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Complete a Data Use Checkup

Updated: Sep 18, 2024

Data Use Checkup (DUC) is a tool in the Developer Dashboard that helps protects the data and privacy of our users. It requires an admin from your organization to affirm that your API access to certain Platform SDK features (Table 1) complies with the Developer Data Use Policy (DDUP).

When you want to use platform features in your app, use the DUC tool in the Developer Dashboard to:

Select the features you need
Document why you want access to each feature and how it enhances the user’s experience
Document how you plan to use the user data gleaned from each feature
Have Meta review your privacy policy for compliance
Affirm that you understand and follow the DDUP

The Meta app review team reviews your DUC to ensure your app complies with all our requirements. If your DUC passes, your app will have access to the user data you requested. If it fails, the Meta app review team will provide feedback so that you can correct or improve the way you protect the data and privacy of our users. Then you can try to pass the DUC review again.

Data Use Checkup (DUC) differs from Data Protection Assessment (DPA)

Data Use Checkup is how developers request access to the features they need to operate their app and certify their general compliance with the Developer Data Use Policy. Data Protection Assessment evaluates whether developers comply with Meta's policies covering prohibited uses of data, data deletion, data sharing with third parties, and data security.

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When to submit a DUC

An admin from your organization can submit a DUC as long as another DUC for that app is not already in review. If your DUC is currently in review, you must wait until the DUC is either approved or rejected before submitting more changes.

During initial app development, complete and submit DUCs to obtain provisional access to the platform features you request. Your app is granted automatic access to the features until you are ready to submit the app for review.
Any time you want API access to a new platform feature or you change the usage of a feature you already have access to, revise and resubmit a DUC to accurately explain the change or addition.
Before you submit your app for review, revise and resubmit your DUC to ensure it accurately and fully explains how your app uses its API access to platform features. Note that after you submit an app for review, any provisional access to platform features is revoked and the app won’t regain access to features until after a favorable DUC evaluation. For more information, see How to Develop Apps While Waiting for DUC Approvals.

At yearly intervals, resubmit your DUC to recertify your app’s continued compliance with Meta policies. If an app isn’t recertified yearly, it is removed from the Meta Horizon Store or Link PC-VR Store and loses access to platform features.

Note: Yearly DUC recertification is an additional submission outside of requests to update or change your current approved features. For example, if your approved application adds the In-App Purchases feature and it has been less than one year since your last certification, this is considered a new DUC submission to add this new platform feature.

Table 1. Platform features that require a DUC

Apps with...	Need a DUC for these Platform features...
Achievements	User ID, User Profile, Deep Linking
Add-ons	User ID, User Profile, In-App Purchase
Avatars	User ID, User Profile, Avatars
Blocked Users	Matchmaking
Challenges	User ID, User Profile, Challenges
Cloud storage	User ID, User Profile
Content sharing and live-streaming	User ID, User Profile
Custom items	User ID, User Profile
Destinations, rich presence, app deep linking	User ID, User Profile, Deep Linking
Displaying followers to invite	User ID, User Profile, Followers, Invites
Events	User ID, User Profile, Deep Linking
In-App content	User ID, User Profile
Leaderboards (followers)	User ID, User Profile, Followers
Leaderboards (global)	User ID, User Profile
Matchmaking	User ID, User Profile, Followers, Blocked Users, Invites
Multiplayer with Photon or Playfab	User ID, User Profile, Followers, Invites
Parties and party chat	User ID, User Profile, Parties
Peer-to-peer networking	User ID, User Profile
Rooms	User ID, User Profile, Invites, Followers
Subscriptions	Subscriptions
User age group	User ID, User Age Group
Users who invite others	User ID, User Profile, Invites, Deep Linking
Viewing usernames	User ID, User Profile
Voice Chat (VoIP)	User ID, User Profile

Submitting a DUC

A DUC may only be submitted by someone with an admin role in your organization.

On the Developer Dashboard, go to the app’s card and then select Data Use Checkup.
Based on the needs of your app, select Add next to each platform feature your app needs to access.
For each feature you add:
1. From the Usage list, select all the ways in which your app uses the requested feature.
2. In the Description box, describe how your app uses the feature. Be as specific as possible. Select Choose files on your device to upload any screenshots that demonstrate this usage. For example, you can test your features using test users to demonstrate the usage. Remember:
  - User data must be used to run, support, and maintain a feature of your app to provide the experience requested by the user from whom the user data was collected.
  - User data can only be used to conduct analytics if the data has been aggregated, and/or anonymized.
  - User data can be shared only when you have the express written consent of the user.
3. Select the checkbox to certify your use of any data from the specific feature will comply with relevant policies.
4. Select Add to Request.
After adding all features your app needs, go to the bottom of the page to submit the request.
1. If this is the app’s first DUC, select Submit Requests (n).
2. If modifying an existing DUC, select Submit Recertification.
The content of your privacy policy is reviewed as part of your DUC submission. If you need to update your privacy policy URL, click the App Submission link to go to the app submissions page and update the URL.
Select the checkbox to certify that you are overall complying with Developer Data Use Policy.
Select Submit for Review.

How to develop apps while waiting for DUC approvals

Your app’s access to some or all Platform APIs is restricted while waiting for DUC approval. This might restrict your ability to develop and test other API functions. For example:

While your app is undergoing Store review, you lose the app’s provisional access to all platform APIs. You regain access to them only after your DUC is approved.
After an app is approved for Meta Horizon Store or Link PC-VR Store, you can only access the platform features that were listed in the app’s DUC. To gain API access to more platform features, you must recertify DUC and wait for approvals.

DUC approvals take time. If you are waiting for DUC approval, the only way to continue app development and testing is to use test user accounts. Test user accounts are exempt from DUC requirements. When you use test users to make API calls to platform features, the features return valid data even if your app has not been approved for those features.

Using test user accounts returns the real data associated with the test users. For example: test users have their own user IDs, their own avatars, and their own followers lists. For more information, see Test Users.

Duty to report data use incidents

If your app experiences a data incident that compromises the security of user data or systems that process user data, or if you received or processed user data in violation of our policies and terms, you must report it to Meta by way of the Incident Reporting Form.

DUC feature reference

Following is a list of platform features that require user data. Each section describes the allowed usage of those features and user data, and links to more information. If your app does not use any of the platform features in this list, you do not need to complete the Data Use Checkup process.

Avatars

Grants an app access to Meta and Meta Avatars, a persistent identity across the Meta Quest ecosystem. With avatars, users can bring their own visual identities into your app. You must integrate the Meta or Meta Avatars SDK in order to enable this feature.

Allowed use:

Display the user’s avatar within your app.

Learn more:

Challenges

Grants an app access to challenges data.

Allowed Use:

Access user-created challenges in your app.

Learn more:

Blocked users

Grants an app the ability to integrate blocking.

Allowed uses:

Allow users to block in your app.
Identify user blocks to honor them in your app.

Learn more:

Deep linking

Grants an app access to view a user’s desired destination within an app.

Allowed use:

Allows the developer to enable deep linking in two separate applications: One single-player app and one multiplayer app. This enables the user to join a multiplayer session from a single player app.

Learn more:

In-App purchase

Grants an app the ability to do in-app purchases.

Allowed use:

Provide in-app purchases to the user.

Learn more:

Add-Ons - Downloadable Content and In-App Purchases

Invites

Grants an app the ability to facilitate multiplayer scenarios.

Allowed uses:

Help users find their followers to join together in social VR experiences.

Learn more:

Followers

Grants an app access to the current user’s followers who are also entitled to your app. Access to a user’s followers list is required to enable some other platform features.

Allowed uses: