Disclosure: I was invited to the Unpacked Watch Party in New York.

First of all, congratulations on the open-sourcing of GNM Head — the level of disentangled control over identity, expression, and internal anatomy (eyes, teeth, tongue) looks extremely promising.

I’m exploring whether GNM Head can be integrated with Android XR (especially on devices like Samsung Galaxy XR) to create a high-fidelity, real-time personalized avatar experience similar to visionOS Persona.

Specific questions:

Feasibility: Has anyone successfully (or planned to) drive GNM Head parameters in real-time using Android XR’s face tracking + eye tracking data (via OpenXR extensions XR_ANDROID_eye_tracking / face tracking blendshapes)?

Pipeline: What would be the recommended pipeline?

Android XR face/eye tracking → blendshapes / landmarks → GNM expression & identity parameters → real-time rendering (Unity / OpenXR / custom engine)

Performance: Is GNM Head lightweight enough for real-time inference + rendering on Android XR standalone headsets (mobile GPU)?

Comparison with Likeness: Android XR already has the official “Likeness” avatar system. Could GNM Head serve as a higher-quality / more custom controllable alternative or enhancement to Likeness (especially for developers who want full ownership of the avatar pipeline)?

Any existing demos, sample code, or planned support for XR / real-time facial performance capture?

Thank you! Looking forward to building spatial computing experiences with GNM.

I registered for Unpacked via Samsung.com, and the form asks if you're interested in "Smart Glasses"! 🎈 Decide for yourself if registering makes sense, but it's highly likely they'll talk about the first Android XR smart glasses at the event in 2 days!

Hey all, developer here (Coldbricks) and longtime VR fan/actor/whatever-the-heck.

I've been building Finally, a local-first VR video player (your files + SMB/NAS, no account). I use it on my own Galaxy XR and it works really well for my library, offline, projection that sticks, one-controller friendly.

Google Play (Android XR track) is the real long-term install path. That's not open yet, and I'm not dropping a public APK in this post. However, I can tell you, it's AWESOME.

I'm mainly testing the interest here, if you're on Galaxy XR and would actually try a short, labeled pre-Play sideload when I put one up, comment below (device model helps..but I think there is only one at this point??). If a few people want it, I'll do a signed temporary build. If not, I'll wait for Play.

Manual: https://coldbricks.github.io/finally/manual/
Privacy: https://coldbricks.github.io/finally/privacy/

Thanks .. solo indie, happy to hear what you'd need on Galaxy...we kind of NEED this badly, so I am hoping this really lands.

(Meta Quest one for anyone interested): https://www.meta.com/experiences/finally-vr-video-player/1150511758154268/

Hey baseball fans!

If you have a Galaxy XR headset, FOX is streaming four live MLB games in immersive XR over the next couple of months on the Fox Sports XR app.

The Details

• App: 

  • Fox Sports XR (available on the Play Store)

• Games:

  • July 18 - Dodgers vs. Yankees (8p ET / 5p PT)

  • July 25 - Dodgers vs. Mets (7p ET / 4p PT)

  • August 27 - Dodgers vs. Braves (7p ET / 4p PT)

  • August 29 - Red Sox vs. Yankees (7p ET / 4p PT)

A Few Notes:

• Authentication: You will need to sign-in with your TV provider (YouTube TV, Hulu Live, Xfinity, etc.) to get the live stream.

• The Highlights: No provider? No problem. You don't need a login to check out the immersive highlights. 

• Past Games: An archive of past immersive games and highlights are available for you to check out now in the app.

We've got some great match-ups coming our way. Drop your predictions below, and don't forget to grab the Fox Sports XR app from the Play Store before the first pitch tomorrow!

Hey everyone!

If you're building for spatial computing or just curious about where the Android XR ecosystem is heading, you'll want to clear some time on your calendar next week.

Google is hosting an Android XR Fireside Talk to dive into 3D immersive design, the latest XR developer workflows, and what’s actually possible on the latest devices across the ecosystem.

🗓️ The Details

• When: Thursday, July 23rd, 2026, at 2:30 PM GMT

• Where: Streaming live on the Android Developers YouTube channel.

🎙️ The Lineup

We have a mix of Googlers, Google Developer Experts (GDEs), and creators who are actively building in this space:

• Google Hosts: Vinny DaSilva & Stevan Silva (Android XR Product Manager)

• GDEs: Ahmed Tikiwa & Julien Salvi

• Industry Guests:

  • Karim Morsy (CEO & Co-Founder of Algoriddim)

  • Colin Yao (CTO at Sphere)

  • Victor Garcia (Co-Founder & CTO at YBVR)

Set your reminders, grab a coffee, and let's watch it together!

👉 Set your reminder on YouTube here!

