Meta did launch cross-device Hyperscape hangouts in November 2025: Quest owners and smartphone users could enter the same reconstructed spaces, with up to eight participants. However, Meta ended Hyperscape sharing, invitations and co-experiencing on March 24, 2026, then removed Horizon Worlds from Quest on June 15. As of August 2026, the old “Quest and phone users can meet in Hyperscape” feature should be treated as historical unless Meta announces a restoration.
What Hyperscape Capture was
Hyperscape Capture let eligible Quest users scan a real room or location and turn it into a navigable digital replica. The scan reportedly took a few minutes, but cloud processing and rendering could take several hours. The result was intended to look substantially more realistic than a conventional, user-built Horizon world.
Calling it a “photosphere alternative” is useful shorthand, but not technically exact. A photosphere is normally a panoramic image viewed from one fixed point. Hyperscape aimed to reconstruct a three-dimensional space that visitors could move through, using spatial capture and rendering rather than displaying a flat 360-degree photograph. TechCrunch described the early-access launch in its September 2025 report.
How the original shared-world feature worked
Quest entry
A Quest user opened a supported Hyperscape, used its sharing control or link, and invited friends into the same environment. Contemporary coverage reported a maximum of eight participants total—the owner plus up to seven guests.
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Phone entry
People without a headset could join through the Meta Horizon mobile app. They visited the same environment and session as Quest users, but through a conventional phone display. A smartphone did not provide stereoscopic depth, head tracking or room-scale movement, so “same world” did not mean identical visual or physical presence.
Rollout timing
Hyperscape Capture entered early access at Meta Connect in September 2025. Multiplayer sharing began rolling out in November, and Meta described the distribution as gradual. Some accounts therefore lacked the share option even while the feature was being announced. Android Central’s report and Meta executive Dan Nieves’ announcement documented the rollout.
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Who could use it
“Open to everyone” meant that supported Quest and mobile participants could share eligible worlds; it did not mean universal access across every age group, headset, country or account.
| Activity | Reported requirement or caveat |
|---|---|
| Create a new capture | Early-access reporting identified Meta Quest 3 and Quest 3S users, with an 18+ restriction. |
| View an existing capture | Required access to the relevant Meta experience and account infrastructure; viewing and creation did not necessarily have identical requirements. |
| Invite people | Sharing rolled out gradually and depended on the account receiving the control. |
| Join from a phone | Required the Meta Horizon mobile app, a compatible account and supported access; the presentation was mobile, not VR. |
Those launch conditions came from TechCrunch’s early-access coverage. They should not be generalized to Quest 2, Quest Pro, later headsets, every region or a changed age policy without a current Meta compatibility notice.
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What the experience did—and did not—promise
- More than a live camera feed: the workflow was scan, upload, process and later view, not a real-time broadcast of the room.
- Photorealistic intent, not physical presence: visual realism could make a replica convincing, but it did not recreate the owner’s physical room or give phone users headset-level immersion.
- Small-group hangout, not a mass event: the reported cap was eight people total.
- Privacy considerations: scanning a private space could reproduce room layouts, possessions, artwork or other identifiable details in a cloud-connected service.
What changed in 2026
| Date | Change |
|---|---|
| September 2025 | Hyperscape Capture entered early access at Meta Connect. |
| November 2025 | Cross-device sharing began rolling out to Quest and Meta Horizon mobile users. |
| March 24, 2026 | Meta ended publishing Hyperscape captures as Horizon worlds and discontinued sharing, invitations and co-experiencing. Existing captures moved to the standalone Hyperscape Capture app. |
| June 15, 2026 | Horizon Worlds and remaining Horizon VR worlds were removed from Quest; Horizon shifted to a mobile-focused experience. Meta said standalone VR apps were not affected. |
Meta’s transition notice is available in the Meta Quest Community Forums.
Is Hyperscape multiplayer still available?
The official timeline supports a cautious answer: no social Hyperscape hangouts should be assumed to work in August 2026. Meta explicitly said sharing, inviting and co-experiencing ended after March 24. Existing captures may remain viewable in the standalone beta app, and later community reports suggested further changes toward view-only access, but those reports are not a replacement for a current official support page.
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- 2X GRAPHICAL PROCESSING POWER — Enjoy lightning-fast load times and next-gen graphics for smooth gaming powered by the Snapdragon XR2 Gen 2 processor.
- EXPERIENCE VIRTUAL REALITY — Blend virtual objects with your physical space and experience two worlds at once.
- 2+ HOURS OF BATTERY LIFE — Charge less, play longer and stay in the action with an improved battery that keeps up.
If you are troubleshooting an old tutorial
- No Share button: during the 2025 rollout, the account might not yet have received the staged feature; after March 24, 2026, discontinuation is the more likely explanation.
- A friend cannot join: historically, app installation, sign-in, region, account eligibility, an expired link or the eight-person limit could intervene. In 2026, the social shutdown itself is the primary issue.
- You expect a live scan: Hyperscape produced a processed replica, with rendering delays, rather than an instantly shared camera view.
Should you buy a Quest for Hyperscape?
No. The Quest 3S and Quest 3 were the headsets identified for early Hyperscape Capture access, but Meta later ended the feature that made the product compelling as a cross-device hangout. Buy either headset for its broader current Quest software library, not as a purchase justified by Hyperscape multiplayer. The Quest 3S and Quest 3 product pages are the appropriate places to check current specifications and pricing.
For the historical phone pathway, Meta listed its Horizon app on Google Play and the Apple App Store. App availability and functionality can change, and a phone still cannot reproduce Quest’s stereoscopic, head-tracked experience.
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