The YouTube app on Quest will let you co-watch videos with friends in VR

Image: Meta The YouTube app on Meta Quest is getting a nice upgrade: instead of only being a way to watch videos by yourself, the app will now let you co-watch videos with up to seven other people. To turn on the feature, which is launching in beta, ... more - theverge

Belkin’s Vision Pro strap should just come with the headset

Photo: Wes Davis / The Verge The Vision Pro VR headset is such an Apple product — meticulously designed and packed with incredible tech, but designed to be used Apple’s way, whether you like it or not. For many, that means the headset is aggressively ... more - theverge

Meta is ending support for custom face filters in its apps

Image: Cath Virginia / The Verge Meta is shutting down all third-party face filters and AR effects on Facebook, Instagram, and Messenger, along with the tools used to create them, on January 14th, 2025. That includes any created by brands and other third ... more - theverge

Meta pulls plug on plans for high-end Vision Pro competitor

RIP La Jolla. | Photo by David Pierce / The Verge Meta is calling it quits on making a high-end mixed reality headset to compete with the Apple Vision Pro, The Information reports. This is despite recent news that the headset, codenamed La Jolla, would ... more - theverge

Tesla is hiring people to do the robot

The role comes with height and motion requirements that line up with expectations for Optimus. | Image: Tesla Tesla is employing people to help train its humanoid Optimus robot by wearing motion capture suits and mimicking actions that it will be expected ... more - theverge

Meta’s VR version of GTA: San Andreas is ‘on hold indefinitely’

This is a screenshot from Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas – The Definitive Edition . We never saw footage of the VR port. | Image: Rockstar Games The Quest version of Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas , which was first announced nearly three years ago, is ... more - theverge

This head-tracking spinning chair could make VR less nauseating

The Roto VR Explorer chair can make VR feel more immersive by spinning in response to the user’s head movements. | Image: Rotovrltd The Roto VR Explorer chair is designed to make VR experiences feel more immersive (and less nauseating) by pairing real-world ... more - theverge

Good luck with the PlayStation VR2 PC Adapter — you’ll need it

The PlayStation VR2 PC Adapter, and everything that plugs into it. | Photo by Sean Hollister / The Verge The biggest problem with Sony’s PSVR 2 virtual reality headset is the dearth of games. I’d hoped Sony’s PC adapter would change that. The chance ... more - theverge

Microsoft might be resurrecting its mixed reality business

The Samsung Odyssey headset with Windows Mixed Reality from 2017. | Photo by Amelia Holowaty Krales / The Verge Microsoft has reportedly struck a deal with Samsung for OLED panels that could power a new line of mixed reality headsets. Korean outlet The ... more - theverge

Meta closes Ready at Dawn, the studio behind Echo VR

Image: Oculus Studios Meta is closing Ready at Dawn, the first-party studio behind VR games like Echo VR and Lone Echo , Android Central reported on Wednesday. The shutdown is effective immediately. Meta acquired the studio in 2020. As for why Meta is ... more - theverge

Spectre Divide is a fascinating Valorant-like shooter where you control two bodies

Spectre Divide. | Image: Mountaintop I am getting absolutely stomped in Spectre Divide , the just-revealed 3-on-3 online shooter from a new game studio staffed by talent from Oculus VR, Valorant , Apex Legends , Halo Infinite, and more. I am not good ... more - theverge

Sony’s PlayStation VR2 is $200 off and cheaper than ever before

Photo by Amelia Holowaty Krales / The Verge If you’re a PlayStation 5 owner and are curious about VR gaming, now may be the best time to pick up Sony’s headset. The PlayStation VR2 is currently on sale for its lowest price ever, available on its own ... more - theverge

Two new must-have Android apps

Hi, friends! Welcome to Installer No. 46, your guide to the best and Verge -iest stuff in the world. (If you’re new here, welcome, hope you like silly gadgets, and also you can read all the old editions at the Installer homepage.) This week, I’ve been ... more - theverge

We now have dates for Meta’s forthcoming Quest headsets

The report didn’t mention Ventura, which is rumored to be a more affordable headset slated for 2024. | Photo by Becca Farsace / The Verge Despite recent layoffs in its Reality Labs division, Meta is still barreling ahead with plans for a Quest 4 in 2026 ... more - theverge

The Netflix app for Quest headsets is no more

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge Netflix has discontinued its streaming app for Quest headsets, Upload VR reports. The good news for Quest owners is that Meta recently added support for Netflix in the Quest browser, complete with 1080p streaming. ... more - theverge

