Quest's Meta Horizon Store Now Accepts 2D Android Apps

The Meta Horizon Store now accepts 2D Android apps, which could bring more apps and services to the platform.

This means developers of existing apps on the Google Play Store or other Android app stores can bring their app to Quest headsets without needing to add any specific support for the technology.

These apps can be run alongside other 2D apps and windows in Horizon OS, and even brought up inside immersive apps and games.

Meta CTO: We Asked Google To Bring Play Store To Quest

Meta’s CTO says Google declined a request to bring its Play Store to Quest.

UploadVRDavid Heaney

Meta says it has asked Google on multiple occasions to bring the Play Store to Horizon OS, but Google apparently refused. Google is likely holding it for its own Android XR platform, which will launch next year in Samsung's mixed reality headset. Meta will be hoping it can convince enough developers to bring their apps over to the Horizon Store before then.

A major roadblock however is that many 2D Android apps rely on Google Play Services, which isn't available on Horizon OS. Meta says that later this year it will release a 2D Android version of its Platform SDK which offers some of the same features as Google Play Services, such as authentication and in-app payments. Integrating this will take time and effort for developers, though, which may put them off porting their 2D apps to Quest.

Meta Spatial SDK Lets Developers Easily Build Quest Apps

Meta Spatial SDK lets developers easily build apps for Quest’s Horizon OS with traditional mobile development tools, without a game engine.

UploadVRDavid Heaney

Developers can also extend their 2D apps into 3D space and add support for mixed reality features using the new Meta Spatial SDK, but using it isn't compulsory to bring a 2D app to Horizon OS.