Getting Your Embedded App Approved for the Webex App Hub
May 10, 2022
Webex Embedded Apps allows you to integrate your web applications into both Webex meetings, for participants to collaborate with each other in real-time, or inside Webex messaging spaces, for continual user collaboration. Once your Embedded App has been built, tested, and ready to share with the Webex Community, you can submit it to be published on the Webex App Hub, where the public can quickly find and start using it.
Getting Your Embedded App Ready for Submission
All the listings on App Hub, including Embedded Apps, must first go through a formal review process, from both a business and technical perspective. Submitting your app is easy, and the entire review process generally takes around 2-3 weeks, depending on the completeness of your submission. Before you submit your Embedded App to be reviewed by the App Hub team, you should follow the App Hub Submission Checklist for Embedded Apps to ensure you have all the requirements in place.
App Submission and Review Process
Once you submit your Embedded App from the Webex Developer portal, someone from the Webex App Hub team will be in contact to work with you throughout the review. To ensure vital information gets properly communicated during the process, be sure it is done under the name and email of the primary contact (usually the developer) who will work with our review team. Specifically, do not use a distribution group email for the submission; it should be a direct contact of the person/developer who is authorized to make app remediations.
The business and technical reviews can each bring their own set of challenges that can create delays in the process. To help you better overcome any potential holdups during either of the App Hub reviews, let’s explore how to best get everything in order.
Preparing for the Business Review
Like other Webex application types, the App Hub business review for Embedded Apps is to confirm that your app meets established standards for the use case and commercial implementation. This all starts with you creating an external landing page for the app, where users can get all the information required to get started using it. This external landing page must be dedicated to that specific Webex Embedded App and not be the same as your company's homepage, nor behind a login prompt.
One of the most important aspects of the landing page is to provide users clear, step-by-step, instructions on how they can get started with your app. Here are some things to keep in mind when creating those instructions:
- Prominently note any 3rd party registrations required to use your app and if there are costs involved.
- Indicate the applicable pricing models (licensing, free trial period, etc.) for any required service.
- If necessary, include the URL or email alias of where users can find more information on 3rd party pricing.
- For Embedded Apps that also integrate with Webex APIs, you should note if users are required to have a paid license when accessing specific Webex resources, such as meeting recordings.
If you haven’t already, check out some of the landing pages from our current Embedded App partners on the Webex App Hub, to see how it all comes together.
Preparing for the Technical Review
For the technical review, the App Hub team will mainly need to confirm the performance, authentication/security, and design of your Embedded App. To best accomplish this, it is important to formulate a test plan that will allow our review team to fully navigate and assess your entire app. If there are special credentials, account permissions, or any other prerequisites required to test your app completely, they will need to be detailed in the plan.
Unfinished apps that are still a work-in-progress or in the form of a demo will end up being rejected. Your Embedded App should be complete and in a production-ready state before you submit it.
We again recommend to reference the checklist when you’re creating the test plan for the technical review. Be sure to follow your test plan all the way through before submitting the app, as that will be key to completing the technical review in a timely manner.
Importance of User Privacy
Cisco believes privacy is a fundamental human right. If a customer requests information pertaining to your app following all applicable privacy regulations and laws, you will want to ensure this can be properly demonstrated. On the business side, the external landing page for your App Hub listing should contain an easily accessible privacy statement, that focuses on security, transparency, and accountability. On the technical side, you will want to ensure personal data that your app collects and processes, is not maintained or further used unless for reasons that are clearly stated and agreed to in advance to support data privacy.
Need More Help Before Submitting?
You are not in this alone! The Webex Developer Support team is available to answer any questions that may arise. Alternatively, you can always ask for help, share ideas, and search for answers to your top-of-mind questions in the Webex for Developer Community Forum. It’s a friendly place with a lot of helpful folks!