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Meta Horizon OS

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Meta Horizon OS
Information
Type Operating system
Subtype Mixed reality
Creator Meta Platforms
Developer Meta Platforms (Reality Labs)
Operating System Based on the Android Open Source Project (AOSP)
Devices Meta Quest headsets (Quest, Quest 2, Quest 3, Quest 3S, Quest Pro); Meta VR Glasses (announced September 2026, expected spring 2027)
Receiving current releases: Quest 3, Quest 3S, Quest Pro and Quest 2
Release Date Renamed Meta Horizon OS April 22, 2024
Latest: Horizon OS 2.7 (week of August 17, 2026); 2.9 in Public Test Channel
Website https://www.meta.com/horizon-os/


Meta Horizon OS is the mixed reality operating system that Meta Platforms runs on its Meta Quest headsets. It combines a base derived from the Android Open Source Project (AOSP) with Meta's own tracking, rendering, mixed reality, and social-presence software. Meta gave the platform its current public name on April 22, 2024, when the company announced it would license the operating system to selected third-party hardware makers rather than ship it only on Meta's own devices.[1][2]

As of October 2026, the current general release is Horizon OS 2.7, which Meta began pushing to the Meta Quest 3, Quest 3S, Quest Pro and Quest 2 in the week of August 17, 2026. Horizon OS 2.9, which reworks how 2D app windows are placed and managed, entered Meta's Public Test Channel (PTC), its opt-in beta program, in the week of September 28, 2026.[3][4]

The software that became Meta Horizon OS began under the Oculus brand and was previously referred to informally as Quest OS.[2] Its lineage goes back to the Oculus Mobile SDK and Oculus Home software that Oculus VR released for the Samsung Gear VR Innovator Edition in November 2014.[5] The Oculus Go, an all-in-one standalone headset introduced in October 2017, was binary-compatible with most Gear VR applications,[6][7] and the Oculus Quest followed in May 2019.[8]

In the April 2024 announcement Meta named three initial partners, Asus Republic of Gamers, Lenovo, and Microsoft's Xbox, and renamed the Meta Quest Store to the Meta Horizon Store.[1] In December 2025 Meta said it had paused the third-party licensing program to concentrate on its own first-party hardware and software.[9][10]

At Meta Connect 2026 on September 23, 2026, Meta announced the Meta VR Glasses, a US$1,299.99 device due in spring 2027 that runs the same operating system, store and SDKs as Meta Quest.[11][12] Earlier in 2026 Meta switched the user-facing version numbers to a "Horizon OS 2" scheme (2.1, 2.2 and so on) and made its Navigator interface the default on all Quest headsets.[13][14]

Reviewed 17 October 2026. Pre-2026 history (Gear VR, Go, Quest), v12-v83 release table, Connect 2025, App Lab merge, Passthrough Camera API, Android 14 rule, Horizon Worlds 2026 plan and reversal, XR Simulator releases and OVRseen/Inception research checked against the cited Meta posts, forum, press and papers; Horizon OS 2.9 still PTC as of 2026-10-17. About review dates.

History and naming

Meta's headset software predates the Quest line. On November 12, 2014, the company, then Oculus VR, released version 0.4.0 of the Oculus Mobile SDK, designed for the Samsung Gear VR Innovator Edition used with the Galaxy Note 4 phone. The same announcement introduced Oculus Home as the Gear VR's launcher, where users could "discover, download, and launch content," and the SDK included the full source code of Oculus Cinema, Oculus 360 Photos and Oculus 360 Videos.[5] The Oculus Go, which Oculus described in October 2017 as "an all-in-one, 3DOF standalone headset with an orientation-tracked controller," used the same Mobile SDK, Unity and Unreal tooling as Gear VR. Oculus told developers in April 2018 that Go was "binary-compatible with Gear VR for most applications," but that it did not ship with Google Play Services.[6][7] The original Oculus Quest began shipping on May 21, 2019, at a starting price of US$399.[8]

The name Meta Horizon OS was introduced on April 22, 2024. Until then the platform had no fixed consumer brand and was usually called Quest OS in coverage. The rebrand aligned the operating system with Meta's broader Horizon brand, which also covers the Horizon mobile app and Meta's social VR product.[1][2] Meta's developer documentation states that "Meta Horizon OS is built on the Android Open Source Project, so your Android app works out of the box," which lets standard Android apps run with minimal modification.[15]

Releases before Horizon OS 2

Until January 2026 Meta numbered Quest system releases sequentially, and it rolled most of them out gradually over several weeks, sometimes shipping individual features separately from the main update.[16][17] The table lists a selection of releases with notable platform changes; dates are those of Meta's announcement or of the cited coverage.

Version Date Selected changes
v12 Week of December 9, 2019 Hand tracking arrived as an early consumer feature, first for navigating Quest Home and system menus; Meta said a hand-tracking SDK for developers would follow the next week[18]
v28 Announced April 13, 2021 Air Link wireless streaming of PC VR games to Quest 2 in Experimental mode (both headset and PC needed v28) and an optional 120 Hz refresh rate on Quest 2[19]
v50 February 21, 2023 Experimental Direct Touch for tapping and swiping through the interface with a finger (Quest 2 and Quest Pro); 2D apps such as the browser usable without closing a game (Quest 2); faster Touch Pro controller tracking start (Quest Pro)[16]
v60 December 4, 2023 Three new Horizon Home environments; redesigned profiles; higher CPU and GPU clock speeds for Quest Pro in mixed reality apps, which Meta said meant "up to a 34% increase in CPU performance"; opt-in cloud processing that lets the headset remember more boundaries[20]
v67 July 3, 2024 Experimental window layout that let users move 2D panels around their space, with up to three hinged panels plus three more placed anywhere, and a Theater View button that enlarges one panel[21]
v69 Week of September 5, 2024 The v67 window layout turned on for everyone; "Hey Meta" voice invocation of Meta AI; audio placed at the position of its window; Bluetooth quick pairing; stylus support including Logitech MX Ink; content-adaptive backlight control; the release became required for Meta Horizon social experiences such as Horizon Worlds from October 2024[22]
v74 February 2025 Website shortcuts in the Library; DisplayPort Out to TVs and monitors over USB-C; multi-room scanning in one session; detection of moving vehicles with a Travel Mode suggestion[17]
v76 April 2025 Live Captions extended to any app, including immersive VR games, with an experimental on-device transcription option; the Horizon Worlds app renamed Worlds and no longer removable; a system-level advertising identifier that users can disable[23]
v81 October 2025 Rebuilt Immersive Home and Passthrough Home with pinnable app windows; Mixed Reality Link, built with Microsoft, for using Windows 11 and Windows 365 as a remote desktop with multiple virtual monitors; up to 12 app windows at once; rebuilt Horizon Central[24]
v83 November 2025 Experimental System Positional Timewarp, which Meta says "uses real-time scene depth to reduce visual judder and lag when apps drop frames"; experimental Temporal Dimming on Quest 3 and 3S; Space Setup support for multi-height floors, slanted ceilings and inner walls[25]