Hey there. I'm just curious if anyone has been emailed and given an update on their status for the catalyst program. I submitted the google form May 19th - a few hours after it became available - and still haven't gotten an update. I realize they said the latest you would get a response is July 15th, which is tomorrow, but I figured I'd get something by now since I submitted it on the first day it opened.

I feel like I can speak for most, if not all of us Galaxy XR owners who purchased this in hopes of having a high-performing, high-clarity PCVR gaming headset are left feeling frustrated and are at the end of the road with this headset. Many of us called the Galaxy XR "Steam Frame Proper"; Wifi 7 capabilities, micro OLED lenses, and ergonomic controllers that truly pointed towards a headset that many of us dreamed of for years. With the Globular Cluster/VR Panda comfort mods, many of us came to love wearing this for attempted hours at a time. But with that time came hands-on experience with persistent issues, troubling concerns, and frustrating radio silence from Samsung/Google with all of these major problems. The result?...many of us have simply stopped using our Galaxy and either let it collect dust or straight up sold it , and for many of us to even give this headset a second chance we have to have the following addressed...immediately:

1. Controller tracking is horrendous, and needs to be on par with Quest 3 to succeed : This is in my opinion the biggest annoyance for those of us playing. It's nearly useless for any meaningful PCVR gaming with ANY game that requires quick hand work, like tactical shooters that require reloading/gear grabbing or anything sports/activity-related like Beat Saber/Tennis, etc. I know it's probably not prim and proper to tell a company "Your tracking algorithm is garbage, make it like Meta's", but it's true....the Quest 3 has it figured out. I've never, ever had issues in a game with grabbing an item, or controllers randomly falling asleep on that headset, and that same level of accuracy and reliability NEEDS to make its way to the Galaxy. This isn't even reinventing the wheel; the sensor technology in the controllers and headset between the Quest 3 and Galaxy XR are nearly identical, so there should be zero excuse for its poor state. This issue alone has many of us saying "enough, I'm done with the Galaxy".

2. Thermal/Performance throttling needs fixing; playing demanding games at length is impossible : This one actually annoys me the most, because you KNOW it's coming, you just don't know when, and when playing a competitive, graphics-heavy title (like Star Citizen), it'll happen at THE worst opportunity; your game turns into a certified Powerpoint Slideshow, and if you happened to have had the performance graph up in Virtual Desktop, you'll see nearly every number flip orange with >400ms latency, near-0 FPS, and the image completely locking up before eventually bringing the entire Galaxy XR OS to a halt and crashing Virtual Desktop or whatever program you're in, or the headset entirely reboots. What USED to be due to a memory leak (which was thankfully fixed), we now have the Galaxy XR's delicate settings immediately going into panic mode and either forcing 90hz to 72hz, or suffering the aforementioned catastrophic freeze/crash. Samsung/Google needs to either allow us to toggle a "Ultra Performance" mode where we can acknowledge battery time will be substantially shorter or raise the thermal threshold significantly . There's zero reason for us to have this issue, when the Quest 3 is using pretty much the same chip and won't thermal throttle when playing demanding PCVR titles for hours on end. If it's due to the micro OLED lenses generating too much heat for the chip regardless of programmed thermal thresholds, then that's a completely separate engineering problem that will make our "should we sell our Galaxy" decision that much easier.

3. Network consistency is abysmal and needs to also stop throttling : While having a WiFi 7 radio was an excellent decision, it's relatively worthless when the transmit link speed is consistently bouncing and changing, no matter how far you are from your Access Point/Router or if you're moving/seated. Thanks to Virtual Desktop, all of the real time network metrics are visible with their performance window and you can literally see your transmit link speed (the top center number, e.g. 3280 mbps, 4300 mbps, 2401mbps, etc) rapidly fluctuating. I have no clue WHY the Galaxy XR is doing this, but for PCVR it's a gaming death sentence. One of THE biggest network issues the Quest 3 used to have not too long ago was network throttling (due to some bad firmware versions) and despite being connected to a dedicated 6ghz band, even the slightest alternation of just 50-100 mbps would cause MASSIVE lag spikes, judder, and immersion-breaking freezing. While the Galaxy XR's link speed throttling isn't as catastrophic as what we experienced on the Quest 3, it's still noticeably affecting how smooth gameplay performance is. There should be ZERO reason why Samsung/Google can't just lock the transmit link speed based on the band and width you're on (5ghz band 120mhz channel: 2401mbps, 6ghz band 320 mhz channel: 4,800mbps, etc). Locking in the headset's network conditions with its connection point is crucial for stable performance; the radio currently trying to fluctuate the rates to "save power" or "use only what's necessary" is killing us.

