Meta Quest: System Update 83 brings "Positional Timewarp" and Display Dimming

Since the beginning of the week, the latest operating system version, Horizon OS 83, has been distributed to Quest devices. As always, patience is required, as it can take days or even weeks for the update to reach all users. At least the improvements are now visible in the official release notes.

The system update brings a new feature for Meta Quest 3 and Meta Quest 3S: "Temporal Dimming" dynamically reduces the brightness of the displays to protect the eyes, extend battery life, and improve screen performance. According to Meta, this happens without any noticeable impact on the user experience. The feature is optional and can be found in the settings under "Experimental". It can be used simultaneously with the "Content-adaptive brightness control" introduced in Horizon OS 69 for Quest 3 and 3S, which dims the LC displays during darker content and game scenes to achieve better black levels.

Another novelty of Horizon OS 83 is the reprojection technique "System Positional Timewarp" (SysPTW). If the frame rate drops in demanding games and apps, SysPTW reduces motion judder by precisely aligning the last frame shortly before output using the current head position. The result is a smoother gaming experience. According to Meta, the new reprojection technique has no impact on performance. SysPTW is enabled by a feature of the Adreno GPU that Meta previously tested with Qualcomm.

System Positional Timewarp runs parallel to a related Horizon OS technique called "Application Spacewarp" (AppSW), which enables significant performance gains when used. While developers have to implement the latter manually in their games and apps, SysPTW works automatically and system-wide for all applications. Both options can be activated in the experimental settings.

Better Room Recognition for Mixed Reality

Horizon OS 83 also improves room scanning for mixed reality apps. Room recognition now captures more complex architectural features such as floors of different heights, sloped ceilings, and interior walls. Mixed reality content can now take these geometric conditions into account and create a more realistic connection between the physical environment and virtual elements in corresponding rooms.

The browser has also been improved and now supports easier login to certain websites by sending a login link to the Meta Horizon app on your smartphone. Initially, several websites will be supported, including Roblox and TikTok.

The system update is accompanied by a renaming: Meta's PC VR program Meta Quest Link is now called Meta Horizon Link. The functions have not changed since the last update. With Horizon OS 81, Meta integrated its PC VR platform into the operating system's user interface: installed PC VR games and apps are now displayed in the regular app library and can be launched from there without detours. In addition, the official Windows 11 integration has left the experimental phase and has been a regular feature since then.

The innovations of Horizon OS 83 can be read in the official release notes, if you scroll all the way down and select the US language version of the website.

(dahe)