Hand tracking enables the use of hands as an input method for the Meta Quest headsets. Using hands as an input method delivers a new sense of presence, enhances social engagement, and delivers more natural interactions. Hand tracking complements controllers and is not intended to replace controllers in all scenarios, especially with games or creative tools that require a high degree of precision.

Link

We support the use of hand tracking on Windows through the Unity editor, when using Meta Quest headset and Link. This functionality is only supported in the Unity editor to help improve iteration time for Meta Quest developers. Check out the Hand Tracking Design resources for detailed guidelines on using hands in virtual reality.

Notices

Note

The recommended way to integrate hand tracking for Unity developers is to use the Interaction SDK, which provides standardized interactions and gestures. Building custom interactions without the SDK can be a significant challenge and makes it difficult to get approved in the store.

Data Usage Disclaimer: Enabling support for Hand tracking grants your app access to certain user data, such as the user’s estimated hand size and hand pose data. This data is only permitted to be used for enabling hand tracking within your app and is expressly forbidden for any other purpose.

Note: If you are just getting started with this Meta XR feature, we recommend that you use Building Blocks, a Unity extension for Meta XR SDKs, to quickly add features to your project.

Features

Feature	Description	SDK	Documentation	Samples
Tracking
Hand Tracking	Hand tracking enables the use of hands as an input method	Meta Core SDK	Doc
Fast Motion Mode (FMM)	Provides improved tracking of fast movements common in fitness and rhythm apps (60Hz)	Meta Core SDK	Doc	Sample⁠
Wide Motion Mode (WMM)	Allows you to track hands and display plausible hand poses even when the hands are outside the headset’s field of view	Meta Core SDK	Doc
Multimodal	Provides simultaneous tracking of both hands and controllers.	Meta Core SDK	Doc	Sample
Capsense	Provides logical hand poses when using controllers.	Meta Core SDK	Doc
OpenXR Hand Skeleton	Support for the OpenXR hand skeleton standard	Interaction SDK / Meta Core SDK	Doc
Poses & Gestures
Pose Detection	A pose is detected when the tracked hand matches that pose’s required shapes and transforms	Interaction SDK	Doc
Pose Recording	Capture a pose for use in pose detection.	Interaction SDK	Doc
Gesture Detection	Sequences can recognize a series of IActiveStates over time to compose complex gestures	Interaction SDK	Doc	Sample
Microgestures	Recognize thumb tap and thumb swipe motions performed on the side of the index finger.	Interaction SDK	Doc	Sample⁠
Interactions
Poke	Interact with surfaces via direct touch using hands	Interaction SDK	Doc	Sample
Grab	Enable you to pick up or manipulate objects in the world using controllers or hands.	Interaction SDK	Doc
Hand Grab	Provides a physics-less means of grabbing objects that’s specifically designed for hands	Interaction SDK	Doc	Sample
Distance Grab	Lets you use your hands to grab and move objects that are out of arm’s reach	Interaction SDK	Doc
Ray Grab	Object can be interacted with by the user from a distance by casting a ray out from the hand or controller.	Interaction SDK	Doc
Custom Grab Poses	Record a custom hand grab pose to control how your hands conform to a grabbed object	Interaction SDK	Doc
Throw	Enable throwing objects using hands.	Interaction SDK	Doc
Raycast	Interact with objects in the world from a distance by casting a ray, or line, out from the hand or controller.	Interaction SDK	Doc
2D Widget Interaction	Handles all the scaffolding and plumbing necessary to display a Widget Blueprint in the world and make it interactable.	Interaction SDK	Doc
Visuals
Custom hand models	Replace the default Interaction SDK hands with your own set of custom hands	Interaction SDK	Doc