Data mining and findings for the V78 and V79 PTC (Public Test Channel) suggest that Meta has begun the process of improving the home and world components of the Horizon platform.
What is a Public Test Channel (PTC)?
The Public Test Channel (PTC) is the Meta Quest beta release channel. Once you opt in, the headset will receive a pre-release build of each quest system software. Horizon OSversion.
Note that in many cases, features and changes in PTC may not reach a stable version, which is not present in PTC.
Every month, when PTC is released, it analyzes system files and apps to look for potential changes that suggest that Meta is working on.
Many of the features discovered are still under development and may be significantly altered or not released. Meta also uses server-based rollouts. Even if the update supports the feature, individual headset owners may not be able to access it for weeks or months after it is announced. In some cases, meta may not announce any features at all, and instead wait until a future version begins to announce it and unfold.
Additionally, some features will be announced, but will then be delayed without notice, but will only be re-appeared in later announcements. Others quietly unfold to select users as experiments without being officially mentioned.
When Meta announced its New Horizon OS initiative last year, the company said it features a “feature suite that places a social presence at the heart of the platform.” As part of an internal project known as HSR, vision appears to be an upgrade to home and global systems.
Lookout Loft Home Environment
A thumbnail image of Homeworld in a Horizon OS V78 file.
The Horizon OS V78 and V79 PTC contain assets from a new home environment named Lookout Loft, which is associated with Development Codenames Home World and Personal World.
Horizon Home is the public name of the base-level OS space for a quest known internally as Vrshell. This is the first space that the user enters when launching a complex reality headset running Meta’s Horizon OS. Functionally similar to desktops on a computer, it offers multiple virtual environment options, supports 2D window multitasking, supports coexisting avatar calls, and serves as a staging area for immersive applications.
Meta appears to be reconstructing this space, moving away from an aging, predominantly static virtual environment. The static virtual environment of Quest Headset aims to make connections easier with others and to make a smooth transition to Horizon Worlds and Immersive Apps.
The new HomeWorld will retain existing Horizon Home features such as Avatar Mirror and World Portal, and may expand features including pinning 2D apps, sharing 2D windows, and placement of custom portals.
The new strings also suggest that Meta is about to introduce customizable turning and movement in the home world. This contrasts with the current system, restricting users from snapping turning and teleporting within a limited area.
New Social Hub and UIs Around the World
Video in-developed versions of new social hubs and UIs from around the world, provided by X-user Nori.
In addition to rebuilding Horizon Home, Meta appears to be working on improving Horizon Worlds Social Hub and overhauling its world-specific UI system.
Horizon Central serves as the main social hub for Horizon Worlds. There are numerous portals and doors that lead to events and other worlds, and are accessible through the world portals found in most of Horizon Home’s virtual environments. X user Nori has a history of misrecognizing qualifications for Horizon OS features under development, but recently visited a new version of Horizon Central, featuring a new world UI.
A portal image showing an in-development version of the new social hub (left) and a more complete version in the same area (right).
This new social hub features significantly higher graphical details than the current version of Horizon Central, with multiple levels and portals in other popular worlds. In the in-developed version of this social hub, Nori was able to use a new tablet-style UI. Unlike the current interface in Horizon Worlds, this UI is rendered at the system level, with much higher resolution and greater responsiveness. It provides access to the system panel along with features such as comfortable settings and movement control.
This version also runs in a new app separate from the main Horizon World application. The package introduced in V78 PTC is called com.meta.worlds and is in contrast to the world labeled on the system interface (standalone) – the main app com.facebook.horizon.
It is also worth noting that from the new social hub, users can even see the new Homeworld, a lower poly model of Lookout Loft, in the distance. This appears to be a meta attempt to create a visual impression of an interconnected online space.
Event Arena Theatre Environment
In addition to other efforts, Meta is developing theatre space for events within the Horizon platform. This will ultimately include the personal version.
In January, Meta’s VR/MR VP Mark Rabkin confirmed he is working on a theatrical environment designed to respond to feedback posted to X and display screen content.
Working on all of that, experimenting with lighting and other benefits to see what’s best. They are also trying to understand how great sounds. Please let me know what you want to see in such an environment/mode!
-Mrabkin (@mrabkin) January 20, 2025
Over the past few months, Meta appears to have been testing a version of this theatre space within Horizon World, known as the Event Arena (Beta).
The environment is based on existing social features of Horizon OS, but as of V78 it takes advantage of an updated tablet style UI, running in a new world (stand-alone) app and includes a unique interface for changing seats around the theatre screen.
X user Nori found this first as he was taken to an active event after launching an internal version of the Worlds (Standalone) app after an update.
Video of the event arena (beta) environment during Hot Ones events provided by X user Nori.
The space appears to be in development, but you can already access it by attending events currently being tested, such as Hot Ows and Fail Army.
However, binding from the headset doesn’t always work as you may encounter a “can’t travel” message without being asked to install a new Worlds (Standalone) app. Alternatively, the new UI may not open correctly when you are in an environment.
Horizon Photoreal
Meta also may be preparing to integrate a photorealistic scanned world into the Horizon platform, under the name Horizon Photoreal.
At Meta Connect 2024, Meta announced a Horizon Hyperscape demo and released it at the same time. It offers six photorealistic scenes. These scenes are completely volume and allow users to move around them with location tracking. Meta describes it as a “digital replica” created by scan space using mobile phones, and uses cloud streaming rendering.
Currently, the internal version of the app is named Horizon PhotoReal Beta, and the new Worlds (Standalone) app includes activities using the same cloud streaming technology found in the Horizon Hyperscape demo.
Additionally, over the past few months, various strings and pages have been added to both the Horizon Hyperscape demo and the Horizon mobile app. It suggests that Meta is testing this technology internally.
With the recent launch of the Navigator in Horizon OS V77 PTC, Meta has pushed towards a vision of a highly versatile platform for today’s headsets, supporting everything from multitasking in 2D windows and watching movies to dynamic social spaces and standard VR games.
In the words of the director of Games Chris Pruett’s reality lab, the goal is a platform that “all allow core gamers, teens and people who just want a private theater with a big screen, all can get involved in the ecosystem, spend money and participate.”
With Meta Connect 2025 set up on September 17th and 18th, the company could look into plans to realize this vision in detail and showcase the latest innovations in “more than Metaverse Technology.”
