One of the biggest gripes developers have with creating mixed reality content for Quest has been the lack of access to the headset’s cameras. That’s about to change.

At Connect this week, Meta VP of VR/AR Mark Rabkin announced that developers will soon be able to access a new camera Passthrough API, which is slated to come “early next year.”

The release is expected to enable “all kinds of cutting-edge MR experiences,” Rabkin said on stage, which is set to include tracked objects, AI applications, “fancy” overlays, scene understanding and “so much more.”

Testing is said to arrive “very soon,” which could mean select developers will be able to opt-in to use a beta version of Passthrough API in their games.

Image courtesy Meta

As it is today, in lieu of raw camera access, developers rely on things such as geometric representations of the environment, body and hand-tracking data, and user-defined furniture placement.

Gaining greater access to cameras will allow developers more granularity in digesting the user’s individual space, something that so far has been lacking as studios have been forced to go for ‘low-hanging fruit’, such as optional MR modes to VR games which mainly rely on the wow-factor of seeing your own room. There are a few great examples though of studios working within these limitations to create clever room-scale MR games, such as Creature’s recently released mixed reality game Starship Home (2024).

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It also means Meta will need to tighten down on camera privacy concerns, access has always been the sole responsibility of the company. Granted, Meta hasn’t disclosed specific limitations for its Passthrough API yet, or whether this includes raw access, so it remains to be seen what level of anonymity that additional camera data will provide.

Additionally, the company announced in a blog post this week it was updating Horizon OS alongside the launch of Quest 3S on October 15th to include “simpler, more transparent, and easier to use Privacy Settings,” such as activity status, privacy indicators when apps are using Quest’s microphone, location, and spatial data, as well as a new sensor lock feature, which cuts power to your headset’s external cameras and microphones “in certain situations”, like when the headset goes to sleep.

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Scott Hayden
Well before the first modern XR products hit the market, Scott recognized the potential of the technology and set out to understand and document its growth. He has been professionally reporting on the space for nearly a decade as Editor at Road to VR, authoring more than 4,000 articles on the topic. Scott brings that seasoned insight to his reporting from major industry events across the globe.
  • Star Centurion

    I think the title is wrong? Probably meant for Develops to be Developers.

    Currently reads

    "Quest Develops Will Finally Get Access to Cameras, Promising New Wave of “cutting-edge” Mixed Reality Apps"

    Should read

    Quest Developers Will Finally Get Access to Cameras, Promising New Wave of “cutting-edge” Mixed Reality Apps

  • Ondrej

    Step in the right direction. Bravo!

    Next: open the OS and stop with the "sideloading" dark pattern.

  • "Access to the cameras …?!?
    Now Zuck's gonna see me jerking-off to hentai!!1!"

    Assholes ….
    []^ (

    • Ondrej

      This joke would work if you used any name except someone from Meta, because they always had full access to everything – if not official then theoretical – because they own the OS.

      On Apple it's even worse because they want to be the only app developer that is allowed to use eye tracking to "protect the private data", ensuring that no competitor with social XR app (like, duh, Meta) will ever have a natural eye contact between users…
      If it was truly about privacy then Apple wouldn't be using that data either.

  • FINALLY! WE WON OUR BATTLE!

  • Ivan

    This is great to hear. I hope we get access to both the RGB cameras and depth sensor, with this we will finally be able to make true AR/MR content. This opens the field to so much new AR content, not just placing things on walls or the floor.

    Hopefully there will be a clear request for users to permission camera access so users know when the camera is being accessed or not. On the Meta/Horizon store, they could put clear labels/description on apps indicating if the app requires some type of access (camera, microphone, stored files, etc.), this way users know this before installing the app and can better if they want to install it knowing this information.

    There could also be a guideline/standardized way for developers to add to their app description what kind of access is required and why (i.e., why does the RGB camera need to be accessed and what it offers that couldn't be done without this access). But I think this may be asking too much from Meta, as they would have to then inspect apps more closely, which may lead to the long delays in the curation/wall issue that existed before. On the other hand, I hope this also lead to lots of developers creating really bad apps (in terms of quality and no good reasons to have camera access), making things bad for other developers who want to create good quality apps. Let's see what happens, but hopefully it works out well.

    • Ivan

      Sorry, many typos in my previous comment.

      Here is a better version:

      This is great to hear. I hope we get access to both the RGB cameras and the depth sensor so that we can finally create true AR/MR content. This opens up so much new AR content, not just putting things on walls or the floor.

      Hopefully there will be a clear prompt for users to allow access to the camera so they know when it is being accessed or not. On the Meta/Horizon store, there could be clear labels/descriptions on apps that indicate if the app requires any type of access, and if so, which (camera, microphone, stored files, etc.). This way, users know about this access before they install the app and can better decide if they want to install it knowing this information.

      There could also be a guideline/standard way for developers to add to their app description what kind of access is required and why (i.e. why does the RGB camera need to be accessed and what does it provide that couldn't be done without that access). But I think this might be asking too much of Meta, as it would require them to review apps more closely, which could lead to the long delays in the curation/wall issue that existed before. On the other hand, I hope this does not lead to a lot of developers making really bad apps (in terms of quality and no good reasons to have camera access), making things bad for other developers who want to make good quality apps. We'll see what happens, but hopefully it works out well.