The hand tracking feature enables the use of hands as an input method on Meta Quest headsets. It provides a new sense of presence, enhances social engagement, and can help deliver more natural interactions.

The hand tracking feature also allows you to develop UI elements that can be operated with hands and controllers interchangeably. When you opt to use hands, for near-field interactions, users can use their hands to pinch or poke objects. For far-field interactions, the hand’s pose drives a laser cursor-pointer that behaves like the standard controller cursor. Use the cursor-pointer to highlight, select, click, or write your own app-level event logic.

Note that hand tracking complements Touch controllers, but is not intended to replace controllers in all scenarios, particularly with games or creative tools that require a high degree of precision.

Note

The recommended way to integrate hand tracking for Unreal developers is to use the Interaction SDK, which provides standardized interactions and gestures. Building custom interactions without the SDK can be a significant challenge and makes it difficult to get approved in the store.

Data Usage Disclaimer: Enabling support for hand tracking grants your app access to certain user data, such as the user’s estimated hand size and hand pose data. This data is only permitted to be used for enabling hand tracking within your app and is expressly forbidden for any other purpose.

Samples

To see examples of the hand tracking integration, check out the following:

Hand Gameplay Showcase for gameplay based around hand tracking.

Hand Sample for integrating controllers along with hand tracking.

Hand Pose Showcase for pose and gesture recognition.

Hands Train Sample for more hand tracking interactions.

Features

Feature	Supported	Description	SDK	Documentation	Samples
Tracking
Hand Tracking	✅	Hand tracking enables the use of hands as an input method	Meta Core SDK	Doc	Sample
Fast Motion Mode (FMM)	✅	Provides improved tracking of fast movements common in fitness and rhythm apps (60Hz)	Meta Core SDK
Wide Motion Mode (WMM)	❌	Allows you to track hands and display plausible hand poses even when the hands are outside the headset’s field of view	Meta Core SDK
Multimodal	❌	Provides simultaneous tracking of both hands and controllers.	Meta Core SDK
Capsense	✅	Provides logical hand poses when using controllers.	Meta Core SDK	Doc
OpenXR Hand Skeleton	✅	Support for the OpenXR hand skeleton standard	Interaction SDK / Meta Core SDK
Poses & Gestures
Pose Detection	✅(v78+)	A pose is detected when the tracked hand matches that pose’s required shapes and transforms	Interaction SDK
Pose Recording	✅	Capture a pose for use in pose detection.	Interaction SDK
Gesture Detection	❌	Sequences can recognize a series of IActiveStates over time to compose complex gestures	Interaction SDK
Microgestures	✅	Recognize thumb tap and thumb swipe motions performed on the side of the index finger.	Interaction SDK	Doc
Interactions
Poke	✅	Interact with surfaces via direct touch using hands	Interaction SDK	Doc
Grab	✅	Enable you to pick up or manipulate objects in the world using controllers or hands.	Interaction SDK	Doc
Hand Grab	✅	Provides a physics-less means of grabbing objects that’s specifically designed for hands	Interaction SDK	Doc
Distance Grab	✅	Lets you use your hands to grab and move objects that are out of arm’s reach	Interaction SDK	Doc
Ray Grab	✅	Object can be interacted with by the user from a distance by casting a ray out from the hand or controller.	Interaction SDK	Doc
Custom Grab Poses	✅	Record a custom hand grab pose to control how your hands conform to a grabbed object	Interaction SDK	Doc
Throw	✅	Enable throwing objects using hands.	Interaction SDK	Doc
Raycast	✅	Interact with objects in the world from a distance by casting a ray, or line, out from the hand or controller.	Interaction SDK	Doc
2D Widget Interaction	✅	Handles all the scaffolding and plumbing necessary to display a Widget Blueprint in the world and make it interactable.	Interaction SDK	Doc
Visuals
Custom hand models	✅	Replace the default Interaction SDK hands with your own set of custom hands	Interaction SDK	Doc