XR Developer News - May 2026
Developer conference season is here! Google had a blast with Android XR at Google I/O, with several new devices close to launching, and Meta tried to get ahead of them by opening up the display and neural wristband of their glasses to developers. Read on to learn more!
If you're part of my Dutch audience, check out the next edition of XR Creators Connect NL during Immersive Tech Week. More details below.
Google Android XR
Let's start with Google for a change! Like every year, Google held its Google I/O developer conference, and as has been a recurring theme in recent years, glasses and Android XR made an appearance in the keynote. The last 10 minutes focused mainly on the fashionable camera/audio glasses that are coming out this year and XREAL's Project Aura, which holds the middle somewhere between glasses and headsets, like a lightweight HoloLens or Magic Leap.
Developer Preview 4 of Android XR was announced with updates across Google's XR ecosystem, including support for the major game engines.
The various updates were also covered in two prerecorded sessions, one covering Android XR broadly (with an interesting segment at 14:25 about running multiple game engines simultaneously), one focused on glasses (or intelligent eyewear as Google marketing prefers to call it).
Finally Google announced the new Android XR Developer Catalyst Program, which you can apply to for early access to hardware, technical support and grant opportunities. There's also a hackathon right before AWE USA.
In contrast to last year, glasses with a display did not make an appearance, which makes sense considering those are not shipping yet. That maybe reduced the hype a bit the announcements generated, but I'll take actually shipping hardware over future R&D prototypes any day. All in all Google currently seems seriously committed to Android XR, which is good to see!
Meta
Undoubtedly keeping in mind that Google I/O was around the corner, the Friday before, Meta made the long-awaited announcement that it was opening up the display and neural wristband of the Meta Ray-Ban Display glasses to developers.
Two options are available: either go the mobile route through the Wearables Device Access Toolkit, which is focused on extending iOS and Android apps, or go the web app route and run directly on the glasses. There is also a new dedicated subreddit for Meta glasses developers and it's possible to screen record the display now.
Meta
If you're into developing for the Meta glasses, be sure to follow Oscar Falmer. He had an interesting interview with Ely Santos before the display SDK news broke.
Apart from that, there was of course more Meta Reality Labs news:
- A roundup post was shared in April and the first in a new series of blogs was posted, covering AI-tooling for XR development.
- The first potential Horizon OS 2.4 features are starting to appear in testing builds.
- Meta Connect 2026 will be on September 23rd and 24th.
Meta
Other XR hardware, software and news
- Snap held an event for 50 top Spectacles developers looking ahead at what's to come. It's not accepting any more registrations to the Spectacles developer program as it is preparing for what's up next with Specs. Undoubtedly we'll hear more during Evan Spiegel's AWE USA keynote mid-June.
- If you're curious about GenAI for 3D art, there are very few people more knowledgeable than these three in this recent XR AI Spotlight video.
Personal
- Together with Julian Plak, I made it to the finals of XRCC Berlin, with a Snap Spectacles and Meta Ray-Ban Display (+ Wearables Device Access Toolkit) project using public transport data on glasses! I'll be there the last two days (July 2&3), Julian all four, so be sure to say hi if you're there!
- We're working on building a developer platform for bringing city data to smart glasses, and I'd be happy to give you an early preview on-site!
- The next edition of the XR Creators Connect NL meetup which I co-organize will be drinks during Immersive Tech Week in Rotterdam on June 24th. Would love to see you all there!
Upcoming XR events
- June 8-12, 2026 - Apple's WWDC in Cupertino, California.
- June 13-14, 2026 - Pre-AWE Android XR hackathon in Long Beach, California.
- June 15-18, 2026 - AWE USA in Long Beach, California.
- June 23-25, 2026 - Immersive Tech Week in Rotterdam, The Netherlands.
- June 24, 2026 - XR Creators Connect #9 - ITW drinks, in Rotterdam, The Netherlands. On the Wednesday of ITW, we're having community drinks at 17:00, so join us there! Discounted ITW tickets available through the eventbrite.
- June 30 - July 3, 2026 - XR Creator Con on-site hackathon and conference in Berlin, Germany.
- I'll be there in Berlin on the Thursday and Friday (July 2-3), so let's meet up if you are as well! Just drop me a message through LinkedIn.
- July 18, 2026 - Worlds in Action Hack in Los Angeles, California, just before SIGGRAPH.
- September 23-24, 2026 - Meta Connect, Menlo Park, California.
- December 7-9, 2026 - UnitedXR Europe in Brussels, Belgium.
A bit about this newsletter
Each month I try to round up all the interesting developments in the XR developer landscape. New hardware and software releases, events, tooling, etc. Feel free to reach out to me on LinkedIn, for instance if I missed anything which definitely should be in this monthly round up next time. Want to know more? Check out the about page.
And if you need expertise in the XR space, know that we offer exactly that at DNA.inc where I'm Head of XR, so don't hesitate to get in touch!
