on the Store, Library, and your experience PDP."
Icon – "The icon is primarily used when your app appears on the mobile feed. Be sure your icon art maintains legibility beyond various sizes. Y'all may have to modify visual elements so that they remain clear as the epitome is scaled downward."
Cover Fine art – "Cover Assets come up in three varieties (square, portrait, mural) and are the most commonly viewed marketing content for your feel in the Store. They may be displayed in web browsers, mobile and pc clients, in headset, and other places at various sizes."
Hero Cover – "The "Hero" image is the main asset on your product display page (PDP) in the Store. This prototype volition also be used in the case that your experience is featured on the Spotlight unit of measurement of the Shop."
Screenshots (v Images) – "Screenshots support your experience and assistance users brand the decision to purchase your title. Each image should represent a unique scene highlighting the best part of the feel."
Cubemap (optional) – "Cubemaps provide an immersive way for users to preview content inside of the Oculus VR Store."
Trailer – "The video trailer is the supporting 2D video for your feel. Make sure you characteristic the best highlights of your experience that will brand users desire to download information technology."
Content Rating – Here you can create the IARC certificate for your app. You lot volition exist guided through each footstep (information technology is actually easy and short) and have to answer a few questions. If you already accept an existing IARC certificate you tin can choose to apply that one instead
Pricing (USD) – Initially your App Lab submission will be "Free". Once the submission is canonical for App Lab, cost changes can be manually requested by sending an email to submissions@oculus.com

Well, and this is it. 25 steps to submit your app to the Oculus App Lab. Clicking on the "Submit" button will show yous what is still missing to properly submit your app for approving:

Once everything is fixed, you can get ahead and submit your app to the shop.

Later you take performed the submission, the head of your Oculus Development Organisation will receive an east-mail confirming that the submission was successful.

You are in the hands of Facebook now. Your application volition get through a technical review, afterward which you volition find if it has been approved or rejected. The caput of your organisation will receive another e-postal service when there is a response from Facebook's technical squad.

Compliments, you lot are ready to distribute your app at present!

FAQ

App Lab

Q: Is there a user limit to the App Lab channel?

A: While each release channel (Blastoff, BETA, and RC) can have upwardly to 100 users assigned to them, the App Lab approved app can be plant by everyone through verbal search(using the verbal app proper name in the Oculus Store search, if this hateful has been enabled) or past means of a direct URL. Then, because of the lack of documentation, I would assume no, in that location is no user limit to App Lab canonical apps.

Q: My .apk is rejected each time I upload it. What am I doing incorrect?

A: Usually, Oculus gives you a few hints when rejecting your .apk straight after the upload. Step two of this article goes through each important point. Things that are easily forgotten while testing a lot are the evolution build flags, the Oculus Store Compatible manifest, and the Android application signing key.

Q: Is information technology easier to be approved by Oculus when I first upload my app to App Lab?

A: Yeah, the approval process is a lot simpler, merely always necessary to upload an app.

Q: App Lab doesn't let me change the pricing for my app. Are all apps going to be free on App Lab?

A: App Lab supports both free and paid apps, which are shareable via a URL or Oculus Keys. You can change your price at any time. If you lot wish to run a sale you need to submit a ticket with no guaranteed time frame for blessing.

Q: I tin't find my app on App Lab, what am I doing wrong?

A: Facebook does not list App Lab apps the same way it does for Oculus Store apps. Yous can discover App Labs experiences directly with their app URL or with an "verbal search", how Facebook is calling it, which is nothing else than searching the app in the shop with its exact name. Detect that "exact search" may have been disabled during your submission procedure, so if you can't find your app, delight check that you have not disabled this option.

Q: What developer features are bachelor to apps in App Lab?

A: Yous can admission the majority of standard platform features including automatic update distribution, platform integration and SDKs, app analytics, developer posts, events, release channels, App Sharing, and more than. Apps in App Lab do not have admission to notifications, app install and optimizations or App Groupings. Back up for Add-ons will be available in the future. As new platform features become available, Facebook will communicate which are available to apps in App Lab.

Q: How much fourth dimension is needed to become App Lab approval?

A: It is not articulate yet, merely Oculus advises submitting your application four or 5 weeks before your intended publishing appointment so that you lot can exist quite sure to market your app on the promised commitment date. This makes us understand that 5 weeks is the upper limit for the review time.

Q: Is this approval time required for every update of my app?

A: The app must be approved whatever time that you publish an update, but the blessing of updates should be much faster.

Q: Tin App Lab applications use Oculus Platform SDK and Avatar SDK in Unity?

A: Aye, all the features offered by the Oculus SDK are enabled on App Lab. They are disabled on SideQuest applications, though.

Q: How do I know that an application has been approved on App Lab?

A: You lot should receive a notification on the main email of your Oculus Developer System. If you lot are not the admin of the organization, y'all tin can anyway check from fourth dimension to time the publishing condition on the related page of your application on the Oculus Dashboard.

Q: Are all kinds of content allowed on App Lab?

A: No, there are guidelines on allowed content that you take to follow. Most of the content is allowed, merely gambling and adult content are not. If you want to publish an application of this kind, you still accept to use SideQuest and sideloading. Note that Sidequest has a restriction on developed content also but platforms like Crawling.io allow information technology.

Q: Are all kinds of technical features immune on App Lab?

