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Xreal Nebula

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Xreal Nebula
Information
Type Companion software for AR glasses
Industry Augmented reality
Developer Xreal (formerly Nreal)
Operating System Android, macOS, Windows (beta)
Supported Devices Nreal Light, Xreal Air, Xreal Air 2, Xreal Air 2 Pro, Xreal Air 2 Ultra, Xreal Beam Pro (as NebulaOS)
Release Date January 2020 (unveiled at CES 2020)
Website https://next.xreal.com/support/nebula/


Xreal Nebula (originally Nreal Nebula) is the companion software that Xreal developed for its tethered augmented reality glasses. It began in January 2020 as an Android-based 3D launcher for the Nreal Light, in which ordinary Android apps could be pinned as floating windows in the wearer's surroundings.[1][2] With the Xreal Air line the software became the way to get a head-tracked, three-degree-of-freedom (3DoF) virtual screen from a phone or computer, and it was extended to Apple-silicon Macs in 2022 and to Windows in a beta that followed the 2023 announcement.[3][4]

The role of Nebula has shrunk since December 2024. The Xreal One and Xreal One Pro carry an X1 co-processor that performs 3DoF screen anchoring, an ultrawide mode and a side view inside the glasses, so functions that earlier glasses needed Nebula for are handled on the device.[5][6] Two days after the One series announcement, Xreal's developer release notes stated that the Android Nebula app "will no longer be maintained" and pointed phone-based developers to a separate ControlGlasses app.[7] Nebula continues in two forms: as NebulaOS, the Android 14 based system on the Xreal Beam Pro handheld, which received a 2.0 update in March 2026, and as the Nebula desktop apps for Mac and PC, for which Xreal announced a rebuilt public beta for X1 glasses in June 2025.[8][9]

Reviewed 20 September 2026. Nebula release history, platform support, version and feature claims, X1 and NebulaOS statements, and every citation checked against its source. About review dates.

History

Nebula for Android (2020 to 2022)

Nreal unveiled Nebula on the evening of 6 January 2020, hours before CES 2020 opened in Las Vegas, as an Android-based system for the Nreal Light.[2] Nreal said that users could run their existing Android apps as 2D panels placed in real space, keep several open at once, and have the system remember where each app was left when they re-entered a room. UploadVR reported that the tethered phone acted as a rotational laser pointer, that optional FinchShift controllers offered six-degree-of-freedom input, and that Nebula did not support occlusion, so virtual objects were drawn on top of real ones rather than behind them.[1] Compatible hosts at the time were Android phones with the Qualcomm Snapdragon 855, with a separate Nreal compute pack offered for iPhone users.[1] Next Reality noted a partnership with 6D.ai for AR cloud features, support for Finch controllers and Black Shark gaming kits, and a planned consumer price of US$499 for the glasses.[2]

Before the first consumer launch, the launcher's interface was redone. VentureBeat reported in August 2020 that the "3D Nebula app launcher" had "undergone a radical update" to make it more familiar to smartphone users, and that "several hundred major apps" including TikTok, Facebook, Instagram, Chrome and Kakao Talk would work at launch. Nreal Light went on sale in South Korea through the carrier LG Uplus on 21 August 2020 at 699,000 won, or 349,000 won when bundled with a 5G plan.[10]

The 2022 Nreal Air, a lighter pair of glasses without the Light's tracking cameras, made Nebula the gateway to its AR features. Tech Advisor's review of May 2022 explained that the glasses' MR Space mode "needs the Nebula app for Android to function", while the simpler Air Casting mode mirrored the phone screen.[11] Pocket-lint described MR Space as a set of resizable virtual windows arranged around the wearer, driven by the phone acting as a pointer, and Air Casting as a roughly 130-inch virtual screen about 4 metres away used for services such as Xbox Cloud Gaming and Netflix.[12]

On 27 September 2022 Nreal put the Nreal Air on sale in the United States at US$379 and announced a redesigned Nebula. Auganix reported a new AR Space with a borderless curved-wall layout, animated 3D icons, a widget feature for recommended content, and a Spatial Browser with a horizontal multi-window mode and a vertical mode for scrolling websites.[13] An HDMI-to-Lightning adapter brought iPhones into the ecosystem, but Tom's Hardware noted that iPhone users got only screen mirroring, without access to the Nebula interface.[3]