Meta Connect 2025

At Meta Connect 2025 Meta announced Horizon Engine, a replacement for Unity as the runtime of Horizon Worlds, for which it claimed four times faster world loading and support for more than 100 users in one instance. UploadVR reported that the engine already powered the overhauled home system in the v81 test build. Meta also began rolling out Horizon Hyperscape in the US, which lets a Quest 3 or Quest 3S owner capture a real room in about 5 to 10 minutes of walking around; Meta's servers then take 1 to 8 hours to process it and render the result, which is streamed to the headset. The Horizon Worlds Desktop Editor was renamed Horizon Studio, and Meta said Discord would come to Horizon OS as a native app in 2026.[26] In the developer keynote, Andrew Bosworth described a new system interface as "spatial UI navigation" and "a work in progress."[26]

Features

Meta describes Meta Horizon OS as combining "the core technologies that power today's mixed reality experiences with a suite of features that put social presence at the center of the platform."[1] According to Meta, the platform's core technologies include inside-out tracking and self-tracked controllers, hand tracking, eye tracking, face tracking, and body tracking, high-resolution Passthrough, plus Scene Understanding and Spatial Anchors for placing virtual content relative to a real room.[1]

The operating system supports both fully immersive virtual environments and passthrough mixed reality, in which a camera feed of the wearer's surroundings is shown behind virtual content. Eye and face tracking are tied to specific hardware: those features shipped first on the Meta Quest Pro, whose inward-facing sensors let developers map the wearer's facial expressions onto avatars; both are off by default and must be turned on in the headset settings.[27] A Guardian boundary system lets users define their play area and shows a visualization when they approach its edge. Meta's developer documentation distinguishes room-scale experiences, which need a minimum amount of clear floor space, from stationary ones, which use a predefined boundary centered on the headset.[28] The social-presence layer covers user identities, avatars, and social graphs that carry across apps on the platform.[1]

For developers, Meta Horizon OS exposes a Horizon OS SDK alongside standard Android frameworks. Apps can reach passthrough camera data, spatial audio with Dolby Atmos support, and a mixed reality utility kit for room setup and scene mesh.[15] Alongside the 2024 rebrand Meta said it was building "a new spatial app framework that helps mobile developers create mixed reality experiences," letting them bring existing mobile apps to Meta Horizon OS or build new ones with familiar tools.[1]

Meta opened the headset cameras to third-party apps in 2025. Version 74 of the Meta XR Core SDK, released in March 2025, added a Passthrough Camera API that gives apps the feed from the forward-facing RGB cameras of the Quest 3 and Quest 3S, at first as a "Public Experimental" API that could not be used in apps published on the store.[29] With SDK v76, at the end of April 2025, Meta allowed the API in store apps; UploadVR reported a resolution of up to 1280x960 per camera at 30 FPS and a stated latency of 40-60 milliseconds.[30] Meta's current documentation says the feature is built on Android's Camera2 API, requires Horizon OS v74 or later, and needs either the standard Android camera permission or a Horizon OS headset-camera permission, with passthrough enabled.[31]

Meta has also raised the Android API level that new apps must target. In November 2025 it announced that, from March 1, 2026, new Meta Horizon apps would have to target Android 14 (API level 34), while the minimum SDK version could stay at API level 32 and existing apps on a lower version would keep working. A February 6, 2026 update narrowed the rule to apps created in the Developer Dashboard after March 1, 2026.[32]

Meta AI became available on Quest headsets with Horizon OS 2.5, whose general rollout began in the week of June 22, 2026. Meta describes it as a voice assistant that can open apps, search for games, take screenshots and answer questions; at launch it was an opt-in feature available in English in the US and Canada.[3] In early October 2026 MIXED reported that Meta had published no wider availability since.[33]

Distribution and store

Software for the platform is distributed through Meta's store, which the company renamed from the Meta Quest Store to the Meta Horizon Store as part of the April 2024 announcement.[1] In the same announcement Meta said titles in its App Lab program, a lighter-weight publishing track for apps that do not go through full store review, would "soon be featured in a dedicated section of the store on all our devices," removing the prior need to reach them by direct link.[1][2] Meta's developer post from the same day described the longer-term plan as a move "from two independent surfaces, Store and App Lab, to a single, unified, open storefront," after which new submissions would go directly to the Store and App Lab would no longer be a separate distribution channel.[34] The first stage arrived in May 2024, when App Lab titles appeared in a dedicated section of the store on Quest, the web and the mobile app.[35] Meta then announced that "Starting August 5, we're moving all content previously shipped in App Lab to be discoverable on the Meta Horizon Store." From that date new apps were released only on the store; they still had to meet Meta's guidelines and technical "Virtual Reality Checks," and developers could label unfinished titles with an "Early Access" badge.[36]

The same store serves the Meta VR Glasses announced in September 2026. In its Connect 2026 developer post, Meta said the Store "now does a better job of surfacing the right apps to the right people" on both devices, and that customers who use only their hands see hand-tracked titles first.[12]

Meta also sought to add Google's app store to the platform. According to reporting by 9to5Google, Meta asked Google to bring the Google Play Store to Meta Horizon OS on terms that would have let Google keep its usual store economics, but Google instead wanted Meta to adopt Google's own Android XR operating system, which would have meant dropping Meta Horizon OS, and Meta declined.[37]

