Meta Quest 3 News & Reviews

Meta announced that Supernatural now boasts over 100,000 users, putting its first-party fitness app’s revenue in the millions.

Launched in 2020, Supernatural gamifies fitness with some very Beat Saber-inspired orb-smashing mechanics, which is set to the beat of a poppy soundtrack led by personal coaches in a variety of picturesque locales.

Now, Meta has released its first user figures for Supernatural, saying in a blog post it now counts 110,000 users of the app.

As the first user data released for Supernatural, it’s difficult to tell whether the app has floated or flourished since its release during the COVID-19 pandemic, which saw many gyms closed, forcing users to workout at home. Still, it’s clear Meta is putting some gas behind Supernatural, as the app recently released a workout led by fitness legend Jane Fonda.

Granted, Meta may be counting among its 110,000 users those taking advantage of the 14-day free trial, which you’d expect to be at its peak right now as users are looking to get fit in the new year. Provided Meta is counting actual subscribers though, that handily puts the app’s yearly revenue in the millions.

At $100 per year, or $10 per month, Supernatural’s yearly gross revenue could fit somewhere between $11 million and $13.2 million, or $917,000 and $1,100,000 when calculated monthly. It may also be slightly lower than that, considering the app can also be purchased in Quest 3/3S hardware bundle for an additional $50 than either headsets’ base version, which provides a one-year subscription to the app.

In comparison to leading non-VR fitness apps, Supernatural still has lot of room to grow if it wants to become the ‘Peloton of VR’. According to data compiled by Statista, Peloton’s mobile app subscription posted over $5 million revenue in January 2024 alone.

While Peloton can be used with nearly any mobile device, and be paired with any manufacture of rower, stationary bike, or treadmill, Supernatural’s bottleneck to higher user numbers invariably comes down to the number of Quest headsets in active use.

Meta hasn’t published recent figures on monthly active users (MAU) of its Quest headsets, however a 2023 Wall Street Journal report citing internal figures from October 2022 noted the Quest platform counted 6.37 million MAU.

And the need to recoup on Supernatural is very real, if only to justify the company’s costly legal process started by the United States Federal Trade Commission in 2022 to block the acquisition of original developer Within under the guise of unfairly monopolizing the VR fitness space.

Meta has officially discontinued Quest Pro, the company’s first mixed reality headset.

Meta announced back in September that it was winding down Quest 2 and Quest Pro sales. At the time, the company said remaining stock would be sold through the end of the year or until they ran out, whichever came first.

Now, in place of the Quest Pro order page, Meta is suggesting users to buy Quest 3 “for the ultimate mixed reality experience and premium comfort.” You can still buy Quest Pro’s ‘Touch Pro’ controllers however, as they support Quest 2 and above.

Released in 2022 at the eye-water price of $1,500, Meta hoped to use the headset to kickstart its mixed reality ambitions among consumers, as it was the first to offer color-passthrough, pancake lenses, and both face and eye-tracking—coming in strong contrast to the company’s other offering at the time, Quest 2.

Nearly a year after launch, it was apparent the Pro-level headset wasn’t appealing to users nearly to the degree Meta had initially hoped, prompting the company to knock Quest Pro down to $1,000. To complicate matters, high initial pricing of Quest Pro put a strain on developers, which resulted in very few compelling MR experiences out of the gate.

It was clear what was needed was a more accessible headset. In October 2023, Meta released Quest 3, which housed much of the tech seen in Quest Pro—minus face and eye-tracking, and at the starting price of $499.

Clamping down yet further on price-performance, Meta released Quest 3S a year later, which houses the same Snapdragon XR2 Gen 2 chipset as Quest 3, although including the same cost-saving Fresnel lenses and displays as Quest 2—marking the company’s most energetic push to capitalize on its mixed reality ambitions.

While Meta’s strategy to capture the console price-point with Quest has been a winning strategy thus far, what’s uncertain is whether the company will head back into the ‘Pro’ pricing structure anytime soon. The Information reported earlier last year that Meta was cancelling a potential Quest Pro follow-up, however Meta CTO Andrew Bosworth partically refuted those claims, noting that “there might be a Quest Pro 2, there might not be. I’m not really telling you, but I will say don’t believe everything you read about what’s been stopped or started.”