Nebula for Mac and Windows (2022 to 2024)

The same September 2022 announcement introduced Nebula for Mac. Nreal said it would run on MacBook Pro and MacBook Air models with Apple silicon and would open an "AR Desktop" that projects several virtual displays in front of the user.[13] Tom's Hardware reported that compatibility was limited to M1 and M2 Macs, with no date given for Intel machines.[3] Nreal posted a download link for Nebula for Mac on 17 November 2022.[14] XDA Developers, reviewing the Air in October 2022, wrote that the Mac beta behaved differently from the Android app: instead of a floating custom interface it mirrored the MacBook screen and added two extended screens beside it, and it showed a "jelly effect" when the head panned quickly.[15]

Nreal announced Nebula for Windows at the Game Developers Conference in March 2023. Pocketnow reported that it would give Nreal Air owners a curved 21:9 virtual gaming display with 3DoF tracking, and that a company survey found 68 percent of Nreal Air users bought the glasses for gaming, including 36 percent who used them with a Steam Deck.[16]

When Nreal renamed itself Xreal on 25 May 2023, it also relabelled the 3DoF screen feature "Xreal Spatial Display" and set out the software plan. Auganix reported that Nebula, until then available only on Android and on M1/M2 Macs, would get a Windows beta requiring a discrete GPU and a SteamOS build so a Steam Deck could drive the glasses directly, while the Mac app supported three virtual screens.[4] GSMArena added that the Windows build was meant to cover handheld PCs such as the Asus ROG Ally.[17] The rebrand also introduced the Xreal Beam, a battery-powered adapter that produced the Spatial Display effect from any HDMI or wireless video source, which meant consoles and iPhones no longer needed Nebula on the host to get a fixed virtual screen.[18]

A July 2023 update to Nebula for Mac let the app create three virtual displays (one mirroring the MacBook and two extended), each adjustable between 45 and 154 inches and placed from 1.5 to 9 metres away, in portrait or landscape, plus a virtual cinema mode with one large screen for films. GSMArena noted at the time that "a Nebula for Windows app is in the works too".[19] Tom's Guide, testing the Xreal Air 2 with the Mac app in November 2023, wrote that an Xreal representative had confirmed the Windows version would not be limited to the three-display layout and would also offer a single ultrawide monitor.[20] By January 2024 Digital Trends described Nebula as available for Mac, Windows and Android, limited to 3DoF on the Air 2 and able to show up to three stationary displays.[21]

NebulaOS, the X1 chip and the end of the phone app (2024 to 2026)

In June 2024 Xreal launched the Beam Pro, an Android handheld built to drive its glasses. Its press release described NebulaOS as a spatial interface built on Android 14 that can place up to two apps side by side, offers a 3DoF environment with the Air, Air 2 and Air 2 Pro and a 6DoF environment with the Xreal Air 2 Ultra, and includes Body Anchor and Smooth Follow modes. The device started at US$199.[22]

On 4 December 2024 Xreal announced the One series with the X1 chip, an in-house co-processor that performs 3DoF spatial computing inside the glasses with about 3 ms motion-to-photon latency at 120 Hz. The glasses offer Follow, Anchor, Ultra Wide (32:9) and Side View modes on their own. The press release mentioned Nebula only in the company background, as the "in-house developed 3D Nebula platform" that had accompanied the Air series.[5] Tom's Guide's review of the Xreal One described the change: "Many of the things you had to do through software (such as the ultrawide monitor support using Xreal's Nebula app) are now handled entirely on the device itself."[6] GamingTrend made the same point in 2025, noting that "previous generations required the Nebula app installed on a phone or tablet".[23]

The Android app was retired for developers at the same time. The NRSDK 2.4.0 release note of 6 December 2024 states: "Nebula will no longer be maintained. For developers who wish to continue developing with Android phones, we provide Control Glasses as a server to perform OTA updates and launch 3D applications on XREAL glasses." Phone compatibility testing was narrowed to Samsung flagship models, initially the Galaxy S24.[7] The XREAL SDK 3.0.0 note of 20 March 2025 repeated the notice, required ControlGlasses 1.1.0 on Android phones, and told Beam Pro users to ignore it.[24]

