Meta Platforms Technologies provides several options for selling and distributing apps on our platform. Review them to find the distribution options that best meets your needs.

Apps in the Meta Horizon Store and Link PC VR Store also include:

For more information on creating apps in the Developer Center and get started, see Create Apps.

Meta Horizon Store apps showcase the best Meta Quest apps VR has to offer. The Meta Horizon Store provides an easily discoverable method of public distribution with a high quality bar and standards for distributions. From July 31st, 2024 on, all Quest apps must be submitted to the Meta Horizon Store.

The Link PC VR Store is where Rift apps are available publicly for download. It provides an easily discoverable method of distribution for Rift apps, but requires a thorough review of your app by Meta Platforms Technologies. To distribute an app in this form, you upload your app to the Developer Center and submit it for review by our Store team. They review your app to ensure it meets the technical and content criteria outlined in Store Review Policies. Once your app passes this review, it will appear in the Link PC VR Store in one of the following sections:

Meta Platforms Technologies Keys (Keys) are 25 character alphanumeric codes that you can generate as needed after your app has been approved. Once you are granted the ability to generate Keys, generating and distributing the Key allows users to download your app or in-app purchase items by entering the Key into the Redeem Code section in the Meta Quest app. Keys can be useful for giving review copies to the media, for example. You may generate 500 Keys every 6 months, but you should only generate as many Keys as reasonably needed.

After you have obtained Keys for your app, you can distribute Keys yourself or through other websites. You must follow the App Policies on Promotional Mechanisms when distributing Keys.

To create Keys:

Release Channels are another form of limited distribution and useful while your app is in development.

When you upload your app to the Developer Dashboard, you are given the choice of uploading into several “channels”: Production, ALPHA, BETA, and RC. With the exception of the Production channel, you can grant or revoke user-level access to each by adding or removing a test user’s email address (tied to their Meta account ID) to or from specific channels.

Note: Production is a special channel which should be used only when submitting your app for review.

Each Release Channel can have up to 200 users assigned to them. Since distribution through release channels do not require review, it comes in handy for testing or closed beta. That said, all apps hosted in a Release Channel must still comply with our Content Guidelines, Platform Abuse Policy, and App Policies. Developers are also responsible for ensuring their end users abide by the Code of Conduct for Virtual Experiences. We reserve the right to take down any app that violates our applicable terms.

When your app is ready for distribution to the general public, you copy it to the Production release channel and submit it to us for consideration.

For more information, see Release Channels.

You can distribute your app outside the platform by a method known as sideloading. To run sideloaded apps, users must enable Unknown Sources in the Settings menu of the Meta Horizon app. For more information, see Games and Apps From Unknown Sources.

Sideloaded apps are not updated through our platform. They do not appear in anyone’s Quest Home Library or have access to any other Horizon features or services.

Note: Off-platform builds must still meet our SDK license requirements. In particular, all reserved functions called out in the SDK license, such as home button functionality and menu operation, must be respected.