Meta Horizon OS Meta Horizon OS, previously known informally as Meta Quest Platform or Meta Quest OS, is an Android-based extended reality operating system for the Meta Quest line of devices released by Meta Platforms. Initially developed for the embedded operati ...

has gone through several changes since the release of the

Oculus Rift Oculus Rift is a discontinued line of virtual reality headsets, virtual reality headsets developed and manufactured by Oculus VR, a virtual reality company founded by Palmer Luckey that is widely credited with reviving the virtual reality indust ...

DK1 on March 29, 2013. The operating system has been updated on a roughly monthly basis since the v1.0 release in 2016, and was gradually ported from a proprietary embedded operating system to Android starting in 2015, first for the

Samsung Gear VR The Samsung Gear VR is a virtual reality headset developed by Samsung Electronics, in collaboration with Oculus VR, and manufactured by Samsung. The headset was released on August 21, 2015. When in use, a compatible Samsung Galaxy device acts as ...

and later for its own headsets. The updates often include experimental or undocumented features.

Overview

From 2013 to 2015, the then-proprietary firmware and SDK for Windows PCs were developed exclusively for the Rift by Oculus VR, which was acquired in 2014 by Facebook (now Meta Platforms) and renamed as

Reality Labs Reality Labs, formerly Oculus VR, is a business and research unit of Meta Platforms (formerly Facebook Inc.) that produces virtual reality (VR) and augmented reality (AR) hardware and software, including virtual reality headsets such as the Qu ...

. Starting in 2014, the company ported the Oculus Home, Oculus Store and Oculus Cinema (later Video) apps to Android for use on the

headset, allowing Samsung Galaxy phone users to access VR games and apps made available through the Store app. In 2018, Facebook launched the Oculus Go, which was both the first standalone headset and the first Android-based headset from the company. Subsequent headsets from Facebook used this combination of Android with the company's proprietary user interface and apps, even as the company was renamed in 2022 as

Meta Platforms Meta Platforms, Inc. is an American multinational technology company headquartered in Menlo Park, California. Meta owns and operates several prominent social media platforms and communication services, including Facebook, Instagram, Threads ...

and the headsets were rebranded accordingly. In 2024, Meta announced that the combined operating system stack would be named as Meta Horizon OS and licensed to select third party hardware manufacturers.

Version history

Pre-1.0 (2012–2015)

1.0 era (2016–2019)

Quest and Rift era (2019–2020)

Oculus Quest era (2020–2022)

Meta Quest era (2022–2024)

Horizon OS era (2024-present)

References

{{Extended reality Software version histories Meta Quest