Third-party hardware program

The central change in the April 22, 2024 announcement was Meta's decision to license Meta Horizon OS to other hardware makers, giving those devices access to the same app ecosystem as Meta's own headsets. Meta named three initial partners.[1][2]

Partner Planned device Stated focus Outcome
Asus Republic of Gamers (ROG) Performance gaming headset Gaming[1] Did not ship before the program was paused[9]
Lenovo Mixed reality device, drawing on Lenovo's Oculus Rift S co-design work Productivity, learning, and entertainment[1] Did not ship before the program was paused[9]
Microsoft Xbox (with Meta) A limited-edition Meta Quest "inspired by Xbox" Gaming, building on Xbox Cloud Gaming on Quest[1] Shipped as the Meta Quest 3S Xbox Edition, June 24, 2025[38]

Of the three, only the Xbox collaboration reached customers, and it did so as a special-edition Meta-built headset rather than a separate manufacturer's design. The Meta Quest 3S Xbox Edition launched on June 24, 2025 at 399.99 US dollars. Meta and Microsoft described it as the first limited edition for Quest: a 128 GB Meta Quest 3S in Xbox Carbon Black with Velocity Green accents, bundled with matching Touch Plus controllers, a limited-edition Xbox Wireless Controller, an Elite Strap, and trials of Meta Horizon+ and Xbox Game Pass Ultimate.[38]

Pause of licensing and current status

In December 2025 Meta confirmed it had paused the third-party licensing program. A Meta spokesperson said: "We have paused the program to focus on building the world-class first-party hardware and software needed to advance the VR market. We're committed to this for the long term and will revisit opportunities for 3rd-party device partnerships as the category evolves."[9][10] Reporting at the time indicated the planned Asus and Lenovo headsets were no longer expected to reach market.[9]

Coverage placed the decision against two pressures: continuing losses at Meta's Reality Labs division and a shift of Meta's investment toward AI and smart glasses, and competition from Google's Android XR, which had launched on Samsung Galaxy XR and offered access to Google's larger app library. Some observers suggested the hardware makers Meta had courted could move to Android XR instead.[9][10]

As of October 2026, Meta Horizon OS remains the operating system for Meta's own Quest line and continues to receive frequent updates, while the third-party hardware program announced in 2024 is on hold.[9][3] The next device announced for the platform is Meta's own VR Glasses, which Meta described at Connect 2026 as "an addition, not a replacement to Meta Quest devices."[39]

Supported devices

Meta's release notes for every Horizon OS 2 release from 2.1 to 2.7 say the update is pushed to Meta Quest 3, 3S, Meta Quest Pro and Meta Quest 2 headsets.[3] Some features depend on the headset: Gamepad mode in 2.7 and the Surface Keyboard and QR code scanner in 2.9 are listed for Quest 3 and 3S only,[3] and the 207 Hz refresh mode added in 2.7 is exclusive to Quest 3.[40] The original Oculus Quest stopped receiving new features in 2023. In an email to owners reported in January 2023, Meta wrote "We won't be shipping new features to Quest 1," ended its Horizon Home social features on March 5, 2023, and said it would keep providing critical bug fixes and security patches until 2024.[41]

Device Status on Meta Horizon OS (October 2026)
Meta Quest 3 Receives Horizon OS 2 releases; 207 Hz app refresh rate in 2.7 is exclusive to this model[3][40]
Meta Quest 3S Receives Horizon OS 2 releases[3]
Meta Quest Pro Receives Horizon OS 2 releases[3]
Meta Quest 2 Receives Horizon OS 2 releases[3]
Oculus Quest No new features since early 2023; security patches were planned until 2024[41]
Meta VR Glasses Announced September 23, 2026, for spring 2027; runs the same operating system and store as Meta Quest[11][12]

2026 software updates

Version numbering

Through January 2026 Meta numbered Quest system releases sequentially, reaching v85.[13][42] In February 2026 heise online reported that the platform was moving to "Horizon OS 2", with future updates designated 2.1, 2.2 and so on so that major updates could be told apart from incremental ones.[13] Meta's developer documentation now separates two numbers. The user-facing Horizon OS version shown on the headset uses semantic versioning, such as 2.1. The SDK has its own integer version, such as 207, which Meta describes as "conceptually equivalent to Android's API level" and independent of the API level of the AOSP release that Horizon OS is based on.[43] An April 2026 developer post described the numeric scheme: the first digit marks the platform generation, the following digits mark incremental releases (201, 202, 203), decimals mark hot fixes (201.1), and Meta said it would "jump to v300 when there is a major milestone update."[44] As of September 2026, the same documentation calls the SDK the "Meta VR OS SDK" while still referring to the operating system as Horizon OS.[43]

Horizon OS 2 releases

Meta's release notes list most releases twice, first for the Public Test Channel and then for the general rollout, which Meta pushes gradually; version 85.0 is listed only for its general rollout and 2.9 only for the test channel. As of October 2026 the notes contain no versions 2.2 or 2.8; MIXED also noted that there was no v2.8 when 2.9 reached the test channel.[3][33]

Version PTC (week of) General rollout (week of) Main changes listed by Meta
85.0 Not listed January 26, 2026 Gradual removal of Horizon Feed and continued Navigator rollout; experimental Surface Keyboard and Touchpad on Quest 3; customizable action button on Quest 3S; on-device malware scanning; privacy indicator; voice control for 2D panels; passkey login in the browser[3]
2.1 February 9, 2026 February 23, 2026 First "Meta Horizon OS 2" release with the new version numbers; Worlds removed from the system bar for Navigator users; battery and Wi-Fi status in Navigator; windows snap to nearby walls; Xbox games in search; per-item photo and video sharing with apps; offline voice dictation on Quest 3 and 3S[3]
2.3 March 23, 2026 April 13, 2026 Navigator begins rolling out to all users as the default interface, replacing the Universal Menu; theme change without a restart; choice of apps to keep under automatic app offload; fewer passthrough interruptions while roaming; smoother panel grabbing with hand tracking[3]
2.4 May 4, 2026 May 18, 2026 Rearranging Library apps and creating folders; apps restore their previous session after closing unexpectedly; hand-tracked teleport and turning in the virtual Home[3][45]
2.5 June 1, 2026 June 22, 2026 Meta AI on Quest (opt-in, English, US and Canada); Gallery photos and videos open in 3D; new default VR Home scenery called Valley; virtual hands instead of a full avatar in VR Home[3]
2.6 July 6, 2026 July 20, 2026 VR Home view follows the wearer's real head height; general fixes[3]
2.7 July 27, 2026 August 17, 2026 Display size setting from Small to Extra large; Gamepad mode on Quest 3 and 3S; Remote Desktop renamed Virtual Display, with HDMI input through an optional adapter[3]
2.9 September 28, 2026 Not announced New window manager and spatial window placement; reworked control bar; Surface Keyboard in fully virtual environments; QR code scanner on Quest 3 and 3S; controller troubleshooting; classic VR Home environments; boundary setup recovery; settings in search, including offline[3][4]

