Meta Quest embarks on a new beginning with "Horizon OS 2"

Meta has announced Horizon OS 2, and a beta version of Horizon OS 2.1 has recently been made available to participants in Meta's test channel.

At the heart of Horizon OS 2 is the improved user interface "Navigator," Meta writes. However, this has already been tested with users since May 2025, and it is unclear when it will be officially released. The interface is inspired by the home screen of the Apple Vision Pro, brings apps to the forefront, and is intended to make UI navigation more transparent.

Meta's metaverse platform Horizon Worlds will no longer be the focus in the future: the corresponding icon will be removed from the system bar and the Horizon Feed will be removed "gradually." The start page long served to recommend content from Horizon Worlds to users and delayed system startup. In the future, Meta Quest will start directly in the Navigator. Furthermore, there are several other improvements. A complete overview will follow as soon as the new system update leaves the test phase and is officially released.

With Horizon OS 2, a new versioning system also arrives: future system updates will be designated as OS 2.1 and 2.2, allowing major updates to be distinguished from incremental improvements, unlike the previous continuous numbering. The current system version is number 85.

Horizon OS 2 initiates a change of course at Meta

Horizon OS 2 marks less a qualitative leap and more Meta's intention to open a new chapter for Meta Quest. The metaverse efforts around Horizon Worlds are being scaled back in the VR headset and shifted to mobile ecosystems.

Horizon Worlds was supposed to become the central social platform for virtual reality: a place where millions of people could meet via VR headset, play together, attend virtual events, or explore user-generated worlds. Meta envisioned a metaverse modeled after Roblox, Fortnite, or Minecraft, but in virtual reality. The motivation behind it was clear: such a parallel world could have created a virtual economy and an almost limitless new advertising space for Meta, from which the company, as a platform operator, could have profited significantly.

This vision has largely failed for two main reasons: Firstly, the number of VR users was too small to develop real relevance, and secondly, it became apparent that many existing VR users had no interest in Horizon Worlds at all. Meta did not let this deter them and anchored Horizon Worlds so deeply in the operating system that it was hardly possible to avoid it: both in VR and in the companion app on the smartphone, users were regularly urged to use Horizon Worlds.

Through this strategy, Meta, as a platform operator, increasingly entered into competition with independent developers and alienated long-time VR users. The operating system also suffered from the burden that the integration of Horizon Worlds brought at the system level. With Horizon OS 2, Meta apparently wants to initiate a change of course.

(mho)