Quest 3 SDK Update Lets Developers Easily Track QR Codes

The latest Meta MR Utility Kit SDK update for Quest 3 lets Unity developers easily decode and 6DoF track QR codes.

It’s already possible for developers to decode and/or track QR codes using a third-party or custom computer vision library, as Meta has given Quest 3 developers access to the headset’s passthrough cameras, if the user approves, since early this year.

The new Meta MR Utility Kit for Unity update delivers this as a system-level feature. It’s much quicker and easier to implement, and only requires the user to grant the Spatial Data permission already used for other mixed reality features, not the more nefarious Headset Camera permission.

When QR code tracking is enabled, the SDK provides a 6DoF positional pose, 2D bounding box, 2D boundary polygon, and decoded payload of the code, such as a URL.

QR Codes are the second “trackable” of Meta’s MR Utility Kit, joining the existing Keyboard trackable. If you count Touch controllers and the Logitech MX Ink stylus, it’s technically the fourth kind of inanimate object that Quest 3 can positionally track at a system-level.

Meta notes that, as with keyboard tracking, the position update rate is relatively low, so this isn’t suitable for tracking moving objects by strapping QR codes to them. The position will update if the QR code is moved, yes, but not in real-time. This isn’t like getting a Pico Tracker for the cost of printing a QR code on a piece of paper – it’s more akin to visionOS 2 object tracking.

Further, even this low-rate tracking has a performance cost, so Meta recommends enabling the feature dynamically when needed.

Example from Meta’s Roberto Coviello.

Developers could use tracked QR codes as a more reliable method of initial calibration for colocation, compared to Meta’s Shared Spatial Anchors system, which doesn’t always work well.

While it’s probably not a good idea to rely on consumer audiences having a printer in 2025, it could be particularly useful for enterprise and location-based VR and mixed reality development.

QR code tracking is an optional feature in v78 of Meta MR Utility Kit for Unity. It supports Quest 3 and Quest 3S, as well as all future Horizon OS headsets, and supports QR codes up to version 10.