Navigator interface

Navigator is the system interface that replaced the earlier dock-based layout. It moves the main system panels, including Library, Quick Settings, Notifications and Camera, into a large overlay that appears over both immersive and 2D apps; previously these opened as regular 2D windows.[14][46] Version 85, first released on the Public Test Channel (PTC), Meta's beta release channel, made Navigator the default interface and began retiring Horizon Feed, which had been introduced with v57 in late 2023.[42][46] heise online reported that with Horizon OS 2 the headset would start directly in Navigator and that the Horizon Worlds icon would be removed from the system bar.[13] In June 2026 UploadVR reported that Navigator had rolled out to all Quest headsets, more than a year after Meta began public testing, and that Meta had removed the Worlds tab from Navigator and dropped Horizon Feed, the default 2D app that used to launch when a headset was cold-booted.[14]

Horizon Worlds on Quest

On March 17, 2026, a Meta community manager announced on Meta's community forums that the company was splitting its VR platform and Horizon into separate platforms. Under that plan, Horizon Worlds and Events would leave the Quest store by March 31, 2026, several worlds including Horizon Central, Events Arena, Kaiju and Bobber Bay would no longer be available in VR, the Horizon Worlds app would be removed from Quest after June 15, 2026, and Horizon Worlds would continue as a mobile experience in the Meta Horizon app. The same post said Hyperscape captures could still be made and viewed, but no longer shared or co-experienced, and that Horizon-specific perks would be removed from the Meta Horizon+ subscription without affecting its gaming benefits.[47] Two days later UploadVR reported that Meta had partly reversed course: in an Instagram question-and-answer session, Andrew Bosworth said Meta would "keep Horizon Worlds working in VR for existing games," with the VR app remaining on the Quest store "for the foreseeable future" as a regular app, while Meta would not build new VR games for the platform. According to UploadVR, specific worlds would not be recommended by the operating system or shown in the storefront.[48] Earlier, with Horizon OS 2.1 in February 2026, Meta had already removed Worlds from the system bar for Navigator users.[3]

Surface Keyboard

Surface Keyboard places a virtual keyboard and touchpad on a real table or desk. The wearer lays both hands flat on the surface to set it up, and the touchpad supports moving, clicking and dragging with the index finger plus two-finger scrolling.[42][46] It first appeared in the v85 PTC as an experimental feature for the Meta Quest 3 only, enabled from Settings under Experimental.[42][46] According to Road to VR, the feature is intended for "casual productivity, browsing, messaging, and 2D applications," and a physical keyboard is still advised for high-volume writing. The same v85 build let Quest 3S owners customize the headset's action button and added malware scanning.[46] UploadVR reported that the feature was later added to the Quest 3S.[49] Meta's notes for the 2.9 test build say the Surface Keyboard and Touchpad "now works in fully virtual environments as well as Pass-through" on Quest 3 and 3S, still enabled under Experimental settings,[3] although UploadVR's author could not get it to work in a virtual environment during testing.[49]

Horizon OS 2.7

Horizon OS 2.7, which UploadVR covered at the start of September 2026, added Gamepad Mode, which lets Quest 3 and Quest 3S owners use their Touch Plus controllers to emulate Xbox gamepad inputs. It also let apps on Quest 3 request refresh rates up to 207 Hz through the standard APIs, with up to 240 Hz reachable through ADB commands in developer mode; UploadVR reported that the feature is exclusive to Quest 3 and not available on Quest 3S. Other changes were a Size setting that adjusts the relative size of all interface elements and windows, and the merging of Meta Quest HDMI Link's functions into the Virtual Display app, giving one app for several screen-mirroring uses.[40]

Meta's release notes date the 2.7 test build to the week of July 27 and the general rollout to the week of August 17, 2026, for Quest 3, 3S, Quest Pro and Quest 2. The same notes record that Remote Desktop was renamed Virtual Display, an app installed automatically on all Quest devices that connects to a Windows or Mac computer and shows up to three large virtual screens, and that HDMI support lets owners connect consoles, handhelds and phones through an optional HDMI-to-USB-C adapter.[3] According to UploadVR, Meta rebranded the Remote Desktop app in July 2026,[40] documented the change with 2.7, and added input forwarding to Virtual Display on both Windows and Mac.[50]

Horizon OS 2.9 test build

Meta began rolling out Horizon OS 2.9 to the Public Test Channel in the week of September 28, 2026, and its community forum announced the start of the rollout on September 29.[3][4] UploadVR identified the build as v209.[49] As of early October 2026 Meta had not given a date for the general release.[33] MIXED reported the window manager, based on Meta's notes, on September 30.[51]

The main change is to 2D app windows, a system that UploadVR reported is codenamed Display Evo internally and which Meta calls "A new way to organize your app windows." According to UploadVR, Navigator had replaced the old tablet-style dock but the window system under it had stayed largely the same, built around three apps in a layout like a triple monitor, and "Display Evo removes the dock entirely."[49] In Meta's description, windows now launch spatially, and a Window manager reached from Quick settings can place three windows next to one another or stack them; stacked windows are cycled by clicking the top part of each window, and the manager lists every open window.[3][51] Windows attach to walls more reliably, the separate anchoring option is gone from the control bar, and each control bar has a dedicated grab handle with buttons on either side for advanced options and for closing the window.[3] UploadVR's author suggested the redesigned control bar suits the gaze input of the Meta VR Glasses.[49]