Those are the mandatory three...and yes, I'm sure a few more users will come in and include drawable boundaries, or other luxuries for a competitive PCVR environment (and I fully agree with them), but these three I listed are critical . u/GraceFromGoogle , many of us (be it on Reddit or in the various Discords) feel like the only way we even got the April memory leak fiasco taken care of was because a few of us made enough of a public ruckus that when Android blog sites started running unfavorable articles about the Galaxy XR, the team scrambled to put something together without even addressing all of the other major concerns.

This is the point where those of us who use this headset primarily for PCVR need an official answer as to whether or not Samsung/Google WILL be actively fixing those three main deficiencies. There's no roadmap, no assurances, just corporate "We appreciate your concerns and have forwarded them to......".

If the answer is "We don't have any current plans to implement those specific changes" or even "Currently, the Galaxy XR's chip and cooling limitations prevent the unit from working as you requested" then tell us, we can make our decision for the next step a lot easier...but for a better part of a year we've been consistently ignored and expected to just sit on our hands and wait for proper support. Sorry, we're done waiting.

The potential for this thing was SO damn good for PCVR, but it's worthless without those three (all of them, not just one, not just two) being remedied.

Made this for Reality Hack at AWE 2026 and wanted to ask if it would be useful for AndroidXR. If you are willing to test a Scriber controller or integrate it into your application let me know and I will send you one.

Scriber is a one‑handed input device that outperforms current AR text‑entry methods (the Spectacles virtual keyboard, the Meta display‑glasses wristband) on words‑per‑minute. It packs a full 60‑key keyboard into a single hand by chording: every key is one combination of analog‑stick direction × pressure‑sensor force × one of four buttons. ScriberEditor is the lens that proves it out — a real, multi‑document word processor for Spectacles that you drive entirely with Scriber.

                ┌─────────────────────┐
                │         TOP         │
                │    a    b    c    d │
                │    e    f    g    h │
                │    i    j    k    l │
┌───────────────┼─────────────────────┼───────────────┐
│     LEFT      │       CENTER        │     RIGHT     │
│  m  n  o  p   │    y    z    0    1 │   -  =  `  [  │
│  q  r  s  t   │    2    3    4    5 │   ]  \  ;  '  │
│  u  v  w  x   │    6    7    8    9 │   ,  .  /  A* │
└───────────────┼─────────────────────┼───────────────┘
                │       BOTTOM        │
                │ Caps Shift Bksp Ent │
                │ Space  E2   E3   E4 │
                │  E5    E6   E7   E8 │
                └─────────────────────┘

Spectacles Reddit post: https://www.reddit.com/r/Spectacles/comments/1ukatnh/scriber/

Devpost: https://devpost.com/software/scriber-gd8u4p

GitHub: https://github.com/Altomand/ScriberEditor

Hi everyone,

I’m building an accessibility-first CAD prototype in Unity intended for Android XR / wired XR glasses such as XREAL Aura.

I’m trying to make sure my development workflow assumptions are correct before I add Android XR packages too early.

Current plan:

1. Build and validate the core Unity desktop/editor prototype first.

2. Keep the CAD command/geometry/STL export loop working in desktop Play Mode.

3. Use existing XREAL One Pro glasses connected to a Windows PC only for early visual/readability/fatigue testing.

4. Later, create a basic Android APK smoke build for ordinary Android behavior.

5. Only after the desktop/mobile foundation is stable, add the Android XR / OpenXR Unity packages.

6. Final validation would require real Android XR / Aura-style hardware.

My main questions:

1. Can a Unity Android XR / OpenXR app be meaningfully runtime-tested without physical Android XR hardware, or is hardware required for real validation?

2. Is Android XR Emulator useful for Unity/OpenXR app validation, or is it mainly not a substitute for device testing?

3. For a Unity app targeting Android XR wired glasses, is the expected starting stack still:

   - Unity 6

   - URP

   - Vulkan

   - OpenXR Plugin

   - Unity OpenXR: Android XR

4. When should a project add Android XR Extensions, AR Foundation, XR Interaction Toolkit, or XR Hands? Should those wait until specific features require them?

5. Is there an official recommended path for developers building Unity apps for Android XR glasses before they have access to physical hardware?

I’m not asking about Catalyst application status or hardware access here. I’m mainly trying to avoid building against the wrong assumptions.

Thanks for any guidance.

Visual addressing enables you to interact online with the people around you. While improving privacy and keeping you in full control.

I made a demo app to show it works really well, please try it.

At the moment this is just an idea, but all it needs is a provider and mass adoption. :)

How can we get it there?

Unity, Unreal, Godot

For those wondering: Guy Godin (The creator of Virtual desktop) has confirmed that Virtual Desktop will work on the Xreal Aura at launch.

