There was a lot to unpack at Meta’s latest Connect conference, and almost none of it had to do with the Quest. That’s actually good news for fans of smart glasses—Meta introduced not one, not two, but three new pairs, one of which actually has a display in it. For fans of VR, which is traditionally what Connect is all about, the selection of things to be excited over was a little more sparse.
One thing that actually did make the keynote, however, was Meta’s Hyperscape. If that name sounds familiar, it’s because Meta announced it a year ago, but it’s just starting to roll it out for real now. In case you either didn’t catch the announcement back then or have forgotten, Hyperscapes are hyperealistic environments that can be captured within a few minutes by just walking around with a Quest 3 strapped to your head. While Meta has had examples for people to explore for a while now (environments include Chance the Rapper’s home studio and Gordon Ramsey’s kitchen), this is the first time that it’s actually allowing Quest 3 and 3S users to capture content for themselves.
Naturally, after seeing lots of wild examples on X, I wanted to give it a whirl for myself—and folks, I’m glad I did.
Hyperscaped my office. Results aren’t perfect by any means but still kind of cool? pic.twitter.com/0SnICH1iip — James Pero (@jamestpero) September 26, 2025
First thing you need to know is that in order to use Hyperscape Capture on your Quest 3/3S, you need to download the Public Test Channel (PTC) version of the Horizon OS, which is a public beta. Having downloaded it myself, you should be warned that it’s a little glitchy. But as long as you’re okay dealing with some bugs and a vastly different UI, you can download Horizon OS v81 and get capturing. To join, you have to use the Meta Horizon app and go to your Headset settings, then tap Advanced Settings and toggle on the “Public Test Channel.” You’ll then be able to go into your headset and download v81 as a software update in your Settings.
The process of creating a Hyperscape couldn’t be easier, really. Once you download the Hyperscape Capture app from the store, you can just load in and start capturing. Hyperscape Capture is still in beta, mind you, so not everything is seamless. It may take a couple of tries to get the feature to work. Once you do, you’ll be prompted to put the headset on and start walking around your chosen room. This is the mapping process, and Meta shows a helpful grid around areas that it wants you to ogle, so you can go stare at them until the app is satisfied.
Turn any room into an immersive world 🌍✨ At #MetaConnect, we shared how Hyperscape Capture (Beta) lets you capture physical spaces on Meta Quest in minutes and transform them into photorealistic environments 🤯 See it in the Meta Horizon Store 👉 https://t.co/XElaYPJxNj pic.twitter.com/j8K7AjEsEC — Meta Horizon Developers (@MetaHorizonDevs) September 19, 2025
I chose the Gizmodo office, which is pretty big, and honestly, a tall order given that it’s a little dark and has lots of stuff on it. Plus, I had to walk around staring vacantly at my co-workers while they work, and Hyperscape is not optimized for people, it’s meant for places. The things you map should be stationary so you can capture everything in detail. What I’m trying to say is that you should not do what I did—my choice of environment was a product of me having no bandwidth/free time and needing to get a test done when I actually have a second. But, hey, consider my non-ideal environment a test!
Once I awkwardly shuffled around the room staring at stuff (you’ll have to go through several rounds that capture the objects, details, and the ceiling), it was time for the hard part… waiting. I’m not going to lie, it takes a long time for Meta to process videos. In my case, since it was a rather large space, it took about 8 hours. Good thing I wasn’t on a tight deadline! Ultimately, this isn’t a big deal since, again, this feature is in beta and it’s really more for fun than anything. It’s still good to keep in mind if you’re feeling excited and want to get exploring right away, though.
The good news is, the results were honestly worth the wait. The next day, after mapping my office, I popped the Quest 3S on my face to check it out, and was genuinely impressed with the level of detail the headset was able to capture with my pretty expedited run-through and not ideal choice of environment. While some details (people and chairs that had moved while mapping) were blurred, lots of aspects—especially those that I actually spent time looking at—were rendered in enough detail to make me feel like I was witnessing something close to the real thing.
I was able to use the Quest 3S controllers to teleport around, looking at how good (or bad) details were captured, and found that there was a big difference depending on which area of the room I was in. The areas where I was patient and spent more time were decidedly a lot more realistic than those I rushed through. That’s hardly a complaint, though. If you’re patient and you choose the right space, I’m sure Hyperscape could capture most rooms of a moderate size in serviceable detail. And even when the Hyperscape Capture feature doesn’t succeed, the results are kind of… interesting. The blurred stuff is like glitch art, which I know is not what Meta is going for here, but I can appreciate the imperfections nonetheless.
Plus, let’s not forget the fact that this sort of replication of environments in 3D used to require all sorts of advanced equipment. Sure, if you want something totally immersive and high-res, this is not the ideal solution—you’re limited to the hardware of the Quest 3/3S—but for more general, everyday purposes, it’s hard to beat the fact that all you need is a headset. Honestly, after using Hyperscape once, I’m excited to try mapping other scenes. I’m already thinking about how much I would have loved to have Hyperscape back in the day when my parents sold my childhood home. I still have dreams about that house, and to have been able to capture my memories in immersive detail would have been legitimately special. It’s too late for that now, of course, but I’m already preparing myself to map my current apartment before I leave next year.
Will any of this move the needle for VR? Probably not. As I recently wrote, headsets, no matter what features they introduce or how sophisticated the hardware becomes, may still end up being a fairly niche device. In the case of Hyperscape, though, it’s easy to see the mass appeal. It’s further proof to me that VR has come a long way, and while it may not be the ultimate form factor, there are things that headsets can do that other technology just can’t. You probably won’t run home and strap a headset to your face after reading this, but ya know what? Maybe you should.