Other changes in the test build, as listed by Meta, are a built-in QR code scanner on Quest 3 and 3S that opens from quick controls, the Camera app, Navigator search or the spoken command "Hey Meta, open QR code scanner"; a troubleshooting flow for unresponsive Touch controllers under Settings > Devices > Controllers; a fallback to the previous boundary or a stationary boundary when boundary setup or space scanning is interrupted; and search results that open settings such as Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, Do not disturb, Travel mode and passthrough, even offline.[3] MIXED noted that Quest could previously scan only Wi-Fi QR codes, from the Wi-Fi settings, a function added in v67 in July 2024.[33] UploadVR found two changes Meta did not document: "Use apps while lying down" moved from the Experimental menu to Accessibility > Mobility, and a setting can stop Gamepad mode from switching automatically to hand tracking.[49]

The build also returns some classic VR Home environments, rebuilt for the current Home system and selected under Settings > Home.[3] UploadVR reported that the two available at the time were Desert Terrace, the Quest 2's default environment, and Space Station, an environment released for the original Quest in April 2020. It placed the change against the reaction to v81: from the v81 PTC in August 2025, Meta had replaced the older environments with a single space called Loft, and many users were frustrated that the old ones were removed with little warning.[49]

Reported Theater Home environment

On October 7, 2026, UploadVR reported, from strings and assets in the 2.9 test build, that Meta appears to be developing a cinema-style environment for Quest and the Meta VR Glasses; Meta had not announced it at the time. The dataminer and security researcher ToastConcern accessed an alpha build in which the environment's displayed name is "Theater Home"; according to the report it is opened from the control bar of the window the user wants to watch, with a button labeled "Theater." UploadVR also described a feature called Dynamic Ambience, which references in Horizon OS 2.6 and 2.7 describe as a rendered "halo" of light around focused theater panels; it was not yet functional in the alpha build that the author ran on a Quest 3S. The build is tagged v210, which UploadVR said suggests a release some time after 2.9 reaches the stable channel.[52]

Meta Connect 2026 and Meta VR Glasses

Meta announced the Meta VR Glasses on September 23, 2026, at Meta Connect. Meta lists a price of US$1,299.99 and availability in spring 2027. The glasses weigh about 100 grams; a separate puck, clipped to a belt, pocket or bag, holds the battery and processors.[11] The puck uses the Qualcomm Snapdragon Reality Elite chip, which UploadVR described as "essentially an XR2 Gen 3 by a different name," and in UploadVR's words it "runs the same operating system as Quest 3."[53][54]

App compatibility

Meta told developers that the VR Glasses "run on the same operating system as Meta Quest, run the same Store and payment platform, and use the same SDKs," and that "most existing apps should run at parity or better than Quest 3."[12] Its developer page says a single app can target both Meta Quest and Meta VR Glasses, or developers can ship separate builds.[55] Road to VR reported that the whole Quest catalog is available on the device. The glasses do not ship with physical controllers, but they support the optional Touch Plus controllers used by Quest 3 and 3S. For play without controllers, Meta promised more than 75 games and apps optimized for hand gesture input, according to Road to VR.[54] Engadget reported that the glasses will run every game available for Quest headsets with support for Touch Plus controllers, and that titles can also be streamed through Xbox Cloud Gaming.[56]

Input, Muse and the surface keyboard

The VR Glasses are designed to be used without controllers. Meta's developer page lists eyes, hands and voice as the primary inputs: "Look to target, tap to select and talk to Meta AI with no controllers required."[55] Meta's Connect announcement says wearers "can also ask Meta AI to perform any number of tasks."[11] Muse is what Meta calls "a first-of-a-kind personal AI agent," introduced a few weeks before Connect.[57][11] In its live coverage of the keynote, Engadget reported that the VR Glasses "have Muse directly integrated into the operating system."[58] Meta's own Connect roundup said Muse would come to its AI glasses "in the coming months".[57]

For work use, Meta says the VR Glasses can "turn any flat surface into a keyboard and touchpad."[57] Road to VR noted that this is the Surface Keyboard feature, released on Quest earlier in 2026.[54] During the keynote, Mark Zuckerberg claimed that Meta's CTO had reached 100 words per minute on the VR Glasses' virtual keyboard, according to Engadget.[58] Engadget also reported that the glasses can connect to a Windows PC or Mac and control it with the virtual keyboard and touchpad.[56]

Developer tools

Meta's September 24, 2026 developer recap said the v207 SDKs for Unity, Unreal, Android and Web were already available, so developers could build and test before the hardware ships.[39] The release adds a VR Glasses profile to the Meta XR Simulator and a Gaze Interaction feature in the Interaction SDK, and Meta highlighted the Meta VR CLI, a command-line tool that gives AI coding agents such as Muse Code access to Meta's documentation, device debugging and build tools.[12] Meta also pointed Android developers to the VR Glasses, saying an Android app gets "360 degree screen space" there, and named WebXR and Meta's Immersive Web SDK (IWSDK) for web-based 3D experiences.[12] Meta's developer release notes list version 207.1 of the Meta XR Simulator for Windows on October 14, 2026 and for Mac ARM on October 15, followed on October 16 by alpha builds of a Linux version.[59]

Security and privacy research

Academic researchers have examined the platform's privacy and security. In OVRseen, presented at the 31st USENIX Security Symposium in August 2022, Rahmadi Trimananda, Hieu Le, Hao Cui, Janice Tran Ho, Anastasia Shuba and Athina Markopoulou captured and decrypted the network traffic of popular apps from the official Oculus store and from SideQuest on a Quest 2. They found the ecosystem to be "more centralized and driven by tracking and analytics" rather than by third-party advertising, found exposure of personally identifiable information, device data usable for fingerprinting and VR-specific data, and reported that about 70% of the observed data flows were not properly disclosed in the apps' privacy policies.[60]

In March 2024, Zhuolin Yang, Cathy Yuanchen Li, Arman Bhalla, Ben Y. Zhao and Haitao Zheng described an "immersive hijacking" attack, implemented on Meta Quest headsets, in which a malicious app imitates the entire VR interface so that a user's interactions with apps, services and other users can be recorded and altered.[61] MIT Technology Review reported that the attack relied on the headset's developer mode, which can give an attacker on the same Wi-Fi network access to the headset; only 10 of the study's 27 participants noticed a small glitch when the attack began. A Meta spokesperson said the company planned to review the findings.[62]

