Meta brings VR to mobile developers with new support for Android devices in Quest | TechCrunch

During its keynote at the Meta Connect conference on Wednesday, the company pitched its Quest virtual reality platform to developers as the next big hardware store. While tech giants like Apple and Google are under strict rules over app store monopolies, Meta says it’s working to make it easier for phone makers to switch to Meta’s Horizon OS.

“Today, I’m happy to announce that if you can build Android, you can build Meta Horizon OS with your favorite language, your favorite IDE. And to top it all off, we’ve completed the open store transition that we started in April,” said Mark Rabkin, VP at Meta tools leading Horizon OS and Quest XR.

In addition, the company says its open store now supports 3D and spatial applications and has introduced the Meta Spatial SDK to help developers get started. The SDK allows developers to take their traditional mobile devices and add native spatial features, such as floating 3D objects, atmosphere and immersive media. The new Meta Spatial Editor will make it easy to add panoramas and 3D spatial videos to its media viewer in the system. Examples of these can be found under the section “Showcase” tools in the Meta store now, which has open tools.

For 2D applications, several features – including resizing, theater, spatial audio, background processing, multitasking, and manual handling and control – and they will also be available with Meta Horizon OS.

Meta itself tested its new technology by building new Facebook and Instagram apps for Horizon OS using common tools, such as React Native. Other developers who have already tested this system include Amazon (for Prime Video and Amazon Music) Twitch, and others.

Porting existing mobile apps to Horizon OS is possible with new SDKs and other tools that Meta says will help developers “go faster.”

In part, this development was made due to feedback from developers, as the community complained that building the Meta platform was difficult.

“I’d like to start by apologizing,” said Meta’s CTO, Andrew “Boz” Bosworth, as he kicked off the developer’s headlines. “We didn’t make it easy to develop our platform, and I want you to know that we know, and we’re very sorry. You see, in the last ten years, the environment that we’ve all built it has been in a constant state of flux.”

“The thing you all have in common is that the ground has been shifting under your feet for years now,” Boz told the room’s performers. “It’s an inevitable part of building new technologies, and it creates a lot of new opportunities, which you’ve all been smart enough to skip. But of course, it can be very messy, and we know it’s been a tough ride for producers the past few years.”

Meta says its new features and tools aim to address those developer complaints by making it easier to build on Horizon OS and use its open source AI tools. Also, for developers burned out on the app ecosystem, Meta says it’s bringing site development to the browser and the XR website to the open web. Spotify was listed as one example of an app that offers the latest audio and multitasking capabilities on any device, even online.

The NYT’s Wordle was also featured as another example of a Progressive Web App that gets the full Meta Store treatment, including discovery, in-app payments, and more.

Of course, the benefit of helping developers with their preferred methods is not only to spread Meta’s tool library with other apps and games – it also creates new revenue for the company where it takes a cut of buying and selling within the app. , similar to the large hardware stores run by Apple and Google.

CEO Mark Zuckerberg has been pushing the report that Meta is more open than Apple for some time.

As the founder of Facebook recently told a podcast found, “I think that in the next 10 to 15 years, that kind of war – the war of ideas – the building should be of the next stage? Is it going to be a model “The closed, integrated Apple that Apple has been doing,” he said.