Digital Trends' review of the Xreal One in January 2025 listed incompatibility with the "legacy Nebula app" among its drawbacks and said that the new design and the X1 chip did not support Xreal's Nebula desktop or mobile apps.[25] The desktop apps stayed in beta. TechRadar's April 2025 review of the Xreal One said the Mac app was "still in beta" and that the Windows beta had to be found through Reddit rather than Xreal's own site.[26] On 24 June 2025 Xreal posted that "a completely revamped public beta version of Nebula is launching this month" for PC and Mac, "specifically optimized for our X1-powered glasses like the One Pro" and using the chip's onboard processing. The same post drew a line for the future: the X1 would provide screen mirroring and "simple 3DoF anchoring" on PC, Mac and iOS, while "true spatial computing" with multi-window and AI features would be pursued on Google's Android XR platform rather than in Nebula.[9] In March 2026 Xreal shipped nebulaOS 2.0 for the Beam Pro, with a redesigned spatial launcher using 3D icons, a reworked control center, a "Broad View" tablet mode, three-level content scaling, side-by-side 3D playback in streaming apps and browsers, and improved screen recording.[8]

Features

Nebula's feature set differs by platform, because the phone app, the desktop apps and the Beam Pro system were built separately.

Platform What it does Source
Android (Nebula app) Custom 3D launcher; Android apps open as resizable floating windows in AR Space (earlier MR Space); phone used as a pointer and trackpad; Air Casting mirrors the phone to a large 3DoF virtual screen; Android app for Nreal Light and Nreal Air owners [12][15][11]
macOS (Nebula for Mac, beta) AR Desktop: one mirrored display plus up to two extended displays, 45 to 154 inches, 1.5 to 9 m away, portrait or landscape, fixed in space with 3DoF; virtual cinema mode; Apple-silicon Macs at launch [19][3]
Windows (Nebula for Windows, beta) Curved 21:9 or ultrawide virtual monitor with 3DoF for gaming and desktop use; announced for PCs with discrete GPUs [16][4][20]
Xreal Beam Pro (NebulaOS) Android 14 system with a spatial canvas for two side-by-side apps, Body Anchor and Smooth Follow modes, 3DoF with Air-series glasses and 6DoF with the Air 2 Ultra; nebulaOS 2.0 added a 3D-icon launcher, Broad View mode and side-by-side 3D playback [22][8]

The 3DoF behaviour is the common thread. Pocket-lint summarised it as the ability to "move your head to look around the virtual space, without the screen moving with you"; before the Beam, that behaviour required Nebula on an Android phone or a Mac.[18][4]

Supported devices

Glasses Nebula support Source
Nreal Light Original Nebula host; the launcher, AR cloud and controller features were designed around its 6DoF cameras [1][2]
Xreal Air (Nreal Air) Nebula for Android (MR Space / AR Space and Air Casting), Nebula for Mac and Nebula for Windows [11][19][16]
Xreal Air 2 and Xreal Air 2 Pro Nebula for Mac and Windows with up to three 3DoF displays; NebulaOS on Beam Pro in 3DoF [20][21][22]
Xreal Air 2 Ultra NebulaOS on Beam Pro in 6DoF [22]
Xreal One and Xreal One Pro Anchoring, ultrawide and side view run on the X1 chip without Nebula; a rebuilt Nebula PC/Mac beta for X1 glasses was announced in June 2025 [5][6][9]

Host requirements have narrowed over time. The 2020 Android app needed a Snapdragon 855 phone,[1] the 2022 Mac app needed Apple silicon,[3] and after December 2024 Xreal tested phone compatibility only against Samsung flagships and steered Android users toward the Beam Pro or the ControlGlasses app.[7][24]

Reception

Reviewers of the Nreal Air rated the Air Casting style virtual screen above the windowed AR interface. Pocket-lint called the Nebula app "the weakest link in the whole system", finding MR Space "a bit fiddly" and "a half-baked solution" while returning repeatedly to Air Casting for video and cloud gaming on the move.[12] Tech Advisor found MR Space "visually impressive" but limited by a lack of dedicated apps.[11] XDA Developers considered the Android mapping of windows to the room gimmicky and turned it off, but said it would use the Mac app for laptop work if the beta's stability improved.[15]

