Release channels let you distribute early versions of your builds to limited audiences for testing or other purposes. You can create public channels for users to subscribe to or invite different groups of people to private release channels. When you are confident your app is ready for release, you can copy your build to the Store channel and then submit it for Oculus Store review.
Oculus provides four default release channels:
You can create your own custom channels in addition to these channels.
The first time you upload a build for your app, it goes into the Alpha release channel. After this first build, you are free to select different channel destinations when you upload builds.
Initially, the Alpha, Beta, and Release Candidate channels are empty and contain no users, not even yourself. You can:
Apps distributed through release channels appear in the My Preview Apps section of Oculus Home.
Note: All uploaded apps, even alpha builds, must meet the release packaging requirements for your platform. Uploading an app to a release channel signifies that you are ready to release it to an audience even if that audience is a group of internal testers.
The Store channel does not have subscribers. When you place a build in this channel for the first time, nothing happens until enter all your Submission Info and click Submit for Review.
This starts the Oculus store review process. For more information on the store review process, see App Upload and Store Submission.
If your app is approved for the Oculus store, users can browse and find your app in the Store. If your app was approved for Oculus keys, users who have keys can download your app.
Any new builds of an approved app that you copy to the Store channel triggers an update for all users who are entitled to download the release version of your app. See Updating Published Apps.