After One Key Change, Meta’s Quest UI Overhaul Has Gone From Bad To Great

The Quest system UI overhaul launched to testers in May, with key improvements but an ugly semi-opaque grey “cloud” background. Now, Meta has gotten rid of it.

The Quest UI overhaul, called Navigator, started its initial rollout with Horizon OS v77 in late May, and remains only available to people enrolled in the Public Test Channel (PTC), the operating system’s open beta.

Navigator moves the main system interfaces like Library, Quick Controls, Notifications and Camera into a new large overlay that appears over both immersive and 2D apps, a major improvement from the previous approach of these being in panels that are treated like any other 2D app. It means system interfaces will no longer shift around when opening other windows, and makes it easier to launch new apps. Navigator’s library also allows you to pin up to 10 items, somewhat akin to the start menu on Windows.

So far, so good, right?

Quest v77 Tests System UI Overhaul & Turning Instagram Photos 3D

Meta is rolling out the Horizon OS interface overhaul to some Quest owners on the PTC, and will bring it to everyone “over the coming months”.

The problem is that at launch, Navigator also had a murky grey background with an oval shape. It was seemingly intended to improve contrast. But as well as obscuring your view of what was behind it, be it passthrough or a virtual world, it just didn’t look good.

At the start of the month, several Quest owners on the PTC noticed that Navigator’s background had been removed. And now, it seems to be gone for everyone.

Instead of the semi-opaque grey cloud, opening Navigator now simply slightly dims the background, be it passthrough or virtual.

In an ask-me-anything (AMA) session on his Instagram earlier this week, Meta’s CTO Andrew Bosworth said that he personally made the change, after not seeing the earlier design until too late, and disliking it when he did.

There’s still no word on when Navigator will roll out to Quest owners on the stable release channel, but in May Meta said it’s “expected to roll out gradually to all users over the coming months”.