Develop with Unreal Engine for Android XR

Unreal Engine support for XR development is built on the OpenXR standard, ensuring that OpenXR features supported for Android XR are natively supported in Unreal.

Follow this guide to learn about:

• Unreal Engine support for Android XR
  • Unreal Engine XR basics
  • Developing and publishing apps for Android XR
  • Unreal Engine plugins for Android XR
  • Getting support
• Input and interaction
• Supported extensions

Unreal Engine support for Android XR

When you build Unreal apps for Android XR, you can take advantage of the spatial computing capabilities of the latest versions of Unreal Engine 5. Unreal Engine 5 provides support for the core OpenXR specification, while the Android XR Extensions for Unreal provide support for Android XR and other specific extensions to help you get started quickly.

Unreal Engine XR basics

If you are new to Unreal or XR development, you can refer to Unreal's XR development documentation to understand basic concepts and workflows. Here are a few key areas to explore:

• XR Framework: Learn how to construct an VR Pawn by attaching a Camera Component (representing the headset) and Hand Input (representing the hands) to a shared scene root.
• OpenXR Plugin: The core interface for Android XR device support.
• XR Architecture: How Unreal handles the tech stack and XR subsystems.
• Project Setup: Configuring your .uproject for spatial rendering.
• Graphics Guidance: Utilizing foveated rendering, multiview, and variable rate shading (VRS).
• Performance and Profiling: Tools and techniques for optimizing your XR application.
• Best Practices: Design and development guidelines for creating comfortable and immersive XR experiences.

Develop and publish apps for Android

Unreal Engine provides comprehensive documentation for developing, building, and publishing for Android. This documentation covers managing Android permissions within the Engine, configuring Android Build Settings (through Project Settings > Platforms > Android), and using the Unreal Automation Tool (UAT).

Additionally, see the documentation for packaging and distributing apps for Android XR for specific requirements that apply to spatial apps that are distributed on the Google Play Store. Ensure your app also adheres to the quality guidelines for immersive experiences to provide a consistent and comfortable user experience on Android XR.

Unreal Engine plugins for Android XR

There are two core plugins that provide support for building Unreal apps for Android XR. These plugins are managed through the Plugins menu (Edit > Plugins).

Android XR OpenXR Plugin

The Android XR OpenXR Plugin is the primary engine interface that adds Android XR support to Unreal. It implements the OpenXR extensions required for spatial tracking, environmental understanding, and perception. To learn how to add and configure this plugin, refer to the Unreal Engine OpenXR documentation.

Android XR Extensions for Unreal

The Android XR Extensions for Unreal supplement the base OpenXR support, including additional features to help you build immersive experiences such as advanced hand mesh data and specific hardware optimizations. To learn how to import and configure this package, follow the Android XR Extensions quickstart.

Get support

If you encounter issues, see the support section for Unreal Engine on our support page for help.

Input and interaction

Creating interactive spatial experiences requires mapping physical movements to digital actions. Unreal Engine uses the Enhanced Input system combined with OpenXR to handle both motion controllers and hand tracking. By setting up Input Actions and Input Mapping Contexts, you can create flexible interactions—like grabbing, pointing, and UI navigation—that work seamlessly across different Android XR input methods.

For a comprehensive guide on building these mechanics, refer to Unreal Engine's documentation on Making Interactive XR Experiences.

Android XR supports the following specific interaction methods within Unreal Engine:

Interaction profiles

You can configure interaction profiles in your Project Settings under the OpenXR section. This allows your app to maintain consistent input mapping across different controllers and tracking methods.

Hand interaction

Hand interaction is provided through the OpenXR Hand Tracking extension. You can access hand joint data and poses through the XR Tracking components in Blueprints or C++.

Eye gaze interaction

Eye gaze data can be retrieved as a standard input pose, letting you drive UI focus or social presence features. This requires the android.permission.EYE_TRACKING_FINE permission.

Face tracking

Access real-time facial expression data to animate avatars or drive social interactions. This uses the XR_ANDROID_face_tracking extension.

Supported extensions

The following OpenXR extensions are supported when developing for Android XR in Unreal:

Feature or capability	OpenXR extension string	Provided by
Device Anchor Persistence	XR_ANDROID_device_anchor_persistence	Android XR Extensions for Unreal
Raycast	XR_ANDROID_raycast	Android XR Extensions for Unreal
Trackables (Planes/Depth)	XR_ANDROID_trackables	Android XR Extensions for Unreal
Object Tracking	XR_ANDROID_trackables_object	Android XR Extensions for Unreal
Scene Meshing	XR_ANDROID_scene_meshing	Android XR Extensions for Unreal
Face Tracking	XR_ANDROID_face_tracking	Android XR Extensions for Unreal
Eye Tracking	XR_ANDROID_eye_tracking	Android XR Extensions for Unreal
Passthrough Camera State	XR_ANDROID_passthrough_camera_state	Android XR Extensions for Unreal
Passthrough Mesh Layer	XR_ANDROID_composition_layer_passthrough_mesh	Android XR Extensions for Unreal
Depth Texture	XR_ANDROID_depth_texture	Android XR Extensions for Unreal
Light Estimation	XR_ANDROID_light_estimation	Android XR Extensions for Unreal
Performance Metrics	XR_ANDROID_performance_metrics	Android XR Extensions for Unreal
Recommended Resolution	XR_ANDROID_recommended_resolution	Android XR Extensions for Unreal
Hand Interaction	XR_EXT_hand_interaction	Android XR Extensions for Unreal
Debug Utils	XR_EXT_debug_utils	Unreal Native OpenXR
Performance Settings	XR_EXT_performance_settings	Unreal Native OpenXR
Display Refresh Rate	XR_FB_display_refresh_rate	Unreal Native OpenXR
Hand Tracking Mesh	XR_FB_hand_tracking_mesh	Android XR Extensions for Unreal
Space Warp	XR_FB_space_warp	Unreal Native OpenXR
Equirect2 Composition Layer	XR_KHR_composition_layer_equirect2	Unreal Native OpenXR
Android Thread Settings	XR_KHR_android_thread_settings	Unreal Native OpenXR

Extensions are provided by one of these sources:

• Android XR Extensions for Unreal: These are Google-specific extensions (ANDROID) developed for the Android XR platform. To utilize these spatial capabilities, you must install and enable the Android XR Extensions plugin in your .uproject.
• Unreal Native OpenXR: These features leverage the Khronos (KHR), Extension (EXT), and Meta (FB) standard extensions that are already integrated and maintained directly within Unreal Engine's core OpenXR plugin.