Design

Hands safety best practices

Updated: Sep 4, 2026

Overview

This document provides some best practices when building for gaze and hands-based interactions in an experience. It is important to note not just the tracking volume but also the interplay with how the display field of view leads to certain user behavior and dynamics.

Best practices

Direct interaction is going to occur when the hands are within the field of view (FoV). This means that for devices with a smaller FoV, typically the neck is bent more, tilting the head towards the hands or the arms are raised to a non-neutral position where the hands are drawn up further in front.
  • Prolonged or repetitive movements in this manner may strain or fatigue a user.
  • Consider how your existing or new game play may need to be modified to account for additional neck and shoulder adjustments to smaller FoV displays.
When considering defining custom mechanics built on established ISDK patterns a similar consideration of repetitiveness, duration, and speed of the movement should be considered, especially for movement that may require either greater tilting of the head or higher raising of the hand(s) up in front of the face.
  • Ask whether a user can do this comfortably if repeated frequently within a typical session length and also over multi-day sessions.

Next steps

For more health and safety guidelines, see the following:
For design guidance on hands as an input modality, see Hands best practices.