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Passthrough AR

Updated: Apr 15, 2026
In the Passthrough AR scenario, a passthrough layer renders behind your virtual content as an underlay. Wherever your scene has transparent or empty areas, the device camera feed shows through, blending real-world surroundings with virtual objects.
Passthrough AR

Prerequisites

Before configuring Passthrough AR, enable passthrough in your project:
  1. Open Project Settings > Meta XR Plugin > Mobile.
  2. Enable Passthrough Enabled.
Without this setting, the Passthrough Subsystem is not created and passthrough calls have no effect.

Configure Passthrough AR

Set up underlay passthrough and a transparent background so the camera feed is visible behind your virtual content.

1. Initialize persistent passthrough

Call Initialize Persistent Passthrough on the Passthrough Subsystem. With default parameters, persistent passthrough uses the Underlay layer order, which places the camera feed behind all virtual content. No Pawn attachment is required because the Passthrough Subsystem is a UGameInstanceSubsystem that operates globally.
For the full setup procedure, see Persistent Passthrough.
:::caution Deprecated component
UOculusXRPassthroughLayerComponent is deprecated as of Unreal Engine 5.6. For new projects, use persistent passthrough instead.
:::

2. Remove opaque sky actors

Underlay passthrough is only visible through transparent areas of your scene. Any opaque background fully occludes the passthrough layer. Remove or deactivate all sky-related actors from your level:
  • BP_Sky_Sphere (UE4-style sky)
  • SkyAtmosphere
  • VolumetricCloud
  • SkyLight set to produce an opaque background
If your level uses any other full-screen background actor, remove or disable it so that the background renders as transparent.
With this configuration, passthrough shows through every part of the screen that your virtual geometry does not cover.
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