Individual Processes

Screen Recordings

Your submission must include screen recordings that demonstrate how to use your app to test every permission and feature in your submission. We will use your recordings as a guide when testing your app to verify that it needs the permissions and features that you are requesting. If our reviewers are unable to verify that your app needs a specific permission or feature based on what you've shown in your recordings, you will not be approved for that permission or feature.

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.

The following video provides a brief overview of the App Review process:

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Follow the tips below when capturing recordings and keep in mind that they only have to show us how to test each permission and feature 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.

Find more video resources from Data Protocol.

Show Your Complete Login Flow

Our reviewers need to see how an app user logs into your app.

  1. Before you start a recording, log out of any test accounts you are using.
  2. Capture the entire Facebook Login flow, from logged-out to logged-in. If your app users can create accounts and log into your app without the use of Facebook Login, also capture this flow.

    3. The following example screen recordings clearly show that app users log into the app without Facebook Login, but later use Facebook Login to grant the app access to their Facebook data.

    Example — A logged-out user before logging in:

    Example — The user logging in without the aid of Facebook Login:

    Example — The logged-in user attempting to access their Facebook data:

    Example — The logged-in user using Facebook Login to connect to their Facebook account:

Show Permission Granting

For each recording, show an app user locating the Facebook Login button (if you have implemented Facebook Login) and using it to grant your app the permission you are demonstrating. Then, show the app user using the app functionality that requires that permission.

Capture the complete authorization flow in necessary. For example, the pages_manage_engagement permission allows users to designate which Pages the app can access.

The following screenshots from sample screen recordings that show Page selection.

Example — The user logging in with Facebook Login

Example — The user later granting the app access to a Page they manage

Show Data Usage

For each permission and feature in your submission, show an app user accessing data that requires the permission or feature and show what your app does with that data.

For example, if your app allows app users to publish a Post on a Page, show us an app user selecting one of their Pages, creating a Post, publishing the Post, then viewing the published Post on the Page.

  1. Begin the Post creation process.

  2. Create the Post content.

  3. Publish the Post.

    4. Example — The published Post on a Page

  4. Ensure that your screen recording shows your app using every Permission and Feature in your submission. If you omit one, it may not be clear to our reviewers how to test it, and your submission will be rejected.

Best Practices

Use these best practices as optional tips to consider when capturing screen recordings. These tips will help you create screen recordings that clearly demonstrate how your app uses each permission and feature in your submission, and can make your screen recordings easier for us to follow.

General Tips

  • Record in high-resolution, ideally 1080 or better.
  • 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 provide tools for annotation, zooming, and basic timeline editing so you can polish your screen recording. Most dedicated screen recording software also offer free trial versions.
  • If 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. If your app is not full screen, make it full screen or just record the window itself.
  • Decrease your monitor's resolution to a width of 1440 or less when you record. This helps us see what you're doing in your app.
  • 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 so it's easier for us to see. Most dedicated screen recording software will allow you to do this, even after you have recorded. Alternately, you can increase your cursor's size in your computer's settings.
  • Omit audio; our reviewers will not listen to it.

Annotate

Most dedicated screen recording software and video editing software provide tools for adding annotations to your screen recordings. Annotations are text and graphic overlays that allow you to provide notes for specific areas in a video. Annotations are a great way to highlight portions of your recording that show your app using a specific permission or feature.

For example, if your app relies on the user_photos Permission, you could use an annotation to point out exactly when your app relies on it to get a user's photos:

We recommend that you use annotations for all of the permissions and features that you are requesting. You should be able to find annotation tutorials for your dedicated screen recording software or video editing software online.

Zoom In

If a screen recording contains sections where it can be difficult to see what's happening, consider zooming in to any hard-to-see sections. Most dedicated screen recording apps will allow you to do this after you have captured the screen recording. If you're not using dedicated screen recording software, you can use video editing software to do it after you have finished recording.

You should be able to find "zoom in" and "zoom out" tutorials for your dedicated screen recording software or video editing software online.

Use Test Users

You may want to create Test Users and use them in your screen recordings.

If your app users are able to create accounts and log in to your app without the aid of Facebook Login, we recommend that you include credentials for one of these test users as well.