Behind the Curtain: App Publishing Requests

Summary

Zoom App Marketplace reviews App Publishing Requests to enable broad distribution of applications across all Zoom accounts. During the initial review stage, marketplace specialists evaluate submission metadata, including descriptive text, media assets, functional documentation, and requested scopes to verify that applications do not access unnecessary user information. Reviewers then perform a functional assessment by executing the developer-provided test plan using supplied test accounts and credentials. When issues occur, reviewers deliver feedback through review notes, requiring developers to resolve the problems and resubmit their app to trigger a re-review cycle. Developers can validate production readiness prior to public submission through account-level local testing or by creating a Publishable URL sharing request for external testing.

Context

Developers submitting applications to the Zoom App Marketplace for general distribution often face rejections or delays due to incomplete submissions, inadequate metadata, unclear test plans, or unjustified scope requests.

Approach / What changed

Zoom evaluates App Publishing Requests through metadata validation and functional testing based on developer-supplied test plans. Reviewers assess whether requested scopes match application functionality, provide feedback through review notes, and require developers to resolve issues and resubmit their applications for secondary reviews.

Takeaways

• Zoom reviewers conduct metadata checks and functional reviews using test credentials, documentation links, and test plans provided in submission materials or release notes.
• Applications requesting OAuth scopes or features that are unexplained or unnecessary for their stated functionality face review delays or rejection.
• Developers can test production versions prior to submission by using Local Testing within their account or submitting a Publishable URL sharing request for external users.

Related reading

• Zoom · Feb 14, 2020

  What’s New and What’s Coming for Zoom Marketplace in 2020?

  Zoom announced several updates to its App Marketplace alongside roadmap deadlines scheduled for early 2020. Marketplace enhancements include functional app categories, additional URL fields for Terms of Use and documentation, and support for defining multiple webhook event subscriptions within a single application. Administrators and developers gained webhook logs, enhanced pre-approval permission settings, and the ability to test draft applications directly in the installed apps interface for Data Compliance API compliance. To accommodate surging traffic, Zoom introduced revamped V2 REST API rate limits and breaking behavioral changes to the List Users API. Crucially, the platform set an absolute end-of-life date of April 26, 2020, for all legacy V1 APIs, requiring immediate migration to V2 endpoints.

  Benjamin Dean

• Zoom · Feb 13, 2020

  Investing in Developers — Zoom Developer Summit and Competition 2020