Before using Passthrough, you should update your device to the latest Meta Quest operating system. See Update your Meta Quest software⁠ to update your Meta Quest.

Configure Unreal Project

To get started with Passthrough, configure your Unreal Engine project:

Follow the Unreal Engine setup guide to set up Unreal Engine and create a new project.

On the menu, go to Edit > Project Settings > Meta XR, and change the following settings:

Under General, set XR API to Epic Native OpenXR (Recommended).

Under Mobile, set Passthrough Enabled to True.

Set up Passthrough using Persistent Passthrough (recommended):

This type of Passthrough applies to the full screen and remains active for the entire duration of the app. See Persistent Passthrough for more information.

Access the Passthrough Subsystem (UOculusXRPassthroughSubsystem) in any Blueprint by right-clicking in the Event Graph and searching for Get Oculus XR Passthrough Subsystem. From the subsystem node, call the Initialize Persistent Passthrough method.
You can then configure the passthrough layer from the Details tab when selecting the node.
Persistent Passthrough Initialize node

Configure the passthrough layer. The following list describes the standard settings:

The Layer Placement setting controls where the passthrough layer appears relative to scene rendering. Depending on the Placement setting, Passthrough will be composited on top of the application (Overlay) or beneath the application (Underlay). The use of Overlay is deprecated and does not work over Meta Quest Link. Set this to Underlay.

The Texture Opacity Factor controls the opacity of the whole passthrough texture.

You can customize the passthrough layer further using the additional settings.
Persistent Passthrough layer details

Customize Passthrough

Customize Passthrough through styling (texture opacity and edge rendering), color mapping techniques (color map type and lookup tables (LUTs)), or compositing and masking (occlusions and passthrough windows).

Wait until Passthrough is ready

Passthrough is asynchronous by nature. Even though you can create a passthrough layer instantly, its content may not be ready for rendering for several frames. This leads to a brief black frame gap. You can avoid this by using the LayerResumed event, which is emitted once the layer is fully initialized and populated with the passthrough content.

Example usage: Layer Resumed event from component

The event is also available with Persistent Passthrough: Layer Resumed event from Persistent Passthrough

Enable based on system recommendation

You can show a VR or passthrough background in your app based on user choice. Meta Quest devices already provide users with this choice in the home environment, and your app can leverage the user’s home environment preference. We recommend that apps default to MR or VR based on user preferences. Query this preference using UOculusXRFunctionLibrary::IsPassthroughRecommended() from the OculusXRHMD module, either through C++ or Blueprints.

IsPassthroughRecommended Blueprint node that returns whether passthrough is recommended based on user preferences.

Design guidelines

Design guidelines are Meta’s human interface standards and design frameworks that help you create safe, user-oriented, and retainable immersive and passthrough user experiences.