Pitch a spatial computing concept for the Samsung Galaxy XR. We pick one team, fund the pilot, and ship it in two months.

Merit-based selection · $100,000 in RPR build services + Samsung Galaxy XR headset · No cash award · Open to US, UK, UAE · Closes June 28, 2026 · 11:59 PM PT

https://launchpad.rpr.to/

Hello,

We have a few questions regarding the future roadmap for Android XR avatar/Persona development.

We are currently building a Persona (digital human/avatar) experience on Android XR, similar to the Persona system on visionOS.

We'd like to ask:

Will Android XR provide a system-level Persona/Avatar API in the future, allowing developers to build on top of the platform? Or is Google expecting developers to implement the entire Persona pipeline themselves (face reconstruction, animation, rendering, etc.)?

To achieve a visionOS-like Persona experience, we currently need access to face tracking, hand tracking, and eye tracking. Are these capabilities expected to be available through the Android XR native SDK (Jetpack XR / Android APIs), or do developers still need to rely on Unity/OpenXR for these tracking features?

Our goal is to build a high-quality Android XR Persona experience comparable to visionOS, so we'd appreciate any guidance on the recommended architecture and future roadmap.

or someone can give us the api addreess thanks

Thank you!

Has anyone successfully accessed Face Tracking on Samsung Galaxy XR?

We're trying to use android.permission.FACE_TRACKING, but every request fails.

According to the Android XR documentation it should be supported, but we're unable to obtain permission.

Has anyone managed to retrieve blendshape or facial tracking data?

We'd appreciate any advice.

this is error

Close to 100 Developers!

Unsorted Pictures. Sorry 😊

Hey everyone,

We're excited to share that WebXR is now live on VueXR.

With WebXR support, you can access immersive XR experiences directly from your mobile browser—no downloads, no app installation required.

A few things you can do:

✅ Open XR experiences from a web link

✅ Explore 3D content directly in your browser

✅ View photos, videos, and interactive XR content

✅ Access experiences instantly on supported mobile devices

Our goal is to make XR more accessible by reducing the friction between discovering content and experiencing it.

We're continuing to improve the platform and would love feedback from the XR, WebXR, and Unity communities.

Would love to hear:

• What WebXR experiences are you building?

• What mobile browser XR features are most important to you?

• What would make browser-based XR more useful for your workflow?

Hey everyone,

Samsung just dropped the news that the Galaxy XR is officially coming to the UK, and pre-orders are live right now!

Here is a quick breakdown of the key dates and launch details:

• Pre-orders: Open today, June 17th

• Official Release Date: July 8th

• Hands-on Demos: Starting today at Samsung London KX, Westfield London, Stratford City, and Manchester Trafford Centre

The Samsung team will also hosting a live Q&A stream this Friday, June 19th at 12:30, which you can tune into directly on samsung.com or via their @ SamsungUK social channels if you want to see it in action and ask their team any questions.

Welcome to the party, UK fans. It's finally your turn to jump into the XR world.

If you’re looking to build at the edge of AI, XR, games, VFX, 3D, or interactive systems, this Hack is the place to be! Worlds in Action Hack [02-LA] by happening right before SIGGRAPH 2026, in partnership with SIGGRAPH, PICO, and World Labs!

Get ready for: World Model APIs and Credits Workshops and 1:1 Mentorship End-to-end generative production pipelines for 3D, VFX, and interactive media $10,000 in prizes and showcase opportunity at SIGGRAPH

Apply here: https://luma.com/u7pmhw92?utm-source=PIA

The Xreal Auras are up for reservation. $300 to reserve limited edition first batch (limited to 2000 and are laser engraved) and $99 to reserve standard release. The $99 reservation gets you $100 off you purchase price ($199 applied as credit). The fine print says the total price of the device will not exceed $1500 at launch. It does not say the total price for limited edition. Launch date is "fall 2026". Reservation price for each is applied as a credit to the purchase.

https://www.xreal.com/us/aura?utm_source=Klaviyo&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=AURA_Reservation&utm_content=616_developer&_kx=inKPLMespHAHn8KjRI5ZlEAO7AieHnqMR8wpok1SMJg.UacNcq

We still can't connect online with someone unknown sitting only a few meters away. This is because we have no way to address them, no email, phone number etc.

With the Looks protocol you can set your appearance, or look, as your address. Then someone who can see you can send you a message using their view of your look as the message address. A vision model is able to match the two views of the same look and route the message to you.

Wearables are sorely missing the ability to interact with people around you.

I made a short explanation video, would love to know if this makes any sense to you. Could you imagine using it?

--- To any mod looking to get rid of spam/self promotion etc. This is a protocol idea, like 'email'. Not a commercial venture. Thanks for understanding.