Jun 10, 2026

Build Faster, Earn More: How AI Accelerates Android Development for Quest

Through our conversations with mobile developers, we've heard the same friction points repeatedly: getting a project properly configured for Meta Quest takes guesswork, adapting existing apps for VR is tedious manual work, and iterating without a physical headset is painfully slow.

However, if you can build for Android, you can already build for Quest. Horizon OS runs on Android, so you're working with the same languages, frameworks, and tools.

The differences come down to a handful of VR-specific details: how your app's window is sized for a headset display, ensuring hit targets are optimized for hands or controller inputs, and choosing recommended font sizes and iconography.

This is the second entry in our "Build Faster" series. Our first post covered the foundational agentic tooling and workflows. This one is for Android and mobile developers: with our new AI tools, the friction points above disappear, and you can go from idea to a running app on your Quest headset in minutes using skills you already have.

TL;DR

One plugin, full setup: The Meta Horizon Android Studio Plugin bundles Meta VR CLI and Meta Spatial Simulator. One install, zero config, full Quest dev environment.

One-prompt porting: AI handles layout resizing, hit targets, font sizing, and platform API configuration automatically. Port your existing mobile app with a single prompt.

Build new apps in minutes: A pre-configured starter template gives your AI assistant full project context to build Quest apps from day one.

Iterate without a headset: Meta Spatial Simulator (included in the plugin) lets you test on desktop exactly as it would run on Quest, no headset required.

Get Set Up Without the Learning Curve

Learning a new platform typically means days spent in documentation, configuration troubleshooting, and trial-and-error before you write any real code. Android developers exploring Quest face unfamiliar tooling requirements on top of their existing workflow, and it's hard to invest the time to explore upfront when you're unsure where to start.

To eliminate this barrier entirely, we built the Meta Horizon Android Studio Plugin, which makes your development environment Quest-ready in one install. No separate downloads. No manual configuration. It bundles two key tools:

Meta VR CLI connects your AI coding assistant to the Quest platform. You can think of it as a bridge between your IDE and Horizon OS. Once connected, your AI assistant gets direct access to platform documentation (via built-in semantic search), device management, and performance tooling, so it can make informed decisions about your Quest app without you searching for answers manually.

Meta Spatial Simulator is the Quest equivalent of the Android Emulator. Built on a custom Android Virtual Device with Quest-specific optimizations, it runs your app on desktop exactly as it would look and behave on a Quest headset. Instead of loading your project onto a physical device with every change, you iterate on desktop and see results in seconds. Even if you don't have a Quest headset, you can start building today.

That's it for setup. Your AI assistant now has full Quest platform access, and you can test without a headset.

Not using Android Studio? Meta VR CLI is also available for Cursor, Claude Code, Gemini, VS Code, and more via npx -y metavr.

Meta Spatial Simulator running an Android app on desktop

Port Your Existing App with a Single Prompt

Porting a mobile app to VR previously meant hours or days of manual adaptation depending on complexity. You need to resize layouts for a headset display, adjust hit targets for hand and controller input, update font sizes and iconography for readability at VR viewing distances, and configure the right platform APIs.

With the plugin installed, your AI assistant knows how to handle all of these platform-specific adjustments automatically. You describe what your app does. The agent handles what makes it work on Quest.

The hz-android-2d-porting skill (available in our Agentic Tools Repo⁠) guides your AI assistant through compatibility checks and platform-specific optimizations: Gradle configuration, input adaptation, panel layout, and compatibility requirements. The skill includes a compatibility table covering common Android libraries and their Quest equivalents, so your agent knows exactly what needs to change.

Your prompt can be as simple as:

"Port this project to Horizon OS. Optimize the layout for Quest panel dimensions, adjust hit targets for hand input, and configure the manifest for Store on Meta Quest deployment"

The agent reads your project structure, applies the necessary changes, and produces a Quest-ready build. What used to take days of manual adaptation happens in minutes.

