I found that the app review process of Facebook Messenger’s platform a little confusing while I was working on a side project. The documentation briefly goes over app review but based on my confusion and that of the people in the developer group, I figure I should clear this up once.

The problem was that I created a chat bot and while I can chat with it, other users couldn’t. Their messages were not triggering a webhook that responds to their messages. I had added the “pages_messaging” permission, but that’s not enough. In order for normal users to chat with my Messenger platform app, the app needed to be made public and reviewed by facebook.

The first step is to go to the “App Review” section and provide all the information (including a video of how the app is used).  Set your app as public. If you’re like me, you still won’t be able to “Submit for review” because of this message:

You do not have any platforms eligible for review.

To fix this, go to the Settings page and click on the link to add a platform. Notice there’s no Messenger Platform yet. Instead, choose “website” as a platform and provide it with a URL. I used a github page URL and it got approved, so I’m assuming that’s okay.

Once a platform is added, you’ll see the “Submit for Review” function is enabled, so hit that button and wait for someone to review your app. When the app is reviewed, users who are not developer or test roles should be able to chat with your Messenger Platform app.