A: No, there are guidelines on allowed technical features that you have to follow. For example, cloud VR streaming is not allowed on App Lab. If you plan to apply a service like NVIDIA CloudXR, you take to publish your application through SideQuest.

Q: Do users however need to activate developer mode on their Quest to exist able to download and install my App Lab application?

A: No. The purpose of App Lab is to avert the complicacy of developer mode.

Q: Are my users required to have a Facebook account to admission my App Lab feel?

A: Yes, App Lab applications are published on the Oculus Store platform, and so their users must exist registered with a valid Facebook account.

Q: Am I required to accept a Facebook account to publish an App Lab experience?

A: No, an Oculus Programmer account doesn't need a mandatory Facebook account. But y'all must make sure to verify your account by providing your phone number or credit bill of fare number.

Q: If my app is very successful on App Lab does it become promoted automatically to the Oculus Shop?

A: This is probable, only non guaranteed. John Carmack himself has clarified this point: Facebook will be constantly monitoring the statistics of the applications on App Lab and will consider promoting to the official store the ones that are the most successful, only this is not something that must be taken for granted. Facebook will evaluate other factors than the download numbers, like for instance the reliability of the developing team, the retentiveness factor of the application, the profitability in the long term, etc…

SideQuest

Q: What is the difference between App Lab, the Oculus Store, and SideQuest?

A: The Oculus Store is the official app store for the Oculus Quest, and it has a very strict content curation. App Lab apps are hosted on the aforementioned Oculus infrastructure as Quest Shop apps, allowing customers to purchase and run App Lab apps in the same way they do with Quest Store apps. The difference is that there is virtually no curation for App Lab experiences, but their product detail pages are discoverable only by means of a straight URL or verbal search. As this listing is difficult to discover, SideQuest is one of the avenues developers tin employ to provide directly links to App Lab content. Furthermore, SideQuest also offers applications that are bachelor through sideloading.

Q: Is in that location a way to install App Lab apps from SideQuest directly to the Oculus Quest?

A: Merely recently SideQuest has released AppLab.games which is a mobile-friendly site that tin can be opened in the Oculus browser and enables the directly installation to the device.

Q: How can you open up App Lab submissions from SideQuest? Practise I have to post the link to my App Lab listing in the SideQuest description?

A: When you visit the SideQuest page for a game that's on App Lab, there is now an "Oculus App" button in the top right corner of the page as well equally an "App Lab" label at the height corner of the asset library. Click the button and it takes you to the App Lab folio.

Q: Why should I connect my App Lab listing to SideQuest?

A: In one case your awarding is on App Lab, no one can find it: it is like a Youtube unlisted video: unless you know the link, you tin can't access information technology. You must make your content discoverable if you want it to succeed. SideQuest partnered with Oculus to launch App Lab. With over one 1000000+ monthly active users it is a good fashion to open upwardly your creation for discovery and promotion. In addition to that, the Sidequest list can likewise connect to your app on other platforms like Crawling.io, Steam, etc.

Monetization & Promotion

Q: How do I promote my published app on App Lab?

A: Whether the goal is to build a business, create a community, test, and experiment with new apps, or get feedback on new ideas, you control how your app is distributed. Apps from App Lab do not appear in the Oculus Store catalog. Apps are shareable via a URL or Oculus Keys, and discoverable by searching the exact app proper noun and found in the "App Lab" section of results. However, yous can partner with an external link aggregator, like SideQuest. SideQuest recently released an Open up Source aggregator which tin can be easily embedded into any site and enables a single source of App Lab information for consistency. There are other aggregators such as App Lab DB that require independent submission of your app via your app'south URL.

Q: I want to sell my app and collect payment for it. How do I exercise that?

A: Yous cannot collect payment for your app via any mechanism other than those explicitly approved by Oculus. Collecting payment by selling keys is an approved mechanism documented in the Oculus Distribution Options.

Q: What are these Oculus Keys and how do I create them?

A: Yous can choose to take a more controlled release of your App Lab app by requesting Oculus Keys. Oculus Keys are unique 25 character alphanumeric codes that are generated by the arrangement. These codes tin exist redeemed for a copy of your app and tin can be promoted and distributed as y'all see fit. You can also define the time interval inside which a key is valid.
Note that for requests over 250 keys, you volition demand to click the majority quantities inline link to go to the bulk asking folio. Bulk requests are reviewed by Oculus and granted at Oculus'due south discretion. For more information on distribution, visit Oculus Distribution Options.

Q: Exercise Oculus developers demand their own privacy policy, or can they use Oculus's privacy policy?

A: Developers must implement and disclose their own complete and accurate privacy policy explaining how they collect, use, and disclose data every bit required by applicable law. Considering each developer has different practices and uses data in different means, using Oculus's privacy policy would not exist appropriate.

Q: Can I charge users through my app? (In-app Purchases)

A: Unremarkably yep, by using the In-App Purchase Integration. (Though we are even so investigating this with Oculus)

Q: Is there revenue share on apps sold on App Lab?

A: Yes, App Lab shares the aforementioned payments and advertizing policy every bit the applications on the Oculus Store, and a revenue share is paid pursuant to Oculus Distribution Agreement. This means that Facebook will get a 30% cutting over your earnings. As well, as noted above you tin can asking majority keys to sell on other platforms just this volition exist at the discretion of Oculus.