Send Friend Requests from Apps - Mobile

Updated: Dec 9, 2024

This is a Platform SDK feature requiring Data Use Checkup

To use this or any other Platform SDK feature, you must complete a Data Use Checkup (DUC). The DUC ensures that you comply with Developer Policies. It requires an administrator from your team to certify that your use of user data aligns with platform guidelines. Until the app review team reviews and approves your DUC, platform features are only available for test users.

Users can initiate requests to follow other users they encounter in your app by launching the follow modal from within your app. In this case, the system will present users with a deep-linked request modal and then return focus to your app once it has sent the request. Users may find this process more convenient than using the Meta Horizon mobile app or returning to Meta Horizon Home to send these requests since it’s less disruptive to their app experience.

For example, in a multiplayer game, a user might encounter another player that they liked. If this feature is implemented, they can initiate the following process from within the game, send the follow request from a deeplinked modal, and be returned to their game once the request has been sent.

Note: This feature is only available for apps that target Quest devices.

Send a Follow Request from an App

The following methods are available to call from within your client app. Details about the functions can be found in the Platform SDK Reference Content.

Send a Follow Request from an App:

This method deeplinks the viewer into a modal dialog targeting the specified user to receive a follow request. From the modal, the viewer can select Send to send a follow request and return to their app. Selecting Cancel returns the viewer to their app without sending a follow request.

Check If Viewer Sent a Follow Request:

Checks if the viewer sent a follow request from the deeplinked modal.

Check If Viewer Canceled Rather than Sending a Follow Request:

Checks if the viewer canceled or selected Back from the deep linked modal.

Other Outcomes

In some edge cases, the modal dialog that appears when ovr_User_LaunchFriendRequestFlow is called may be different. The table below details such situations and what the user will see.

Situation	Description	Result Feedback
Viewer tries to send a follow request to themselves	The viewer will receive a message indicating that this is not supported. Selecting Back returns the viewer to their app.	`LaunchFriendRequestFlowResult_GetDidSendRequest`: false `LaunchFriendRequestFlowResult_GetDidCancel`: true
Viewer tries to send a follow request to someone that they are already following	The viewer will receive a message informing them that they are already following them. Selecting Back returns the viewer to their app.	`LaunchFriendRequestFlowResult_GetDidSendRequest`: false `LaunchFriendRequestFlowResult_GetDidCancel`: true
Viewer tries to send a follow request to someone they already sent a pending follow request	The viewer will receive a message informing them that they have already sent a follow request to that user. Selecting Back returns the viewer to their app.	`LaunchFriendRequestFlowResult_GetDidSendRequest`: false `LaunchFriendRequestFlowResult_GetDidCancel`: true
Viewer tries to send a follow request to someone they already have a pending request from	The viewer will receive a message informing them of the pending follow request. From there, they can select Accept to accept the received follow request and return to their app, or they can select Cancel to return to their app without accepting or denying the follow request.	On Accept:`LaunchFriendRequestFlowResult_GetDidSendRequest`: false `LaunchFriendRequestFlowResult_GetDidCancel`: false On Cancel:`LaunchFriendRequestFlowResult_GetDidSendRequest`: false `LaunchFriendRequestFlowResult_GetDidCancel`: true
Viewer tries to send a follow request to someone they blocked previously	The viewer will receive a message informing them of the situation and asking whether they would like to unblock the target user and send a follow request. If the viewer selects Unblock and Send, the target user is unblocked, a follow request is sent, and the user is returned to their app. Otherwise, selecting Back will return the viewer to their app.	On Unblock and Send:`LaunchFriendRequestFlowResult_GetDidSendRequest`: true `LaunchFriendRequestFlowResult_GetDidCancel`: false On Back:`LaunchFriendRequestFlowResult_GetDidSendRequest`: false `LaunchFriendRequestFlowResult_GetDidCancel`: true
Viewer tries to send a follow request to someone that has blocked them previously	The user will receive the following message: We cant show you this person right now. Please try again later.	`LaunchFriendRequestFlowResult_GetDidSendRequest`: false `LaunchFriendRequestFlowResult_GetDidCancel`: true
The follow request cannot be sent for some other reason	The user will receive the following message: We cant show you this person right now. Please try again later.	`LaunchFriendRequestFlowResult_GetDidSendRequest`: false `LaunchFriendRequestFlowResult_GetDidCancel`: true