Reduce App Deploy Time During Development

When you are building and testing your app, the build-deploy cycle can take a long time, and this can slow your development process. With the Meta XR plugin, you can enable the Deploy compiled .so directly to device build option to skip APK packaging on subsequent deploys after the first full build. This feature works by loading libraries from the app’s data directory on the device, instead of from within the APK.

This feature bypasses the normal Android APK build logic. If you make any code or manifest changes that require a new APK, disable this option temporarily to allow a new APK to be built and installed on your device. See Disable deploy compiled .so directly to device for instructions.

Note: In Unreal Engine 5.4 and later, the bDontBundleLibrariesInAPK option under Android platform settings ([/Script/AndroidRuntimeSettings.AndroidRuntimeSettings]) achieves similar results. This is a standard Unreal Engine setting, not specific to the Meta XR plugin.

To enable this feature, use either of the following methods.

Click the Meta XR Tools menu at the top of the Unreal Engine screen and select the checkbox next to Deploy compiled .so directly to device.

Add the following to your project’s DefaultEngine.ini:

[/Script/OculusXRHMD.OculusXRHMDRuntimeSettings]
bDeploySoToDevice=True

Non-distribution Quest builds automatically include the following meta-data entry in the Android manifest:

<meta-data android:name="com.oculus.extlib" android:value="true"/>

This flag enables the Quest OS to load libraries from the app’s data directory. The Deploy compiled .so directly to device option leverages this capability by pushing the compiled .so library directly to the device instead of bundling it into the APK.

Note: The Deploy compiled .so directly to device build option is provided for development and debugging purposes only, and you must disable this setting before you upload your app to the Meta Horizon Store. No application will be accepted on the Store with this flag enabled. Distribution builds automatically suppress the com.oculus.extlib manifest entry.

Before uploading your app to the Meta Horizon Store, or when code or manifest changes require a full APK rebuild, disable this option using either of the following methods:

For additional techniques to speed up your development cycle, see Iteration Speed Best Practices.