Community Manager

Updates to Your Meta Quest Experience in 2026

Forum|Forum|6 months ago
March 17, 2026
293 replies
45568 views

Earlier this year, we shared an update on our renewed focus for VR and Horizon. We are separating the two platforms so each can grow with greater focus, and the Horizon Worlds platform will become a mobile-only experience. This separation will extend across our ecosystem, including our mobile app. To support this vision, we are making the following changes to streamline your Quest experience throughout 2026.

Meta Horizon Worlds: By March 31, 2026, Horizon Worlds and Events will no longer appear in the Store on Quest. Also, Horizon Central, Events Arena, Kaiju, and Bobber Bay worlds will no longer be available in VR. You can still jump into your other favorite worlds in VR until June 15, 2026, after which the Horizon Worlds app will be removed from Quest, and Worlds will no longer be available in VR. After June 15, you can jump into all your favorite mobile-optimized worlds on the Meta Horizon mobile app.
Meta Horizon Hyperscape Capture (Beta): By March 24, 2026, viewing Hyperscape captures is moving out of Horizon Worlds. Your existing captures will remain viewable within the Hyperscape Capture (Beta) app and the companion Preview app, which are available in your Quest app library. You can continue capturing new Hyperscapes, but sharing, inviting, and co-experiencing Hyperscapes with others will no longer be supported.
Meta Horizon Plus (MH+) Perks: By March 31, 2026, Horizon-specific perks — including Meta Credits, Digital Clothing, Avatars and In-World Purchases — will be removed from the subscription. Your core MH+ gaming benefits and monthly games will not be affected.

We continue to invest in making your Quest experience better — recent updates have brought new features like Surface Keyboard and Touchpad, customizable app and window positioning, and we're continuing to roll out Navigator, our modernized interface, to more users.

outdated news. meta ceo says existing worlds

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Bleustrawberry

New Participant

Well this is irritating. They should've polled the public, I'll pivot but the worlds is what I use my headset for. A mobile app is a dime a dozen, and I'd like to spend less time on my phone. Total bummer.

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SammiItzMe

New Participant

This is the worst decision ever. I have spend countless hour learning how to build.. Building worlds.. meeting So so many amazing people for you guys just to take it down!.. WHY . Why must you take it down?. my safe space was able to build on headset. do you know how much people you disappoint? MOBILE is the worst place to play this . I hate it. i hate it so much. i will not be on horizon no more.

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margaritarodriguez

New Participant

To get rid of horizon worlds to make it just a phone app is a big mistake. The whole point of it is virtual reality. I wont use the app version . Makes no sense. What's the point of it

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AmberLou24

New Participant

Playing on the phone is the worst. The whole point of it being a "world" is that you can be immersed into it. It's really sad that it's taking a step away from VR and moving solely to mobile. Terrible move. People created escapes from their daily life and broke ties to their phone, this tries to just put them right back on it. Makes it so impersonal. I really wish you could find a space to make room for both options. Want some games to be only phone platform? Go for it. But to take the option for VR Space away from everyone..it's only going to send people to other platforms like VRChat. It's not going to retain users.

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Bleustrawberry

New Participant

literally my point (but you said it better!). I'm pretty annoyed by it

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JekllTheBrave

New Participant

I will.pesonally be sad to.see it go, I enjoyed providing spaces for people.with social anxiety, and shut in and bedridden, older adults to.come in and be able to socialize, I am not a mobile gamer, I hopefully can find a place to land and continue my work.

DootSnoot

Participant

wait does this mean horizon on VR on quest 2 and quest 3 is also being discontinued? I'm confused as if they mean "Quest" headsets in general.

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SneakyWeasel92

Participant

Yes no headsets will be able to play Worlds. No VR at all

DootSnoot

Participant

This sucks. so much for the "metaverse".

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ShimTaejun

Participant

So basically I am losing my only link to the outside world since Horizon Worlds and hanging out with other people virtually was the only way I had to be around other people. And I had just finished. Hyperscape capture of my place so I could invite my best friend who lives on the other side of the country into my place to see it first hand with me. I bought this headset and I bought and shipped one to him so we could be together in VR so I wouldn’t feel alone all the time.

Like what is the point of having these VR headsets of they just want to kill the biggest aspect of them? And while doing so tell us it’s to make the experience better by taking a huge functionality away? And who the hell wants to play in Horizon Worlds on their phone??!! That’s stupid the whole point of the worlds is immersion and socialization, not isolation and tiny viewing of a phone screen.

Mark Zuckerberg has got to go

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Maccyb123

Honored Contributor

ShimTaejun It's very unfortunate though it's likely that Meta accountants made the decision due to financial losses. Why do you have no contact or link to the outside world? There are many social apps available. I'm not being critical, I'm just curious as to why you can only use Worlds.

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Blackmelanated

New Participant

Kind of obvious, some people have social anxiety. It’s clearly stated they have a friend in another country that they communicate with, calling someone on the phone in another country is expensive.

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IamMatch

Participant

Well, shoot: I guess the Creators Program didn't have enough interest. It's a shame we can't toodle through there and "sit in" to The Soapstone Comedy Clubs.
I think instead of shuttering Horizon Worlds- and giving up cuz only Squeekers are interested: incentivise creators and let them build and advertise their worlds. Freak show Circus Escape is amazing- and there's potential if enough resources would be available: like a better interface w/ Desktops and building.

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IamMatch

Participant

Also: they're doing this on the heels of Meta Horizon+ which is a ridiculous subscription service. No one is going to pay 7.99/mo. to play games on our fones.

steve40

Honored Contributor

Also: they're doing this on the heels of Meta Horizon+ which is a ridiculous subscription service. No one is going to pay 7.99/mo. to play games on our fones.

You don't have the slightest clue what you are talking about. The Horizon+ subscription has nothing to do with Worlds, except for the occasional free avatar or costume perks, which will now be discontinued. All the games are standalone VR only and will not be affected.

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CCN0V22

New Participant

This is HORRIBLE news!! The world's app on mobile is terrible; the screen is way too small to enjoy the games, and all the amazing VR clubs that were available in VR will not be the same if everyone is on mobile, which will ruin the entire experience. 😭 Plus the audio on the mobile app is AWFUL. I'm so saddened by this. What is the point of having the account anymore? I will definitely be cancelling my Horizon+ because it will be useless, and all the money I spent on worlds and updating my avatar closet is going to waste. I hate this.

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ShimTaejun

Participant

I say time for a boycott

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Maccyb123

Honored Contributor

Yes, all 30 people who are complaining here should boycott it. You think that will be effective? It's unfortunate but the vast majority of people want to play VR games only and either don't care or are happy it's gone. I think it should be there for those who use it but it's probably losing too much money. There are plenty of social interaction apps. If the Quest is just going to be a gaming headset, it will be better for it.

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ShimTaejun

Participant

Meta is not a gaming company. They are not going to be in the business of producing gaming hardware just for the hardware. So when the announcement comes, and it will, that there will be no Quest 4, and they are transitioning all their focus to the Meta Glasses AI/AR, then everyone laughing and enjoying THIS announcement will realize why people like me said what I said. This is not a good announcement. This is just the first step. They didn't just kill worlds, they also killed things they literally just announced a few months ago as new features at Meta Connect. So yeah, I'll be curious to see what comes next in a few months.

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