The Xreal Beam Pro has good ideas about AR — but not enough juice

Image: Xreal There are two possible paths for augmented reality devices. One path is the all-in-one approach, which you might call the smartphone path or the Vision Pro Path: you buy a full-fledged single device with everything you need, and when you ... more - theverge

Meta will now let young kids chat in VR — but only with their parents’ approval

Illustration by Nick Barclay / The Verge Meta will now let kids interact with other users in virtual reality, but only if they get parental approval. An upcoming change will let parents individually approve each user their 10- to 12-year-old can call, ... more - theverge

There’s an AMD Ryzen 7 PC hiding inside this folding keyboard

You can fit this PC in your pocket. | Image: Linglong Headless portable PCs packing everything except a display are growing in popularity among enthusiasts who don’t want to settle for a laptop they can’t easily upgrade — and now Chinese manufacturer ... more - theverge

Meta’s $24.99 monthly pay later plan covers the Quest 3 and Quest Plus

Photo: David Pierce / The Verge Meta is now offering an interest-free $24.99 monthly payment plan to get its Quest 3 VR headset, along with two years’ worth of a Meta Quest Plus gaming subscription and its extended warranty. That starting price is for ... more - theverge

At just over $20, Half-Life: Alyx is essential playing for VR headset owners

I can hear the eerie, garbled radio chatter of the Combine soldiers just by looking at this. | Image: Valve The Steam Summer Sale is raging on, offering significant discounts on the Steam Deck and hundreds of PC games. While we rounded up a bunch of ... more - theverge

Mark Zuckerberg experiments with six-window Quest VR multitasking

The update brings mixed reality spatial computing to the mainstream on the Meta Quest 3. | Image: Meta Mark Zuckerberg announced on Wednesday that version 67 of Horizon OS is rolling out with an experimental feature allowing Quest owners to multitask ... more - theverge

You can pay to put a virtual house on Snapchat’s map

I can’t afford an actual house in this hellish economy, so a virtual one will have to do. | Image: Snap Snapchat Plus subscribers are getting a new feature that allows you to design your own virtual house to show off on the Snap Map. You can view your ... more - theverge

The Vision Pro will get Apple Intelligence and “Go Deeper” in-store demos

Photo by Vjeran Pavic / The Verge For all its impressive technical chops, Apple’s all-singing, all-dancing Vision Pro hasn’t set the world on fire, but it’s early yet, and the company continues throwing its weight behind the headset. It reportedly has ... more - theverge

These smart binoculars can identify thousands of stars and over a million landmarks

When connected to a smartphone, the Unistellar Envision binoculars can identify over a million landmarks on Earth and in space. | Image: Unistellar Unistellar’s new Envision binoculars bring smart functionality similar to Swarovski’s Optik AX Visio binoculars ... more - theverge

Meta tests Vision Pro-like freeform virtual screen placement for Quest headsets

Photo by Becca Farsace / The Verge Meta is testing a feature for its Quest headsets that allows you to place windows freely, similar to the Apple Vision Pro. Multitasking with multiple windows has been part of Meta Horizon OS (formerly Meta Quest OS) ... more - theverge

This tiny tablet is a smart upgrade for AR glasses

An Android phone minus the phone plus two giant cameras. | Image: Adi Robertson / The Verge Xreal is one of the few companies trying to sell mass-market augmented reality headsets without an existing big tech empire. But its latest product isn’t a pair ... more - theverge

This prototype turns your car’s windshield into a giant AR display

A huge panel becomes an AR projector powered by data from eye tracking sensors in this prototype. | Image: Adi Robertson / The Verge Car infotainment systems are getting ever bigger, but a startup’s new prototype takes things further than even something ... more - theverge

I regret buying the PSVR 2

Image: Amelia Holowaty Krales / The Verge For months, I’ve been thinking about selling my PlayStation VR2. After a damning scoop, I’m finally ready to let it go. Months ago, I stashed the PSVR 2 away in a closet. I hadn’t played it for a very long time, ... more - theverge

The next next thing in AI and AR

Image: Alex Parkin / The Verge Meta is apparently deprioritizing VR and its Oculus business to focus on reproducing the surprising success of its Ray-Ban Meta smart glasses. And it makes sense — VR is out, AI is in, and Meta’s smart glasses are the absolute ... more - theverge

Snapchat AI turns prompts into new lens

Image: Snapchat Snapchat offered an early look at its upcoming on-device AI model capable of transforming a user’s surroundings with augmented reality (AR). The new model will eventually let creators turn a text prompt into a custom lens — potentially ... more - theverge