Share Content from Oculus Apps

The Oculus platform provides the Sharing feature, which enables users to share their VR experience by livestreaming video to their Facebook network. In addition, users can cast content from their Oculus device to another device on the same network.

Note: The Sharing feature is only available for Android apps at this time.

Account Linking with Facebook

Users who wish to share with their Facebook network first need to link their Oculus account to their Facebook account. If you want users to share content from your apps, notify them that Sharing is available to them if they link their accounts using the Settings -> Linked Account -> Link to Facebook section of the Oculus 2D app.

Sharing is on By Default

It is important to note that the Sharing feature is enabled for your apps by default. To disable Casting, Livestreaming or Video Recording for your apps, navigate to Sharing in the Developer Dashboard, select an app, move the slider to disable, and then choose Save.

Livestreaming APIs

All sharing is initiated by the user through the Oculus Platform. However, there are a couple of SDK methods you should call at certain points in your game to accommodate livestreaming. For example, you should pause a livestream if the user is entering a password or credit card information. Then, once the user has finished that activity, you can resume the stream.

The following platform methods can be called from the client app.

• Check the livestream status:Platform.Livestreaming.GetStatus()

• Pause the livestream:Platform.Livestreaming.PauseStream()

• Resume the livestream:Platform.Livestreaming.ResumeStream()

Testing Livestreaming

Livestreaming a user’s experience may have an impact on the performance of your app. We recommend testing how your app performs when a user is livestreaming and adjusting features and performance as appropriate.

To test livestreaming in your app:

1. Add the ovr_Livestreaming_GetStatus() check to your app to determine when a user has enabled livestreaming.
2. Upload a build to a testing channel in the Developer Dashboard. Information about release channels and uploading builds can be found in the Distribute section of these docs. Any user who has been added to your app’s organization will be able to test livestreaming.
3. Launch the app and initiate a livestream. Monitor the performance of your app while the livestream is running to determine if any adjustments are necessary. See the Mobile Testing and Troubleshooting page for performance guidance for mobile apps.
4. If adjustments are required during a livestream, enable them any time a user has initiated a livestream by checking ovr_Livestreaming_GetStatus().