App Review - Best Practices

Important Things to Know

We will test your app so be sure that we can access it. We will follow your screen recordings when testing your app, so make sure they demonstrate actions that require the permissions and features you are requesting. Any requested permission or feature missing a screen recording will not be approved.

Before You Submit

Before you begin the App Review submission process, make sure to complete each of the steps outlined below. This will improve the quality of your submission and reduce the chances of it being rejected.

General

• Make sure you have completed app development and that it is ready for us to test. Making changes to your app's basic or advanced settings after you have submitted may require re-review.

• Make sure we can access your app or website. Your app must be publicly available or you must provide instructions on how to access it.

• Upload a 1024x1024 compliant app icon image to Settings > Basic > App Icon.

• Make at least 1 successful API call using each permission for which you are requesting advanced access. Calls must be made within 30 days of submitting for App Review and can be made using your app or the Graph API Explorer tool.

• If you want us to test your account using a specific test user, gather their credentials.

• Read our Platform Terms and Developer Policies to ensure your app adheres to our terms and policies.

• Read the Allowed Usage section in the reference for each permission and feature that you will be requesting in your submission. If your app does not satisfy the allowed usage for a permission or feature, your app will not be approved for that permission or feature.

Screen Recordings

• To ensure that your screencast is accessible to all our reviewers, please follow these guidelines:

  • Use English as the app UI language – If possible, please set the app UI language to English before recording the screencast. This will make it easier for the review team to understand the content of your app.
  • Provide captions and tool-tips – If your app is not available in English, or if there are any parts of the app that are not self-explanatory, please provide captions and tool-tips to explain what is happening on screen. This will help the review team understand what you are showcasing and how the app works.
  • Explain the meaning of buttons and other UI elements – Please take the time to explain the meaning of any buttons or other UI elements that are not immediately obvious. This will help the review team understand how to use your app and what each button does.

  
  

• Read our screen recordings guide. Make sure to record in high-resolution, 1080 or better, and that your screen recordings show an app user granting your app each permission your app requires, and that it shows how your app uses each granted permission and feature that you will be requesting in your submission.

• Make sure your app's name and icon meet our trademark and logo requirements.

• Read our FAQs regarding policy violations and the App Review process.

• Read our Common Mistakes guide to avoid common mistakes found in first-time submissions.

• If you have access to dedicated screen recording software such as Camtasia or Snagit, we recommend that you use it. Most dedicated screen recording software offer free trial versions and provide tools so you can polish your screen recording.

• IIf you don't have access to dedicated screen recording software, you can easily use free alternatives, such as Quicktime or OBS. These apps don't offer any way for you to annotate, zoom, or edit your recorded video, but you can easily add the recorded video to a free video editor such as iMovie and perform those actions there.

• Record only what we need to see. Make your app full screen or just record the window itself.

• Decrease your monitor's resolution to a width of 1440 or less.

• When possible, use your mouse to interact with your app instead of your keyboard. If we can't see what you're doing, we can't test it!

• Increase your mouse's cursor size. Most dedicated screen recording software will allow you to do this, even after you have recorded. Alternatively, you can increase your cursor's size in your computer's settings.

• Omit audio; our reviewers will not listen to it.

We will use your recordings as guides when testing your app to verify that it actually uses all of the permissions and features you are requesting. Recordings do not need to explain why your app needs each of them, the App Review submission form will ask for this information.

App Review - Tutorial

Submitting For Review

Use this guide to help you create an App Review submission once you have completed all app development and need to request approval for specific permissions and features. After you receive your App Review results, any app user will be able to grant your app any permissions for which you have been approved.

Before You Start

• Read our Before You Submit guide before you submit your app for review.
• For each permission for which you are requesting advanced access, a successful API call must be made within 30 days of the App Review submission.

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Step 1: Select Permissions and Features

Go to the App Review > Permissions and Features tab.

Request each of the permissions and features that your app needs by searching for them individually and clicking their Request advanced access button to add them to your submission. Only request the permissions and features that your app needs.

Note that the Request advanced access button will remain grayed out until a successful API has been logged in our system. A successful call must be made within 30 days of submitting for App Review. You are required to make at least 1 successful API call using each permission for which you are requesting advanced access. The API call data will be logged within 2 days of your successful API call. Calls can be made using your app or the Graph API Explorer tool.

Some permissions will also require access verification before you can apply for them.

Learn more about access verification.

Once you're ready, click the Continue the Request button.

Step 1.5: Complete Business Verification

After selecting your permissions and features, you may be prompted to complete business verification if you have not done so already. Depending on the status of your business, you may be asked to start verification, provide more information, or complete the process.

Step 2: Answer Data Handling Questions

If your business verification status has already been approved, you may be prompted to answer data handling questions. Your responses to these questions will be immediately evaluated and could take up to 30 seconds.

Step 3: Complete App Settings

Scroll down to the Complete App Settings section and click anywhere in the row. The window that appears displays required settings that can be found in the Settings > Basic tab, so these may already be complete. If they are, just confirm that everything is correct or make adjustments as needed. If any are incomplete, set them here.

App Icon

Make sure your App Icon does not include any of our trademarks or logos.

Privacy Policy URL

This is the URL that we present to app users in the Facebook Login interface so they can decide whether or not to grant your app any permissions it is requesting.

App Purpose

Set this to Yourself or your own business if your app is only available to people who have a role on your app, or a role in a Business that has claimed your app. Otherwise set it to Clients.

App Category

Make sure to select a category that accurately describes your app.

Primary Contact

Make sure you have access to the email account displayed here. Email notifications pertaining to your App Review submission will be sent to this address.

Step 4: Complete App Verification

Scroll down to the Complete App Verification section and click anywhere in the row. This will display the App Verification Details window. If app users can sign into your app using Facebook Login or any of our authentication solutions, set the radio button to Yes. This lets us know that we can access your app using a Facebook account.

In the Platform Settings section, confirm that the information displayed is correct, and in the space provided, describe how we can access your app in order to test it.

We will test your app using our own test accounts. If you have created specific test users and want us to use them when testing your app, include their credentials in your description. Do not include your personal Facebook account's credentials.

Step 5: Complete Usage Descriptions

Scroll down to the Requested Permissions and Features section and click on the first permission or feature in the row. In the window that appears, describe why your app needs this permission or feature.

Be as specific as possible with your description. If you're having difficulty describing why your app needs the permission or feature, try answering these questions:

• How does this permission/feature help my app users?
• Why does my app need this permission/feature?
• How does my app use the data that this permission/feature provides access to?
• Why would my app be less useful if it did not have this permission/feature?

Next, upload your screen recording that shows us how to use your app to test this permission or feature.

Repeat Step 3 for every permission and feature that you are requesting.

Each permission and feature must have its own description. Do not copy and paste.

Step 6: Submit For Review

Click Submit for Review and agree to our Platform Onboarding Terms in the window that appears. Once you accept the terms and submit, your submission will be queued and you should receive a decision within a week.

If your app has modes, you should only switch it to Live mode after you have completed App Review. Apps in Live mode can only request approved permissions from app users, and only approved features will be active for app users. This restriction applies to everyone, even users who have a role on the app itself, so switching to Live mode prematurely may make your app unusable for users who have a role on your app. In addition, data generated while in Development mode such as test posts will become visible to all app users once you switch.