The desktop apps drew praise for the idea and criticism for their beta status. Tom's Guide in 2023 described the Mac setup as viable for replacing a monitor,[20] while TechRadar in 2025 still wished the Mac app were out of beta and the Windows beta easier to obtain.[26] Reviews of the Xreal One treated the move of Nebula's functions into the X1 chip as an improvement: Tom's Guide listed the on-device ultrawide mode among the reasons the One felt like a generational step,[6] and Digital Trends' review of the same glasses preferred the built-in ultrawide mode to Nebula's three-window layout.[25]

References

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 David Heaney (2020-01-06). "CES 2020: Nreal's AR Glasses Promise To Pin Android Apps In Your Room". UploadVR. https://www.uploadvr.com/nreal-lite-nebula-ces-2020/. Retrieved 2026-09-20.
  2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 Tommy Palladino (2020-01-06). "Nreal Light Intros Nebula for Augmented Reality Interfaces on Android Apps, AR Cloud & 6DoF Controllers". Next Reality. https://next.reality.news/news/nreal-light-intros-nebula-for-augmented-reality-interfaces-android-apps-ar-cloud-6dof-controllers-0222455/. Retrieved 2026-09-20.
  3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 3.3 3.4 Brandon Hill (2022-09-27). "Nreal Launches $379 Air AR Glasses, Adds Support for iOS and macOS". Tom's Hardware. https://www.tomshardware.com/news/nreal-air-ar-glasses-macos-iphone-nebula. Retrieved 2026-09-20.
  4. ↑ 4.0 4.1 4.2 4.3 Sam Sprigg (2023-05-25). "Nreal rebrands as XREAL, announces new hardware and software". Auganix. https://www.auganix.org/ar-news-nreal-rebrands-as-xreal-announces-xreal-spatial-display-technology-and-xreal-beam/. Retrieved 2026-09-20.
  5. ↑ 5.0 5.1 5.2 "XREAL One Series Launch Global Press Release". XREAL US Shop. Xreal. 2024-12-04. https://us.shop.xreal.com/blogs/news/xreal-one-series-launch-global-press-release. Retrieved 2026-09-20.
  6. ↑ 6.0 6.1 6.2 6.3 Jason England (2024-12-13). "I tested the Xreal One AR Glasses - here's why they're a spatial computing game changer". Tom's Guide. https://www.tomsguide.com/computing/vr-ar/xreal-one-ar-glasses-review. Retrieved 2026-09-20.
  7. ↑ 7.0 7.1 7.2 "NRSDK 2.4.0". XREAL SDK documentation. Xreal. 2024-12-06. https://docs.xreal.com/2.4.1/Release%20Note/NRSDK%202.4.0. Retrieved 2026-09-20.
  8. ↑ 8.0 8.1 8.2 Nickolas Diaz (2026-03-24). "Xreal's nebulaOS 2.0 update for the Beam Pro is crucial - this is what the huge patch brings". Android Central. https://www.androidcentral.com/gaming/virtual-reality/xreals-nebulaos-2-0-update-for-the-beam-pro-is-crucial-this-is-what-the-huge-patch-brings. Retrieved 2026-09-20.
  9. ↑ 9.0 9.1 9.2 XREAL (2025-06-24). "2/ Enhanced Nebula for PC/Mac and Spatial Computing Focus on Android XR". X. Xreal. https://x.com/XREAL_Global/status/1937582173542097362. Retrieved 2026-09-20.
  10. ↑ Jeremy Horwitz (2020-08-10). "Nreal Light AR glasses add VR lenses, launch August 21 in South Korea". VentureBeat. https://venturebeat.com/business/nreal-light-ar-glasses-add-vr-lenses-launch-august-21-in-south-korea/. Retrieved 2026-09-20.
  11. ↑ 11.0 11.1 11.2 11.3 Lewis Painter (2022-05-25). "Nreal Air AR Glasses Review: A Look at the Future". Tech Advisor. https://www.techadvisor.com/article/723317/nreal-air-review.html. Retrieved 2026-09-20.
  12. ↑ 12.0 12.1 12.2 Chris Hall (2022-11-07). "Nreal Air review: The closest you'll get to a 'normal' AR glasses experience". Pocket-lint. https://www.pocket-lint.com/ar-vr/reviews/ee/161086-nreal-air-review-vr-ar-mr-glasses/. Retrieved 2026-09-20.