One of the worst things to happen on Christmas morning is downloading updates and charging batteries. Undoubtedly even worse though is downloading an update that then bricks your device before you can even use it. This apparently happened to a number of users last week, which Meta has responded by offering new devices and Horizon Store credit.

According to mass user reports that flooded Reddit on December 25th, some new Quest owners encountered a critical error after being forced to apply the latest update, with an error message stating “Your device is corrupt. It can’t be trusted.” From there, there was no way of resetting the headset, effectively bricking the device.

The issue appears to have been caused by applying Quest’s latest v72 update, which the company released earlier this month. User reports indicate it has affected new, but alsoold headsets that haven’t been updated in a while.

Here’s what Meta says in a user help thread addressing the issue:

“We’ve discovered a software update issue that caused some Quest 2/3/3S headsets to be unresponsive and unable to start up correctly. We are actively working on resolving the issue for all users, but in most cases, you are now able to use your device normally.”

User reports suggested only a fraction of new headsets responded this way, although following a pause by Meta to pull its latest firmware update, new users are now likely in the clear if they still haven’t set up a new Quest. And for those with bricked headsets, Meta is sending out replacement units with some Horizon Store credit to smooth things over.

“We are aware that a limited number of Quest 3S devices are experiencing a software update issue that is causing headsets to be unresponsive and unable to boot up properly,” the company says in a ‘Next Steps’ thread for Quest 3S users. “If your device is affected by the issue, we’ll send you a replacement Quest device at no cost to you. We’ll also issue you Horizon Store credit as a token of our commitment to supporting you.”

While Meta was quick to respond, the damage was already done, prompting some to return faulty headsets to stores and hope their next device wasn’t afflicted with the same issue. Some users, such as Reddit poster ‘Physical-Slip5049’, says it ruined their son’s Christmas.

“I bought a never before used second hand Quest 2 from eBay as a Christmas present for my 9 year old son. He opened it Christmas morning, started it, and was forced to update it,” Physical-Slip5049 reports. “Having never used a VR headset before, I tried to reset it after following Meta’s own instructions. Now it’s hard-bricked. It’s been turned on for just 5 minutes in its entire 2-year life. My son spent 3 months waiting to play this but couldn’t use it when it came to the big day. He spent half of Christmas day crying and upset.”

Additionally, users are reporting that Meta is offering those with out-of-warranty headsets, such as Quest 2, with refurbished units to go along with store credit.

We’re following the after effects of this closely. Let us know in the comments below if you’ve been affected, and what steps Meta is taking to solve the issue. 

Reducing weight and increasing performance are two of the most important factors in pushing standalone XR headsets forward. While Meta has shown off its own Orion AR glasses prototype using a wireless compute unit, Meta’s CTO Andrew Bosworth doesn’t think a similar setup is the magic bullet for standalone VR gaming.

Bosworth, who is also head of the company’s Reality Labs XR team, held another one of his Instagram Q&As earlier this week, where he typically delves into a wide variety of topics—some professional, some personal.

In the latest session, Bosworth expounded on the subject of wireless compute units, and how the company thinks they aren’t the right fit for its standalone VR headsets.

“We have looked at this a bunch of times. Wireless compute pucks just really don’t solve the problem. If you’re wireless, they still have a battery on the headset, which is a major driver of weight. And, sure, you’re gaining some thermal space so your performance could potentially be better, although you’re somewhat limited now by bandwidth because you’re using a radio,” Bosworth says.

Technical hurdles aside, Meta is primarily focused on building something accessible to consumers, with its latest Quest 3S selling for as low as $300 for the 128GB version. Bosworth continues:

“You’ve increased your cost dramatically, because even if your major silicon is in the wireless compute puck, you still need quite a bit of silicon to just power the displays and do the local corrections required there, and handle the stream of data. So it really ends up … the math doesn’t work, is what I’m saying. And it doesn’t end up saving you that much weight and dramatically increases your cost and complexity.”