Build a New App Without the Platform Ramp-Up

Starting a new Quest app from scratch means learning how the platform expects apps to be structured: correct display sizing, spatial design recommendations, manifest configuration, and input handling patterns. This ramp-up time kills momentum before you've written a line of real app logic.

Our starter template (available via github.com/meta-quest/horizon-android-samples⁠) gives you the right foundation. It's already configured for Quest: correct panel sizing, design recommendations, and platform basics are handled. You skip setup entirely and go straight to building your app logic.

The template also includes embedded instructions for AI coding assistants. If you're using one, it picks up the context of your project automatically and can help you build from there, already knowing how Quest apps should be structured.

See It in Action: A Pomodoro App in less than 10 Minutes

Here's what it actually looks like to build a Quest app from scratch using these tools.

Step 1: Open your AI assistant. With the plugin installed and Meta VR CLI connected, open your AI coding assistant in your preferred editor. That's it for setup.

Step 2: Describe what you want. Type a single prompt:

"Build a Pomodoro timer app. Create a full-screen UI with a 25-minute countdown, a circular progress indicator, and 3 buttons: Start, Pause, and Reset with easy-to-tap buttons, optimized for hand input on Meta Quest"

The agent takes it from there. It scaffolds the project, writes the Pomodoro app code, configures the manifest for Quest, and sets up the correct panel sizing and layout.

Step 3: Open in Android Studio and run. Once the agent finished, we opened the project in Android Studio. From there it's the same workflow any Android developer already knows: hit Play, select your target device (Quest headset via USB, or Meta Spatial Simulator for desktop testing), and deploy.

Full build from scratch of a Pomodoro timer using a single AI prompt

The result: A working Pomodoro timer app, running on Quest, with the right panel sizing and input handling. Total time from prompt to running app: under 10 minutes. No VR experience required or documentation deep-dives.

Developer Story: BeamXR

Building a successful app on a new platform requires more than writing code. You also need to navigate unfamiliar platform APIs, implement billing systems, and manage subscriptions, and these are challenges that consume time and can slow your path to revenue.

BeamXR⁠, whose live streaming app ranks among the top Android apps on the Store on Meta Quest, faced exactly this when scaling their Quest presence. To implement their billing API and subscription system, the team connected AI coding tools to their Quest development workflow through Meta VR CLI's built-in MCP server.

The MCP integration lets developers connect AI assistants like Claude directly to their development environment, giving the agent full context of platform APIs so it can help solve implementation challenges in real time.

The team also adopted the Meta Spatial Simulator as a core part of their iteration workflow, using it daily alongside Meta Quest Developer Hub and the Developer Dashboard. The combination of AI-assisted API navigation and fast desktop iteration became their standard development process, helping them ship updates faster and focus engineering time on their core product rather than platform plumbing.

*This is just a preview. The full BeamXR developer story, including how they grew to one of the top apps on the Store on Meta Quest, will be published as a standalone feature in the coming weeks.

Developers can enable MCP for their own workflow with a single command: npx -y metavr install in cursor (or substitute your preferred AI tool).

What to Do Next

We've seen developers go from a starter app to publishing a title on the Store on Meta Quest in a matter of days. The tooling handles the platform learning curve so you can focus on what makes your app worth using.

Get set up

Download and install the Meta Horizon Android Studio Plugin to get all the tooling in one step.

Port an existing app

Open your AI assistant, describe your mobile app, and port it to Quest with a single prompt. The hz-android-2d-porting skill⁠ handles compatibility and platform-specific adjustments automatically.

Build something new

Use the starter template to begin a new Quest app from scratch: github.com/meta-quest/horizon-android-samples⁠

Go deeper

For an overview of AI tools across all build paths, check out our foundational AI tooling post. Building with Unity? See our Unity-specific guide. Working with WebXR? Check out our IWSDK and agentic workflows guide.

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