What's new in Meta VR Glasses

Meta VR Glasses add new features and design requirements for Standard Android apps. These include Look and Pinch, layouts adapted for a higher display density, spatial windows that your app can size and arrange, and expanded desktop tooling.

The core Android development model remains familiar. Your app can continue to use Android activities and interfaces built with Jetpack Compose, Android Views, or React Native. See Get started with Android apps for the complete development journey.

Look and Pinch lets people look at an element to target it, then pinch to select it. For 2D panel apps, Horizon OS handles eye and hand tracking, renders hover feedback, and sends standard touch events to your app. Apps built with standard Android controls support Look and Pinch by default.

The system derives your app’s UI understanding from its view hierarchy and accessibility information, then uses it to render hover effects when people look at interactable elements. If a hover highlight does not match an element’s intended shape or bounds, adjust its hierarchy, click semantics, outline, or clip. Learn how to provide element shape and bounds.

If a custom semantics tree or view hierarchy prevents the system from inferring the intended gaze targets, use the Gaze SDK for Jetpack Compose, React Native, or Android Views to modify the interaction hierarchy and customize gaze targeting and system-provided tooltips.

The Meta VR Layout SDK lets a Standard Android app place additional spatial windows around its primary 2D panel. Your app controls the size and placement of these windows. The Layout SDK works on all Meta VR devices and is not exclusive to Meta VR Glasses.

Use spatial windows for supporting content such as tools, details, and controls that benefit from a separate location. Your app remains available alongside other open apps without converting to a fully immersive experience or replacing its existing activity and UI architecture. The Layout SDK documentation covers framework setup, layout rules, fallback behavior, and design practices.

Meta VR Glasses use a higher display density than current Meta VR headsets, so windows with the same dimensions in dp appear visually larger. Use touch targets of at least 48dp so controls remain reliable gaze targets. Keep information density low and build layouts that reflow across a range of sizes as users resize the app window. See Adapt to window size changes.

For ready-made Jetpack Compose components designed for Horizon OS interaction and visual patterns, see Use the Meta VR UI Set SDK.

Use the Meta VR Android Studio Plugin to bring Meta tools into Android Studio for project setup, running apps, and simulator access. It is the primary IDE entry point for the Standard Android workflow.

For command-line workflows, Meta VR CLI provides Meta-specific tooling for terminals, continuous integration, and AI coding environments. Initialize it to configure supported coding agents with generated skills and MCP access:

metavr init

Meta Spatial Simulator runs Standard Android apps as desktop panels. Its Meta VR Glasses coverage includes the Interactive Elements visualization for gaze targeting. You can also test spatial windows, multiple-window behavior, signed-in journeys, and handoffs to built-in apps. Use it for fast iteration, then verify the final experience on a physical device. Learn more in Test your app on Meta Spatial Simulator.

For a new project, follow Create a new app. If you are bringing a mobile or tablet project to Meta VR devices, start with Make your existing app compatible with Meta VR devices.

Review Look and Pinch behavior first and make the main panel responsive. Then adopt optional SDK capabilities, such as spatial windows or UI Set components, where they strengthen the experience.