This comes in contrast to Meta’s Orion prototype, which does incorporate a wireless compute unit. Granted, Orion isn’t going to be productized due to its enormous cost—a reported $10,000 per-unit owing to its difficult-to-produce silicon carbide lenses, however it’s clear that in some cases wireless pucks do make sense—namely in delivering less immersive graphics to AR glasses.

Then again, Bosworth has said its first pair of AR glasses for consumers won’t hit at that Quest price-point when they land at some point in the future. Bosworth said back in September that such a device is “not going to be cheap,” noting however the company aims to make them accessible “at least in the space of phone, laptop territory.”

A recent report from The Information maintains Meta has started outsourcing some design for upcoming headsets amid a shift to move part of its production out of China. Now, Meta CTO Andrew Bosworth refutes those specific design claims, saying headsets will continue to be designed “in house.”

According to The Information (non-paywalled via SeekingAlpha) Meta is reportedly planning to move half of its Quest headset manufacturing from China to Vietnam, a step done to avoid upcoming steep import tariffs soon to be levied on that country by US President-elect Donald Trump.

The report additionally alleges Meta is set to shift more of its component design, including lenses and displays, to Goertek, the Chinese original design manufacture (ODM) known for creating both reference designs and manufacturing devices for companies across the XR industry.

Furthermore, Meta has reportedly tapped Goertek and other manufacturers to eventually develop its headsets by 2030, as the company is said to transition to focus more on its lucrative software business. Such a joint design manufacturing relationship would allegedly include Meta outlining goals to Goertek, which then proposes multiple options for Meta to choose from.

Andrew Bosworth, Meta CTO and head of the company’s XR-focused Reality Labs, has however refuted those specific design claims in a recent X post.

“[S]omeone is pushing the design rumor hard to multiple outlets, and that aspect remains false,” Bosworth says. “We continue to design our headsets in house as we have and have no plans to change that. We always partner with our manufacturers to some degree but nothing material is changing there.”

In a follow-up post, Bosworth underlines its work with Goertek will be business as usual.

“To be clear, Goertek is a great partner and as parts of our stack are more mature and used from headset to headset we’re glad to have them carry the designs across which has always been true. But this isn’t a change from how we’ve done business with them even as we scale it up.”

Citing a Meta employee, The Information additionally reports Goertek has begun designing the outer shell for future versions of Meta’s MR headsets, and is now playing a larger role in R&D for other Meta products, including its Ray-Ban Meta smart glasses.

Earlier this year Goertek injected $280 million into its Vietnamese subsidiary, which according to the Shenzhen Stock Exchange filing is said to specialize in manufacturing consumer electronics products, such as headphones, smartwatches, and VR and AR devices.

Leopoly, the studio behind PC VR modeling software Shapelab (2023), has launched a new version built specifically for Quest headsets.

Called Shapelab Lite, the polygon-based 3D modeling app is now in early access for Quest 3, Quest 3S and Quest Pro.

Shapelab Lite offers up many of the core features of the PC VR app’s toolset, targeting its intuitive sculpting tools at beginners, hobbyists, and professionals seeking a standalone 3D modeling solution.

Key features include a polygon mesh-based framework for precision modeling, dynamic topology for flexible detail adjustments, and user-friendly controls for creating 3D assets like props and characters.

“Shapelab Lite represents a significant step forward in making professional-grade 3D modeling accessible to everyone,” said Daniel Andrassy, Chief Product Officer of Shapelab. “We’re excited to bring the core features of Shapelab PCVR to standalone VR users, empowering a new wave of creators. This is just the beginning of what we envision for the future of Shapelab Lite. As an early-access software, we’re actively listening to user feedback to guide future updates and ensure the app meets the needs of our community, keeping in mind the capabilities and constraints of a device with lower processing power compared to the PC version.”

You can find Shapelab Lite on the Horizon Store for Quest 3/S/Pro, priced at $15.

Project Aria is a pair of sensor-packed glasses which Meta has been using internally to train its augmented reality perception systems. Now, Meta revealed it’s released Project Aria to a number of third-party research teams aiming to tackle some of the most complex challenges in creating practical, all-day AR glasses of the future.

