Facebook May Have Killed Its AR/VR OS In Light Of Apple's Grand Plans

 Meta denies that it is slowing down progress, but it ideally should nix those ambitions and focus on making better XR hardware and software products.

Facebook is said to have canceled an internal project tasked with the development of an operating system for Augmented Reality and Virtual Reality applications, a surprising turn of events considering both Meta and Apple are expected to launch their high-end wearable products later this year. Facebook has reportedly been working on its own XR — the umbrella term for AR and VR — operating system since 2019. Plus, it's been widely reported that Apple's AR glasses have been in development for a while now.

Earlier this year, Meta chief Mark Zuckerberg revealed in a Facebook AMA that the company was working on something called a “reality operating system” for XR devices. “We’re building a microkernel-based operating system, which is the architecture that you want to segment the pieces to make it as secure as possible,” Zuckerberg said back then. He even added that Meta’s team was pretty far along on the project, which made sense, as Facebook really started laying the foundations of its ambitious metaverse with great fervor in 2021.

Now, The Information reports that Meta has pulled the plugs on its AR/VR operating system plans that had about 300 experts attached to it. “Facebook parent company Meta Platforms has stopped development of a new software operating system to power its virtual reality devices and upcoming augmented reality glasses,” the report claims, citing two sources familiar with the latest developments at Meta, formerly known as Facebook. Instead of making its own operating system, the company has now reportedly told members of the team to continue modifying a version of Android that will power its AR and VR devices. For the unaware, the Quest — previously marketed as Oculus — lineup of headsets already runs a heavily modified version of Android that is internally known as VROS. However, the exact reasons as to why Facebook has decided to shelve the project are not known.

Facebook Might Not Want To Be A Gatekeeper

As for Meta itself, the company has denied The Information’s claims and tells The Verge that its team is neither halting nor scaling back on its commitment to developing an OS for AR/VR devices. The timing is a tad uncanny, as Apple is heavily rumored to launch its high-end AR/VR headset later this year. And just like Facebook, Apple has reportedly been developing its own OS for XR devices for a while under the codename “rOS” which is reportedly based on iOS.

Facebook’s own Project Cambria headset is set to arrive later this year, but the company is definitely at a disadvantage here. Apple already has a vast ecosystem and developer fraternity eager to support its AR/VR ambitions. And with the rumored iOS foundation, it wouldn’t take much time or effort to develop apps and software for Apple’s XR OS. Facebook, on the other hand, will have to build things from scratch. It does have a hardware portfolio ready and also products like Horizon at its disposal, but creating an operating system to power a hardware and software ecosystem is no easy feat.

And with a sketchy reputation in tow, Meta would have a hard time convincing developers to join its metaverse bandwagon when the likes of Apple and Google are already offering a well-branched ecosystem. Plus, not many users would feel comfortable with Facebook acting as the gatekeeper of a whole hardware-software ecosystem that provides an entry into its metaverse. The company would be better off refining its hardware and making better software products rather than dragging it all down with its ambitious XR OS goals.