References

  1. ↑ 1.00 1.01 1.02 1.03 1.04 1.05 1.06 1.07 1.08 1.09 1.10 1.11 1.12 "Introducing Our Open Mixed Reality Ecosystem". About Meta. 2024-04-22. https://about.fb.com/news/2024/04/introducing-our-open-mixed-reality-ecosystem/. Retrieved 2026-06-15.
  2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 2.4 "Meta opens Quest OS to third-party headset makers, taps Lenovo and Xbox as partners". TechCrunch. 2024-04-22. https://techcrunch.com/2024/04/22/meta-opens-quest-os-to-third-party-headset-makers-taps-lenovo-and-xbox-as-partners/. Retrieved 2026-06-15.
  3. ↑ 3.00 3.01 3.02 3.03 3.04 3.05 3.06 3.07 3.08 3.09 3.10 3.11 3.12 3.13 3.14 3.15 3.16 3.17 3.18 3.19 3.20 3.21 3.22 3.23 3.24 3.25 "Meta Quest release notes". Meta Quest Help. Meta Platforms. https://www.meta.com/help/quest/172903867975450/. Retrieved 2026-10-14.
  4. ↑ 4.0 4.1 4.2 MetaStoreHelp (2026-09-29). "v2.9 PTC Release Thread". Meta Community Forums. Meta Platforms. https://communityforums.atmeta.com/blog/AnnouncementsBlog/v2-9-ptc-release-thread/1384486. Retrieved 2026-10-14.
  5. ↑ 5.0 5.1 Oculus VR (2014-11-12). "Oculus Mobile SDK Now Available". Meta Quest Blog. Meta Platforms. https://www.meta.com/blog/quest/oculus-mobile-sdk-now-available. Retrieved 2026-10-17.
  6. ↑ 6.0 6.1 "Introducing Oculus Go". Meta Horizon OS Developers. Meta Platforms. 2017-10-11. https://developers.meta.com/horizon/blog/introducing-oculus-go/. Retrieved 2026-10-17.
  7. ↑ 7.0 7.1 "Everything You Need to Know To Develop for Oculus Go". Meta Horizon OS Developers. Meta Platforms. 2018-04-20. https://developers.meta.com/horizon/blog/everything-you-need-to-know-to-develop-for-oculus-go/. Retrieved 2026-10-17.
  8. ↑ 8.0 8.1 "Game On: Oculus Quest and Rift S Pre-Orders Are LIVE! Shipping Begins May 21". Meta Quest Blog. Meta Platforms. 2019-04-30. https://www.meta.com/blog/game-on-oculus-quest-and-rift-s-pre-orders-are-live-shipping-begins-may-21/. Retrieved 2026-10-17.
  9. ↑ 9.0 9.1 9.2 9.3 9.4 9.5 9.6 "Meta hits the brakes on third-party Horizon OS headsets, opening doors for Android XR". 9to5Google. 2025-12-18. https://9to5google.com/2025/12/18/meta-third-party-horizon-os-headsets-android-xr/. Retrieved 2026-06-15.
  10. ↑ 10.0 10.1 10.2 "Meta is pausing its dream of sharing Quest's Horizon OS with third-party headset makers". TechCrunch. 2025-12-17. https://techcrunch.com/2025/12/17/meta-is-pausing-its-dream-of-sharing-quests-horizon-os-with-third-party-headset-makers. Retrieved 2026-06-15.
  11. ↑ 11.0 11.1 11.2 11.3 11.4 "Everything We Announced at Meta Connect 2026". Meta Blog. Meta Platforms. 2026-09-23. https://www.meta.com/blog/meta-connect-2026-everything-we-announced/. Retrieved 2026-09-25.
  12. ↑ 12.0 12.1 12.2 12.3 12.4 12.5 "VR is Expanding. Start Building for Meta VR Glasses Today.". Meta Horizon OS Developers. Meta Platforms. 2026-09-24. https://developers.meta.com/blog/meta-connect-recap-start-building-the-future-of-vr/. Retrieved 2026-09-25.
  13. ↑ 13.0 13.1 13.2 13.3 Tomislav Bezmalinović (2026-02-13). "Meta Quest embarks on a new beginning with "Horizon OS 2"". heise online. https://www.heise.de/en/news/Meta-Quest-embarks-on-a-new-beginning-with-Horizon-OS-2-11175109.html. Retrieved 2026-09-25.
  14. ↑ 14.0 14.1 14.2 David Heaney (2026-06-08). "Meta's New 'Navigator' System UI Finally Rolled Out To All Quest Headsets". UploadVR. https://www.uploadvr.com/meta-horizon-os-navigator-ui-finally-rolled-out-to-all-quest-headsets/. Retrieved 2026-09-25.
  15. ↑ 15.0 15.1 "Horizon OS features overview". Meta Horizon OS Developers. 2026-01-15. https://developers.meta.com/horizon/documentation/android-apps/features-overview/. Retrieved 2026-06-15.
  16. ↑ 16.0 16.1 "Meta Quest v50 Update: 'Tap' and 'Swipe' Through the Home UI With New Direct Touch Feature, Plus In-Game Multitasking and More". Meta Quest Blog. Meta Platforms. 2023-02-21. https://www.meta.com/blog/quest/meta-quest-v50-direct-touch-in-game-multitasking. Retrieved 2026-10-17.
  17. ↑ 17.0 17.1 David Heaney (2025-02-18). "Quest v74 Brings Web Shortcuts, DisplayPort Out, Improved Casting & More". UploadVR. https://www.uploadvr.com/meta-quest-v74-update/. Retrieved 2026-10-17.
  18. ↑ "Hand Tracking SDK for Oculus Quest Available with v12 Release". Meta Horizon OS Developers. Meta Platforms. 2019-12-09. https://developers.meta.com/horizon/blog/hand-tracking-sdk-for-oculus-quest-available/. Retrieved 2026-10-17.
  19. ↑ "Meta Quest v60 Update: New Horizon Home Environments, Boundary Improvements, and More". Meta Quest Blog. Meta Platforms. 2023-12-04. https://www.meta.com/blog/quest/v60-software-update-new-horizon-home-environments-boundary-improvements. Retrieved 2026-10-17.