Announced in 2020, Aria doesn’t include AR displays of any type. Instead, the company designed the glasses to help develop the “safeguards, policies and even social norms necessary to govern the use of AR glasses and other future wearable devices.”

One early collaboration was with BMW, exploring how Aria might inform how AR glasses will one day serve up stable virtual content in moving vehicles—undoubtedly a big piece of the puzzle considering Americans spend around one hour in a car per-day on average, according to AAA.

Now, Meta announced it’s also partnered with a number of universities to develop research projects centered around the sort of things that will be important for all-day AR.

Meta says partners using Aria are currently researching advanced topics such as goal-driven human interaction (University of Bristol), sound localization for hearing aid innovation (University of Iowa), driver intent prediction for accident prevention (IIIT Hyderabad), and audio-based indoor navigation for the visually impaired (Carnegie Mellon University).

Notably, Meta is still accepting applications, which gives approved teams access to Meta’s Aria Research Kit (ARK), which includes the Project Aria hardware and SDK. The company says it also hopes to spark a variety of research topics such as embodied AI, contextualized AI, human-computer interaction (HCI), and robotics.

Meta envisions a future where AR is an integral tool for communication, entertainment, and utility, although getting there requires slim, all-day wearable AR glasses, which hasn’t been easy.

At Meta Connect in September, the company revealed one such prototype, called Orion, which features an impressively slim glasses form-factor, a separate wireless compute unit, and EMG wristband that can detect subtle movements of the user’s hand and fingers.

While Project Aria focuses on foundational research, Orion showcases Meta’s future ambitions for wearable AR, which is expensive. According to a report from The Verge, it cost Meta nearly $10,000 per unit to build due to its difficult to produce silicon carbide lenses, which feature a class-leading 70 degree field-of-view.

While Meta CTO Andrew Bosworth says the company hopes to launch such a pair before 2030 based on its work with Orion, at its unveiling, Meta made a point to note that Orion is “not a research prototype,” making it doubtful we’ll ever see this particular iteration in the hands of university teams.

Meta has added an important puzzle piece to Horizon Worlds, as the company has quietly rolled out its premium digital currency on the social VR platform in the US, UK, and Canada.

Roblox has Robux, Rec Room has Tokens, and Horizon Worlds now has Meta Credits, letting users buy in-world digital goods from creators, such as avatar outfits and access keys to premium worlds. Unlike Quest Cash, Meta Credits can’t be used to buy hardware or accessories, just stuff in Horizon Worlds.

While it’s a big step, this isn’t the official start of the Horizon Worlds economy. Meta has been experimenting with monetization on Horizon Worlds since 2022, allowing users to buy digital goods directly with their local currency. The difference with Meta Credits (like all premium tokens) however is the all-too familiar obfuscation of the amount of real-world money being spent.

As seen above, you can buy packs of Meta Credits that come along with various bonus amounts, or go for the straight 10:1 conversion at the lowest 300 Meta Credit tier, which costs $3 and doesn’t come with a bonus amount.

Similar to how Meta rolled out Horizon Worlds itself, the company is keeping a short leash on Meta Credits; they’re only available to users in the US, UK, and Canada for now. Horizon Worlds-supported regions still waiting for Meta Credits include Australia, New Zealand, most of Europe, and many countries in East Asia.

Meta says parents or guardians of children aged 10-12 (ages vary by region) must approve any purchase requiring a credit card, including the purchase of Meta Credits, through a parent-managed Meta account.

Meta Credits can’t be transferred from one account to another either, meaning they’re tied to your individual account—i.e. not like a cryptocurrency—and can only used within Horizon Worlds, either in Quest or its standard mobile app.

With Meta Credits, Horizon Worlds is taking a definitive step towards building a sustainable virtual economy, although we’ll simply have to wait and see whether it’s enough to strip creators (and users) away from more mature ecosystems, like Roblox, Rec Room, or VRChat.

With Meta’s reach though, there’s more than a good chance we might see Meta Credit gift cards at the checkout aisles as we near Holiday Season.