Distribution Options

Oculus 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 Quest Store, App Lab, and Rift Store also include:

• the ability to distribute a limited number of private builds such as for alpha or beta testing by way of release channels.
• the ability to generate limited Oculus Keys that can be redeemed for a copy of your app.

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

Quest Store

Quest Store apps are curated by Oculus as examples of the best Oculus Quest apps VR has to offer. The Quest store provides an easily discoverable method of public distribution, but it also has the highest quality bar and standards for distributions.Oculus approves apps for the Quest Store from various sources, including the Oculus Start program and App Lab.

App Lab

App Lab is a distribution option for Oculus Quest apps that do not require Quest Store approval. App Lab apps are hosted on the same Oculus infrastructure as Quest Store apps, allowing customers to purchase and run App Lab apps in the same way they do Quest Store apps. The difference is that App Lab product detail pages are discoverable by means of a direct URL or exact search only.

Apps can qualify for App Lab distribution by complying with the applicable policies and passing a limited initial technical review. Oculus may require additional technical reviews and higher standards, for example, in response to complaints, policy violations, or other thresholds Oculus may apply.

Rift Store

The Rift Store is where Oculus Rift apps are available publicly for download. It provides an easily discoverable method of distribution for Oculus Rift apps, but requires a thorough review of your app by Oculus. To distribute an app in this form, you upload your app to the Oculus 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 Oculus Store in one of the following sections:

• Apps: utility applications such as video players and creativity tools.
• Games: interactive content with rules where the player can either win or lose.
• Entertainment: narrative-driven experiences that may be minimally or fully interactive, but lack the ruleset and win/lose state of a game.
• Early Access: content that is interesting, playable, and well on its way to being finished. This category provides a means for developers to charge for their work-in-progress, while giving early users the chance to be a part of the development process.

Oculus Keys

Oculus 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 Oculus 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 Oculus app. You may distribute the keys as you like: sell them, give them away, or print them out and distribute them offline. Keys can be useful for giving review copies to the media, for example.

After you have obtained Oculus keys for your app, you can distribute the keys yourself or through other stores and websites such as Amazon’s Digital Software store.

To create Oculus Keys:

1. Log on to https://developer.oculus.com/manage.
2. Find your app, and in the left navigation, select Manage Builds > Oculus Keys. If the app has been reviewed by Oculus and approved for release or key generation, the Oculus Keys page appears, with Create New Oculus Keys at the top of the page.
3. Provide a Campaign Name to identify this set of keys.
4. Optionally, to create a key for an in-app purchase (IAP) item, provide the SKU for the IAP. For instructions on how to define and implement IAP for your app, see In-App Purchase.
5. Choose the number of keys to generate. Note that for requests over 250 keys, you will need to click the bulk quantities inline link to go to the bulk request page. Bulk requests are reviewed by Oculus and granted at Oculus’s discretion.
   For a bulk request:

   • You must provide your public PGP key so that the Oculus keys can be delivered to you securely.

     • If you already have a PGP key, use it with default settings.
     • If you have access to a Mac or Linux computer, you can use standard command-line tools to generate the public PGP key.
     • If you only have access to a Windows computer, you’ll need a third-party tool to generate your public PGP key.
6. Click Submit when finished. If you’ve generated 250 keys or fewer, you’ll see your list of keys displayed. Each key is in 5x5 format, for instance: 3YEBU-GCRKT-SHHHH-PYE0T-KVW7S.
7. Copy and save the key(s) in a safe place as you cannot retrieve them after you exit this page.

Oculus Release Channels

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 Oculus 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 100 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 on Oculus 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 Oculus Code of Conduct. 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 section.

Off-Platform Distribution (Sideloading)

You can distribute your app outside the Oculus platform by a method known as sideloading. To run sideloaded apps, users must enable Unknown Sources in the Settings menu of the Oculus 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 Oculus Home Library or have access to any other Oculus 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.