  20. ↑ "Meta Quest v67 Update: Movable Panels for Multitasking and Creators Come to Horizon Feed". Meta Quest Blog. Meta Platforms. 2024-07-03. https://www.meta.com/blog/quest/meta-quest-v67-update-new-window-layout-creator-content-horizon-feed. Retrieved 2026-10-17.
  21. ↑ "Meta Quest build v69 release notes". Meta Community Forums. Meta Platforms. 2024-09-07. https://communityforums.atmeta.com/blog/AnnouncementsBlog/meta-quest-build-v69-release-notes/1237980. Retrieved 2026-10-17.
  22. ↑ David Heaney (2025-04-09). "Quest v76 Adds Live Captions & No Longer Lets You Uninstall Horizon Worlds". UploadVR. https://www.uploadvr.com/quest-v76-no-longer-lets-you-uninstall-horizon-worlds/. Retrieved 2026-10-17.
  23. ↑ Scott Hayden (2025-10-29). "Horizon OS Update Brings Rebuilt Home, Windows 11 Link & Closer 'Horizon Worlds' Integration". Road to VR. https://roadtovr.com/meta-horizon-os-v81-release-quest-3/. Retrieved 2026-10-17.
  24. ↑ David Heaney (2025-11-26). "Horizon OS v83 Brings System Positional TimeWarp & Temporal Dimming". UploadVR. https://www.uploadvr.com/quest-horizon-os-v83-system-positional-timewarp-temporal-dimming/. Retrieved 2026-10-17.
  25. ↑ 26.0 26.1 David Heaney (2025-09-21). "Meta Connect 2025 Roundup: Everything Announced, And What We Tested". UploadVR. https://www.uploadvr.com/meta-connect-2025-roundup/. Retrieved 2026-10-17.
  26. ↑ Tomislav Bezmalinovic (2022-10-25). "Meta Quest Pro: What the new eye and face tracking can do". MIXED. https://mixed-news.com/en/meta-quest-pro-what-the-new-eye-and-face-tracking-can-do/. Retrieved 2026-10-17.
  27. ↑ "Guardian System (Deprecated)". Meta Horizon OS Developers. Meta Platforms. 2022-09-29. https://developers.meta.com/horizon/documentation/native/android/mobile-guardian/. Retrieved 2026-10-17.
  28. ↑ Scott Hayden (2025-03-18). "Meta Releases Quest Camera Access for Developers, Promising Even More Immersive MR Games". Road to VR. https://roadtovr.com/?p=172786. Retrieved 2026-10-17.
  29. ↑ David Heaney (2025-04-30). "Quest's Passthrough Camera API Can Now Be Used In Store Apps". UploadVR. https://www.uploadvr.com/quest-passthrough-camera-api-now-shippable-on-store/. Retrieved 2026-10-17.
  30. ↑ "Passthrough camera". Meta Horizon OS Developers. Meta Platforms. 2026-09-08. https://developers.meta.com/horizon/documentation/android-apps/passthrough-camera. Retrieved 2026-10-17.
  31. ↑ "Meta Horizon Apps Must Target Android 14 Starting March 1". Meta Horizon OS Developers. Meta Platforms. 2025-11-24. https://developers.meta.com/horizon/blog/meta-quest-apps-android-14-march-1. Retrieved 2026-10-17.
  32. ↑ 33.0 33.1 33.2 33.3 Chris Steven (2026-10-05). "Quest 3 and 3S get a QR code scanner you can open by voice, in the test channel". MIXED. https://mixed-news.com/en/quest-3-3s-qr-code-scanner-voice-horizon-os-2-9-test-channel/. Retrieved 2026-10-14.
  33. ↑ "A More Open Ecosystem For Developers". Meta Horizon OS Developers. Meta Platforms. 2024-04-22. https://developers.meta.com/horizon/blog/a-more-open-ecosystem-for-developers/. Retrieved 2026-09-25.
  34. ↑ Tomislav Bezmalinovic (2024-05-14). "The App Lab finally arrives on the Quest Store". MIXED. https://mixed-news.com/en/?p=24089. Retrieved 2026-10-17.
  35. ↑ Tomislav Bezmalinovic (2024-07-08). "Meta is phasing out App Lab next month". MIXED. https://mixed-news.com/en/app-lab-phase-out/. Retrieved 2026-10-17.
  36. ↑ "Meta pushes Google to bring the Play Store to Quest's 'Horizon OS' ahead of expansion". 9to5Google. 2024-04-22. https://9to5google.com/2024/04/22/meta-quest-horizon-os-google-play-store/. Retrieved 2026-06-15.
  37. ↑ 38.0 38.1 "Unveiling the Limited Edition Meta Quest 3S Xbox Edition". Xbox Wire. 2025-06-24. https://news.xbox.com/en-us/2025/06/24/meta-quest-3s-xbox-edition/. Retrieved 2026-06-15.
  38. ↑ 39.0 39.1 "Meta Connect 2026: The end-to-end recap". Meta Horizon OS Developers. Meta Platforms. 2026-09-24. https://developers.meta.com/blog/meta-connect-recap/. Retrieved 2026-09-25.
  39. ↑ 40.0 40.1 40.2 40.3 Luna (2026-09-01). "Quest 3 Gets Up To 240 Hz Refresh Rate & Gamepad Emulation". UploadVR. https://www.uploadvr.com/qhorizon-os-2-7-adds-gamepad-emulation-and-207-hz-display-mode-240-hz-in-dev-mode/. Retrieved 2026-09-25.
  40. ↑ 41.0 41.1 Tomislav Bezmalinovic (2023-01-10). "Meta heralds end of original Oculus Quest". MIXED. https://mixed-news.com/en/meta-heralds-end-of-original-oculus-quest/. Retrieved 2026-10-14.
  41. ↑ 42.0 42.1 42.2 42.3 David Heaney (2026-01-30). "Quest 3 v85 PTC Can Turn Any Surface Into A Virtual Keyboard". UploadVR. https://www.uploadvr.com/quest-3-v85-ptc-can-turn-any-surface-into-a-virtual-keyboard/. Retrieved 2026-09-25.
