Hi everyone,
As one of the developers, I’d like to provide a bit more context on why we created the new app and what we are trying to achieve with it.
The legacy app is almost 10 years old. Development started on a much older version of Unity, back when OpenXR did not exist. At that time, the only practical approach was to integrate separate SDKs from different hardware vendors. Controller handling was implemented manually for each platform, and over the years the app accumulated more and more platform-specific integrations.
As a result, the legacy app gradually became a combination of many different SDKs, some of which are now deprecated, along with a large number of custom solutions that are increasingly difficult to maintain.
There are also newer platforms that simply cannot be properly supported by the legacy architecture, Apple Vision Pro being one of the clearest examples.
Some time ago, we started discussing how we could continue developing the product and improve it in the long term. After evaluating the available options, we decided that the best approach was to build a new app in parallel — DeoVR Hyper — using a modern technology stack: OpenXR, Unity’s new Input System, modern rendering APIs, and a much cleaner cross-platform architecture.
The goal was to recreate the core functionality of the legacy app, add new capabilities on top of it, and eventually make Hyper the main app.
This was not a decision we made lightly. From a business and development perspective, maintaining two versions of the same application is actually one of the most expensive options. It means duplicated work, additional testing, higher maintenance costs, and rebuilding functionality that already exists. So the decision to create Hyper was carefully considered.
What Hyper already gives us — and ultimately gives you
Much faster support for new platforms.
Previously, supporting a completely new platform could take up to six months. With Hyper, it can take around a month. Quest, Apple Vision Pro, and Pico are already supported, and Galaxy XR is currently in testing.
New features can be delivered to multiple platforms at the same time.
Instead of implementing the same feature separately for every device, most of the work can now be shared across platforms.
Access to modern technologies and rendering features.
This includes Vulkan rendering, Gaussian Splatting, foveated rendering, platform-specific rendering configuration, platform-specific sharpening, modern WebView solutions, OVR Layers, and more. Many of these are already being developed or are in our backlog, and we plan to expose many of them through the app settings.
We can prepare support before new devices are even released.
This is especially important for upcoming hardware. Our goal is for DeoVR Hyper to work on new devices from the moment they become publicly available.
About missing features
We currently have a very large feature-request backlog, and we continuously update it based on your feedback and comments.
Features that are clearly important to users move higher in priority.
Some of the things you can expect in the near future include:
- Heatmaps
- Timeline tags
- More controller bindings
- Galaxy XR support
- And more
About older devices
Supporting older devices can sometimes be difficult for reasons outside of our control.
For example, some devices still use very old versions of Chromium because their firmware has not been updated by the hardware manufacturer. Pico 4, for example, still uses Chromium 90.
Supporting modern web functionality on such old software can require a significant amount of additional development work. In some cases, the better solution would be for the hardware manufacturer to update the firmware.
That said, we are still trying to support as many older devices as reasonably possible.
About the legacy app
We are not currently planning to remove the legacy app.
It will also remain available for devices that are not supported by Hyper.
At the same time, we do not see a realistic way to continue adding major new features to the legacy app. There are many reasons for this, including fundamental technical limitations of its architecture.
Result
Technology keeps moving forward. Platforms change, requirements change, and user expectations change, so we have to adapt as well.
The easiest option for us would actually have been to keep the old app exactly as it was and continue getting as much as possible out of it. But if we had done that, we would eventually have reached a point where we could no longer support new platforms, new hardware, or modern features.
Hyper is our way of making sure DeoVR can continue evolving for many years to come.
I hope this gives a bit more context around why we made this decision and where we are heading.
Thank you for your understanding, your feedback, and for continuing to help us improve the product. :
