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Getting Started with Meta XR Simulator

Updated: Apr 17, 2026

Standalone XR Simulator

This documentation covers the newly released Standalone XR Simulator. Older versions of the Meta Core SDK may not be fully compatible. If you encounter issues, remove the 'com.meta.xr.simulator' package from your project and use the toggle in Meta XR Simulator to set it as the OpenXR active runtime. For legacy usage, refer to the Archived XR Simulator documentation.

The Meta XR Simulator is a lightweight Extended Reality (XR) runtime built to speed up XR application development and testing on your development machine. This page provides a brief overview of Meta XR Simulator and basic installation and usage instructions.

The simulator adheres to the same XR API specification as mobile and PC VR runtimes, enabling integration with your engine’s IDE without requiring any modifications. It includes a predefined input mapping schema and a user interface that displays information about how the runtime composites the final view and simulates input.

Note: For download and installation instructions, see the Meta XR Simulator Overview page.

Supported versions

Unreal Engine

UE5

Note: Meta XR Simulator requires SDK v57 or later. For earlier SDK versions or UE4, see the Getting Started guide for native development.

Graphics API

DX11

DX12

Vulkan (limited)

Setup

Create a VR project. You can create a VR Template project or create one from scratch following Set up your development environment.

Verify that XR API is set to Epic Native OpenXR in Project Settings > Plugins > Meta XR. This is the default and works with the Meta XR Simulator.

Note: When using this backend, enabling or disabling the simulator may require an editor restart.

In Project Settings > Platforms > Windows, make sure DirectX 11 or DirectX 12 is the Default RHI. Vulkan has limited support. Unreal RHI Setting

Enable the Meta XR Simulator by checking the Meta XR Simulator toggle, under the Meta XR Simulator dropdown located on the main toolbar. Unreal XR Simulator Setting

Click VR Preview to launch the Meta XR Simulator.

Note: Only one OpenXR runtime can be active at any given time. Activating the Meta XR Simulator will automatically deactivate any other installed OpenXR runtime, including Meta Horizon Link.

Multiplayer testing

By default, Unreal sets Run Under One Process and HMD For Primary Process Only to True. To test all instances connecting to the Meta XR Simulator, set both options to False: Unreal XR Simulator Setting