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XR Plugin Management for Meta Quest

Updated: Apr 8, 2025
Unity supports XR development on a variety of platforms with the Unity XR Plugin Management system.
The following provider plugins support Meta Quest devices:
  • Unity OpenXR Plugin (recommended)
    • Recommended Version: 1.15.1
    • Requires Unity 6 or later, Meta XR SDKs v74 or later.
  • Oculus XR Plugin (legacy)
    • Recommended Version: 4.5.1
    • Requires Unity 2022 or later, Meta XR SDKs v73 or earlier.
Note: New platform features will not be added to the Oculus XR Plugin, and features released in Meta XR SDK versions v74+ might not be compatible with the Oculus XR Plugin. The Unity OpenXR Plugin is the recommended provider plugin going forward. If you are developing with SDKs on v74+, use Unity 6+ with the Unity OpenXR Plugin instead.
If you're new to Unity development on Quest, check out the Hello World guide to create your first VR app.

Unity OpenXR Plugin

The Unity OpenXR Plugin aims to unify various OpenXR backends.
Using the Unity OpenXR Plugin comes with the following limitations:
  • Depth API is not supported in Unity versions prior to 6 and Meta XR Core SDK versions prior to v74.
  • Depth API occlusion features require using the Unity OpenXR Meta plugin extension (com.unity.xr.meta-openxr@2.1.0) and Unity version 6 or later. For details, see Unity OpenXR Meta: plugin extension.
  • Prior to OpenXR version 1.9, setting the tracking origin STAGE requires a recenter before the world origin is updated.

Install the Unity OpenXR Plugin

All new projects should install the Unity OpenXR Plugin to get the benefit of all of the latest features and optimizations.
To install the OpenXR provider plugin:
  1. Open any 3D project in the Unity Editor 2022.3.15f1 or later (6.1 or later recommended)
  2. From the top menu of the Unity Editor, navigate to Edit > Project Settings to open the Project Settings window.
  3. Select XR Plug-in Management in the Project Settings window.
  4. If XR Plugin Management is not installed, select Install XR Plugin Management.
  5. In the Windows, Mac, Linux settings tab, select OpenXR.
  6. In the Android, Meta Quest settings tab, select OpenXR.
  7. Close the Project Settings window.
  8. From the top menu of the Unity Editor, navigate to Window > Package Management > Package Manager to open the Unity Package Manager window.
  9. On the left-hand navigation menu, make sure In Project is highlighted. Underneath Search in Project, expand the Packages - Unity dropdown.
  10. In the list of packages in the left menu, verify that there is a check mark beside the Unity OpenXR Plugin, indicating that the package is installed.
Note: Installing an XR plugin does not download and import the Meta XR SDKs in to your project. Make sure you add the Meta XR SDKs you need from the Unity Asset Store.
For more information on how to setup the OpenXR Plugin, see the Unity OpenXR Plugin Settings documentation.

Unity OpenXR Meta plugin extension

By itself, the Unity OpenXR Plugin does not support Depth API occlusion features. To integrate occlusion into a project built on the Unity OpenXR Plugin, you must use the Unity OpenXR Meta plugin extension (com.unity.xr.meta-openxr@2.1.0).
To install the plugin extension:
  1. Open the Package Manager in Unity 6.
  2. Select Unity Registry
  3. Search for Unity Open XR Meta Package
    Install Unity Open XR Meta package
Note: This action will install ARFoundation and OpenXR packages as dependencies into your project.

Oculus XR Plugin

Note: New platform features will not be added to the Oculus XR Plugin, and features released in Meta XR SDK versions v74+ might not be compatible with the Oculus XR Plugin. The Unity OpenXR Plugin is the recommended provider plugin going forward. If you are developing with SDKs on v74+, use Unity 6+ with the Unity OpenXR Plugin instead.
Unity uses the Oculus XR Plugin to facilitate XR development on Meta Quest headsets. The Oculus XR Plugin exposes settings for common lifecycle management and runtime settings such as rendering modes, depth buffer sharing, and latency optimization.
Meta XR Core SDK contains the OVRPlugin, which provides built-in editor support and several additional features. The OVRPlugin, combined with Unity’s Oculus XR Plugin, allows Unity to talk to the OpenXR, VRAPI, and CAPI backends on Meta Quest headsets. To accelerate OpenXR adoption and allow you to seamlessly target a wide range of Meta AR/VR headsets using the same API, Meta has made OpenXR runtime the default backend. Starting in v31 of Meta XR SDKs, all new features are available on the OpenXR backend only.
Meta XR Architecture Diagram
Unity’s Oculus XR Plugin provides the base functionality for getting the XR application running on the Meta Quest headset. We recommend also using the Meta XR Core SDK package if the project requires the latest up-to-date features. Meta XR Core SDK package contains the latest version of OVRPlugin as well as handy C# scripts that expose Meta Quest features that are not yet provided through Unity’s APIs. For example, advanced features such as presence platform, voice, hand tracking, interaction, and many more are surfaced through the Meta XR Core SDK and not through Unity API.

Install the Oculus XR Plugin

For projects built on Unity versions < 6 that use Meta XR SDKs < v74, install the Oculus XR Plugin.
To install the Oculus XR provider plugin:
  1. Open any 3D project in the Unity Editor (version 2022 or 2023).
  2. From the top menu of the Unity Editor, navigate to Edit > Project Settings to open the Project Settings window.
  3. Select XR Plug-in Management in the Project Settings window.
  4. If XR Plugin Management is not installed, select Install XR Plugin Management.
  5. In the Windows, Mac, Linux settings tab, select Oculus.
  6. In the Android settings tab, select Oculus.
  7. Close the Project Settings window.
  8. From the top menu of the Unity Editor, navigate to Window > Package Manager to open the Unity Package Manager window.
    Note: For Windows, Window > Package Management > Package Manager
  9. At the top left of the window, expand the Packages - Unity dropdown.
  10. In the list of packages in the left menu, verify that there is a check mark beside the Oculus plugin, indicating that the package is installed.
Note: Installing an XR plugin does not download and import the Meta XR SDKs in to your project. Make sure you add the Meta XR SDKs you need from the Unity Asset Store.

Upgrade to the latest XR plugin version

A few runtime settings may be available on the latest version only.
To upgrade to the latest available plugin version:
  1. From the top menu of the Unity Editor, navigate to Windows > Package Manager to open the Unity Package Manager window.
  2. In the top menu of the Package Manager window, expand the Packages: drop-down, and select Packages: Unity Registry.
  3. From the list of packages in the left menu, select either Oculus XR Plugin or Unity OpenXR Plugin.
  4. In the detailed view, select the Version History tab for actionable items.

Uninstall an XR vendor plugin

Disabling an XR plugin package from the XR Plugin Management interface doesn’t automatically uninstall the plugin. You need to remove the plugin from the Package Manager window.
  1. On the menu, go to Window > Package Manager.
  2. In the top menu of the Package Manager window, expand the Packages: drop-down, and select Packages: In Project.
  3. From the list of packages in the left menu, select either Oculus XR Plugin or OpenXR Plugin.
  4. In the detailed view, select Remove.
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