Meta has publicly stated that it wants to be “the Android of XR.” But you know who else wants to be the Android of XR? Android XR, of course.

Beyond debates about specs or features, one major factor is likely to determine whether Meta can fend off growing pressure from Google and Apple in the XR landscape: flat apps.

Flat apps—like Spotify, TikTok, Snapchat, and Discord—aren’t the most exciting use case for a headset. But Vision Pro (which supports a massive library of flat iPadOS apps) has shown just how much value is added by fusing the XR experience with the apps we already know and love (rather than completely separating us from them when we put on a headset). And now Android XR is making the same play by supporting all existing Android apps on the Play Store.

While Meta’s headsets excel in gaming, it’s clear that XR’s potential extends far beyond gaming alone.

A company focused solely on gaming (like Nintendo) will never reach the scale of a company building a broader computing platform (like Microsoft). That’s why Microsoft is worth 43 times as much as Nintendo. Admittedly, this isn’t a perfect comparison (as Microsoft does much more than just build a computing platform), but hopefully the analogy is clear.

So between Meta and Google, we have two XR platforms:

  • Meta’s Horizon OS has the largest and best library of immersive apps.
  • Google’s Android XR has the largest and best library of flat apps.

To dominate XR, both need what the other has. But who faces a bigger challenge?

Meta, it seems, is in a tougher spot.

Immersive app developers are hungry for growth. If a popular game can gain 25% more users by porting to Android XR, the decision if obvious.

By contrast, major flat apps (like Spotify, TikTok, Snapchat, and Discord) stand to gain relatively little growth from porting to Horizon OS. They’d be lucky to gain even 0.25% more users than they already have on the entirety of Android.

And you might be thinking, “Horizon OS is based on Android, so porting apps should be easy!” That’s true—the technical side of porting may be relatively simple. But for massive apps with huge userbases and constant updates, the real challenge is in the ongoing support and maintenance, which is no small commitment.

As a result, Google is better positioned to attract key immersive apps to Android XR than Meta is to bring critical flat apps to Horizon OS. Without a critical mass of flat apps, Meta’s headset risk being relegated as immersive gaming consoles rather than general computing devices.

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And that’s very much not where Meta wants to be. In fact, the whole reason Meta got into XR a decade ago was quite literally to control XR as the “next computing platform” before Apple or Google could take over.

You may not find flat apps to be an essential part of the XR experience, but there’s no doubt that if one platform has both key flat apps and key immersive apps, it will beat out the platform that has only one or the other.

Even if Meta makes better hardware (let’s say they just consistently make headsets that are 20% faster, lighter, and cheaper than the equivalent Android XR headset), I still don’t think that will matter in the long run, compared to whether or not they have core flat apps available on their platform.

This is an existential risk to Meta’s XR ambitions, and one that doesn’t have any obvious solutions.

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Ben Lang
Ben is the world's most senior professional analyst solely dedicated to the XR industry, having founded Road to VR in 2011—a year before the Oculus Kickstarter sparked a resurgence that led to the modern XR landscape. He has authored more than 3,000 articles chronicling the evolution of the XR industry over more than a decade. With that unique perspective, Ben has been consistently recognized as one of the most influential voices in XR, giving keynotes and joining panel and podcast discussions at key industry events. He is a self-described "journalist and analyst, not evangelist."
  • Olle

    Mark Zuckerbergs Snow Crash dream will crash I agree.

  • guest

    They should ignore 2D apps altogether. About a century ago all the vaudville stages setup film cameras but then went out of business because cinematography killed them!

  • Nevets

    This will hardly have taken Meta by surprise. but what is their plan B?

    • Jeff

      One could theorize that Meta decided to open up and rebrand their OS as "Horizon" for 3rd party manufacturers as a reaction to finding out behind the scenes that Google had their own renewed ambitions with Android XR. It would make sense for Meta to try to beat Google to punch. It also might explain why LG suddenly dropped out of collaboration with Meta so shortly after the announcement.. perhaps they too found out about what Google had brewing.

      I disagree with the article that Meta has more ground to make up, though. Flat apps are convenience ecosystem thing, but they are secondary. It's the same situation as Apple. The compelling feature of VR is gaming experiences and the new players are wayyyyy behind. However, if they would just throw a friggin bone to PCVR, then they could at least say they are in the game and with better visuals / optics / whatever compared to Meta.

  • Rob

    I have been very active with VR for 7 years now. And the honest answer is I almost only use it for gaming . Around 5 hours a week on average. For internet browsing or WhatsApp a phone is still a lot easier and comfortable to use than putting a headset on your head. I dont use it for these things. And I dont think the mainstream public that are still a little sceptical of VR headsets are not going to put it on their heads for chatting or internet browsing. In VR gaming Meta still has a large lead. With its own exclusive titles like Asgards Wrath 2 and Batman. But also because it supports almost all 3rd party VR games including pcvr with SteamVR support.

  • Memyself

    Competition is welcomed. Complacency is not.

  • Albert Hartman

    VR is a rich person's game right now with only Meta, Apple, MSFT, Sony, and a few others with enough money to play. So talking generically about what XR approaches will work best is less important than talking about the specific characters of the few companies involved. In this short list of companies, the most important features that motivate & distinguish them from each other is their particular profits priorities. Apple & walled gardens, Meta & monetizing your social graph, etc. In a world where the tech is levelling out you can predict the fortunes of the companies involved by just guessing what their actions to confine their users will probably be. And you can also pick the likely winners this way.

  • Octogod

    Who uses flat mobile apps in XR?

    They might be theoretically useful, but the real value of these tools is engaging with the unique benefits they provide. If not wowed, and only provided analogs of their 2D versions, they'll leave the HMD completely.

  • JakeDunnegan

    I'd guess the solution would be to do with Google Android what Meta did with Steam not all that long ago.

    Make it a two-way street that's freely open (by way of an app in either direction) and let the chips fall where they may.

    That way, Quest users can get all the flat apps they want, and all the Google XR users can get whatever available games are on Meta.

    It's not a battle that Meta can win – but Google has also proven that they suck at making game platforms. (Anyone still using Stadia? No? Huh.) Netflix couldn't either. Amazon has yet to make a successful game created by an in-house team. It's not exactly easy becoming a successful game platform.

    • Rob

      I read in the past that Meta already offered such cooperation to Google in the past. But Google declined.