Develop

Packaging and preparing your new project

Updated: Apr 14, 2026

When you’ve developed your project, there are still a few steps you need to complete before you can submit your app to the Meta Horizon Store. This page provides an overview of those steps. For a full look at the process, see the distribution overview.

In addition to this page, the Building and Packaging Apps documentation provides in-depth information on running and deploying Unreal applications.

Launching your app on your headset

This section describes how to launch your Unreal Engine project so you can view it on your headset.

Ensure you have connected your headset to your development PC via the USB cable.

Make sure you have installed and can run the Android Debug Bridge (ADB) and that your PC can see the device using the ADB command. For more information, see Device Setup.

In the Unreal Engine Editor, click beside the Launch icon to open Options for Launching on a Device.

From the drop-down list, select the device you want to deploy to. If the system prompts you to save the project, do so, even if you recently saved it to ensure your headset has the most recent content.

Monitor the progress bar in the lower corner of the Unreal Engine Editor to track the packaging status. If this is the first time you are packaging your project, the process could take a few minutes depending on the size of your project.

When the process is complete, launch the project to view it on your headset.

Adding an entitlement check

We recommend implementing the Entitlement Check for all the Unreal apps you ship on the Meta Horizon Store to verify that users have purchased your app legitimately. See the Set Up for Platform Development document for more information.

App distribution

Review the app requirements and submission process for distributing your app in the Store.

You must have an Android Distribution Keystore to submit your app to the Store.

Before building your final release package, create a new Android keystore as described in the section Manually Sign an APK in Android’s Sign your Applications⁠ guide. Then, in the Unreal Editor, go to Edit > Project Settings > Platforms > Android, scroll down to Distribution Signing, and enter the required information.

You can also upload your app from within the Unreal Editor using the Meta XR Platform Tool. For more information, see Upload Apps from the Unreal Editor.

See the Application Signing section of the Mobile SDK documentation for more information.