Web XR Limits And How To Bypass Them {Analysis}

The main value of WebXR, of a Web pages more broadly, is to provide content to the entire World instantly.

Thanks to browsers being widely available, typically coming pre-installed on most devices featuring a screen, having connectivility means being able to get information right away.

There is no extra step, opening a link gives the information.

This expanded from a static information to dynamic pages allowing to send information back without even leaving the page.

This expanded to go beyond text and include images, audio and even video.

All this together made it possible to have video games, requiring all this, and recently to even have spatial video games, content that took into account not just button press on a gamepad but even the movement of the player.

The WebXR specifications, or ImmersiveWeb, by the W3C, allow any browser to support XR, at in VR, AR, MR, and all possible ways of extending reality, and thus provide immersive content right from the browser, once again with no need to install anything additional. No plug or native app is requires to browser WebXR content.

Unfortunately this is sometimes limited, so here are ways to go beyond, from the easiest to the most demanding :

• everything is supported, follow the link, click on the VR or AR button and voila, you are in.
• some additional permissions are required, e.g. hand tracking, so follow the link, accept the permissions, done.
• insure certificates are valide, as WebXR requires HTTPS
  • ... self-hosting, accept certificate or more permanently install the self-signed certificate on the device
  • some services are not behind HTTPS, tunnel them, e.g. https://ngrok.com or have your own reverse proxy https://github.com/villadora/express-http-proxy with a valide HTTPS certificate
  • host your own server on the device to then process content natively, cf e.g. https://git.benetou.fr/utopiah/biggu_s_gate/issues/152
  • enable flags to allow for bypassing that requirements locally
• requires a Web extension https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Mozilla/Add-ons/WebExtensions/ , install it
• requires a Web extension with a native messaging app, install both https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Mozilla/Add-ons/WebExtensions/Native_messaging (desktop browsers only)
• check what is actually supporting by seeing on device messages
  • testing support https://immersiveweb.dev
  • using remote debugging https://developer.chrome.com/docs/devtools/remote-debugging
  • using a console in your Web page, e.g. https://github.com/liriliri/eruda/ or https://github.com/kylebakerio/a-console
  • virtually testing on desktop https://meta-quest.github.io/immersive-web-emulation-runtime/
• no WebXR support, install a browser with WebXR support, e.g. https://github.com/Igalia/wolvic/
• going beyond WebXR
  • incuabting features in the specifications https://github.com/search?q=topic%3Aincubation+org%3Aimmersive-web&type=Repositories
  • extension at the level below, i.e. OpenXR https://github.khronos.org/OpenXR-Inventory/extension_support.html
• no browser supported, build one https://browser.engineering because even though it sound absolutely ridiculous at first, while relying on the right building blocks, e.g. JS engine, CSS engine, etc then it becomes tractable

Consider also that you can rely on WebXR without directly building for it, e.g. https://docs.godotengine.org/en/stable/classes/class_webxrinterface.html

WebXR focuses on spatialized content, consequently there are plenty of other Web APIs that can be used with WebXR, e.g. WebUSB to control a WebXR standalone device or update its peripherals, WebMIDI for other inputs/ouputs for music or not, GamePad API for controllers, etc.