  13. ↑ 13.0 13.1 Sam Sprigg (2022-09-28). "Nreal announces US launch of Nreal Air & major Nebula upgrade". Auganix. https://www.auganix.org/nreal-announces-us-launch-of-nreal-air-iphone-adapter-and-major-nebula-upgrade/. Retrieved 2026-09-20.
  14. ↑ Nreal (2022-11-17). "Rethink your desktop space with #Nebula for Mac". X. Nreal. https://x.com/XREAL_Global/status/1593245772698394624. Retrieved 2026-09-20.
  15. ↑ 15.0 15.1 15.2 Ben Sin (2022-10-02). "Nreal Air Review: Virtual Mac desktop is enticing, but it's best used as a wearable large screen". XDA Developers. https://www.xda-developers.com/nreal-air-review/. Retrieved 2026-09-20.
  16. ↑ 16.0 16.1 16.2 Roland Udvarlaki (2023-03-22). "Nreal announces Nebula for Windows to enhance gaming experience". Pocketnow. https://pocketnow.com/nreal-announces-nebula-for-windows/. Retrieved 2026-09-20.
  17. ↑ "Nreal changes name to Xreal, launches new Spatial Display and screen casting gadget". GSMArena. 2023-05-25. https://www.gsmarena.com/nreal_changes_name_to_xreal_launches_new_spatial_display_and_screen_casting_gadget-news-58670.php. Retrieved 2026-09-20.
  18. ↑ 18.0 18.1 Chris Hall (2023-05-25). "The Xreal Beam adapter just supercharged the Nreal Air AR glasses experience". Pocket-lint. https://www.pocket-lint.com/xreal-beam-adapter-xreal-air-ar-glasses/. Retrieved 2026-09-20.
  19. ↑ 19.0 19.1 19.2 "Xreal updates its Nebula for Mac app with virtual display and virtual cinema support". GSMArena. 2023-07-06. https://www.gsmarena.com/xreal_updates_its_nebula_for_mac_app_with_virtual_display_and_virtual_cinema_support-news-59096.php. Retrieved 2026-09-20.
  20. ↑ 20.0 20.1 20.2 20.3 Jason England (2023-11-09). "I replaced my monitor and TV with these AR glasses - here's what happened". Tom's Guide. https://www.tomsguide.com/features/i-replaced-my-monitor-and-tv-with-these-ar-glasses-heres-what-happened. Retrieved 2026-09-20.
  21. ↑ 21.0 21.1 Alan Truly (2024-01-07). "Xreal brings spatial computing to a pair of glasses for a fraction of the cost of Vision Pro". Digital Trends (via Yahoo Tech). https://tech.yahoo.com/computing/articles/xreal-brings-spatial-computing-pair-140036634.html. Retrieved 2026-09-20.
  22. ↑ 22.0 22.1 22.2 22.3 "Connecting Millions of Apps to Your AR Glasses, XREAL Launches XREAL Beam Pro Mobile Device Globally at AWE 2024". PR Newswire. Xreal. 2024-06-18. https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/connecting-millions-of-apps-to-your-ar-glasses-xreal-launches-xreal-beam-pro-mobile-device-globally-at-awe-2024-302175517.html. Retrieved 2026-09-20.
  23. ↑ Ron Burke (2025-07-25). "XREAL One AR glasses review - Second screen sorcery". GamingTrend. https://gamingtrend.com/reviews/xreal-one-ar-glasses-review-second-screen-sorcery/. Retrieved 2026-09-20.
  24. ↑ 24.0 24.1 "XREAL SDK 3.0.0". XREAL SDK documentation. Xreal. 2025-03-20. https://docs.xreal.com/Release%20Note/XREAL%20SDK%203.0.0. Retrieved 2026-09-20.
  25. ↑ 25.0 25.1 Alan Truly (2025-01-22). "Xreal One review: smart glasses that could actually replace my monitor". Digital Trends. https://www.digitaltrends.com/computing/xreal-one-review/. Retrieved 2026-09-20.
  26. ↑ 26.0 26.1 Hamish Hector (2025-04-06). "Xreal One review: top-notch AR smart glasses that come at a price". TechRadar. https://www.techradar.com/computing/virtual-reality-augmented-reality/xreal-one-review-top-notch-ar-smart-glasses-that-come-at-a-price. Retrieved 2026-09-20.
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