  42. ↑ 43.0 43.1 "Meta VR OS SDK versioning". Meta Horizon OS Developers. Meta Platforms. 2026-09-14. https://developers.meta.com/horizon/documentation/android-apps/horizon-os-sdk-versioning/. Retrieved 2026-09-25.
  43. ↑ "VR Developer April Roundup: Open Tools, Smarter Profiling, and a Predictable Roadmap". Meta Horizon OS Developers. Meta Platforms. 2026-04-24. https://developers.meta.com/horizon/blog/vr-developer-roundup-april/. Retrieved 2026-09-25.
  44. ↑ Alan Truly (2026-05-20). "Quest's Latest PTC Update Brings Hand Tracking Home Locomotion & Custom App Sorting". UploadVR. https://www.uploadvr.com/quest-ptc-update-adds-hand-movement-and-custom-app-sorting/. Retrieved 2026-10-14.
  45. ↑ 46.0 46.1 46.2 46.3 46.4 Scott Hayden (2026-02-04). "Quest Update Brings New 'Surface Keyboard' Feature, UI Changes & More". Road to VR. https://roadtovr.com/questv-85-update-surface-keyboard-ui-change/. Retrieved 2026-09-25.
  46. ↑ MetaStoreHelp (2026-03-17). "Updates to Your Meta Quest Experience in 2026". Meta Community Forums. Meta Platforms. https://communityforums.atmeta.com/announcements-11/updates-to-your-meta-quest-experience-in-2026-176157. Retrieved 2026-10-17.
  47. ↑ David Heaney (2026-03-19). "Meta Backtracks, Will Keep Horizon Worlds VR Support "For Existing Games"". UploadVR. https://www.uploadvr.com/meta-will-keep-horizon-worlds-vr-support-for-existing-games/. Retrieved 2026-10-17.
  48. ↑ 49.0 49.1 49.2 49.3 49.4 49.5 49.6 Luna (2026-10-05). "Quest PTC Overhauls Window Management & Brings Back Classic Home Environments". UploadVR. https://www.uploadvr.com/quests-latest-ptc-overhauls-window-management-brings-back-classic-home-environments/. Retrieved 2026-10-14.
  49. ↑ Craig Storm (2026-09-08). "Quest's Meta Virtual Display Got A New Name, Input Forwarding & Mac Parity". UploadVR. https://www.uploadvr.com/quests-meta-virtual-display-got-a-new-name-input-forwarding-mac-parity/. Retrieved 2026-10-14.
  50. ↑ 51.0 51.1 Chris Steven (2026-09-30). "Horizon OS v2.9 puts three Quest windows side by side, in the test channel first". MIXED. https://mixed-news.com/en/horizon-os-2-9-quest-window-manager-three-windows-public-test-channel/. Retrieved 2026-10-14.
  51. ↑ Luna (2026-10-07). "Meta Is Working On A Virtual Cinema Environment For Quest & VR Glasses". UploadVR. https://www.uploadvr.com/meta-is-working-on-a-virtual-cinema-environment-for-quest-vr-glasses/. Retrieved 2026-10-14.
  52. ↑ David Heaney (2026-09-23). "Meta VR Glasses Officially Announced, Shipping Spring 2027 For $1300". UploadVR. https://www.uploadvr.com/meta-vr-glasses-officially-announced-connect-2026/. Retrieved 2026-09-25.
  53. ↑ 54.0 54.1 54.2 Scott Hayden (2026-09-23). "Meta Announces 'VR Glasses' Next-Gen XR Headset, Priced at $1,300". Road to VR. https://roadtovr.com/meta-vr-glasses-unveiled-price-release-date/. Retrieved 2026-09-25.
  54. ↑ 55.0 55.1 "Start building for Meta VR Glasses". Meta Horizon OS Developers. Meta Platforms. https://developers.meta.com/horizon/discover/meta-vr-glasses/. Retrieved 2026-09-25.
  55. ↑ 56.0 56.1 Kris Holt (2026-09-23). "Everything announced at Meta Connect 2026". Engadget. https://www.engadget.com/2267230/everything-announced-at-meta-connect-2026/. Retrieved 2026-09-25.
  56. ↑ 57.0 57.1 57.2 "The Biggest News From Connect 2026". About Meta. Meta Platforms. 2026-09-24. https://about.fb.com/news/2026/09/the-biggest-news-from-connect-2026/. Retrieved 2026-09-25.
  57. ↑ 58.0 58.1 Cherlynn Low and Karissa Bell (2026-09-23). "Meta Connect 2026 live: Updates from Mark Zuckerberg's keynote on AI glasses, VR and more". Engadget. https://www.engadget.com/2266105/meta-connect-2026-live-blog-ai-vr/. Retrieved 2026-09-25.
  58. ↑ "Release notes". Meta Horizon OS Developers. Meta Platforms. https://developers.meta.com/vr/release-notes/. Retrieved 2026-10-17.
  59. ↑ Rahmadi Trimananda, Hieu Le, Hao Cui, Janice Tran Ho, Anastasia Shuba, Athina Markopoulou (2022-08). "OVRseen: Auditing Network Traffic and Privacy Policies in Oculus VR". 31st USENIX Security Symposium (USENIX Security 22), pp. 3789-3806. USENIX Association. https://www.usenix.org/conference/usenixsecurity22/presentation/trimananda. Retrieved 2026-10-17.
  60. ↑ Zhuolin Yang, Cathy Yuanchen Li, Arman Bhalla, Ben Y. Zhao, Haitao Zheng (2024-03-08). "Inception Attacks: Immersive Hijacking in Virtual Reality Systems". arXiv preprint 2403.05721. https://arxiv.org/abs/2403.05721. Retrieved 2026-10-17.
  61. ↑ Melissa Heikkilä (2024-03-11). "VR headsets can be hacked with an Inception-style attack". MIT Technology Review. https://www.technologyreview.com/2024/03/11/1089686/hack-vr-headsets-inception/. Retrieved 2026-10-17.
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