Meta Quest VR Update Teases Major Upcoming Social Features
March 25, 2025
Meta may be working on a new feature that will let you easily share what you see in apps through, for example, a Quest 3 headset.
As spotted by UploadVR, a VR enthusiast posting on X claims to have rifled through the code in Horizon OS version 76, and found references to a feature not implemented in Meta Quest headsets just yet.
It’s a form of screen sharing where only the content from a single pane or app panel is shared, not your entire view.
The proposed feature “shares a panel so that other users in your world can see it,” the app code reveals.
Data miner Luna suggests this could be used in Meta social platform Horizon Worlds as well as Horizon Home, although there are clear issues for some of the ways you might think of exploiting this feature.
It’s not going to work for movie and TV streaming apps, because sharing licensed content in such a fashion would be a major digital rights no-no. And Horizon OS already supports a form of full-view screen sharing through casting to a TV, or via Messenger or WhatsApp.
It could be handy for sharing the view of a web browser window, but that would also make more sense in a more productivity-driven device like the Apple Vision Pro.
Still, this is still an important forward-looking addition developers may want to take into account when developing software for the Meta Quest 3 and co.
It may also become more relevant in future as Horizon OS headsets broaden. In April 2024, Mark Zuckerberg announced the system was opening up to headsets from other manufacturers, like Lenovo, Microsoft and Asus.
While these third-party headsets are yet to appear, making the system more versatile is important in this endeavour, especially with Android XR set to arrive later this year as the core competition.
Meta Quest: Horizon OS v76’s other features
Horizon OS v76 was recently released as a public beta test, letting actual Meta Quest owners get their hands on it.
Other notable changes include a new Selfie Cam menu area. This feature lets you use your Meta avatar, complete with motion and hand gesture tracking, in place of an actual webcam image. The idea is this view can replace a webcam view in situations where you might ordinarily have one, such as video calls.
If you want to be able to try out these beta features early, you can join the Meta Quest Public Test Channel, which will see your headset sent early software. Meta has a page on how to sign up. Bear in mind you are more likely to encounter bugs if you do so.
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