Quest 3 v85 PTC can turn any surface into a virtual keyboard

With Horizon OS v85 PTC, the Quest 3 can turn any surface into a virtual keyboard, and Meta says you can remap the action buttons on the Quest 3S.

Public Test Channel (PTC) is a beta release channel for Horizon OS on Quest. If you opt in, your headset will receive pre-release builds for each future version.

The final stable version often has features that are not present in PTC, and in rare cases, PTC features or changes may not be reflected in the stable version.

Here are two key features that Meta is testing with Horizon OS v85 PTC:

Surface keyboard

Text input is a notorious challenge for XR devices if you don’t carry a connected Bluetooth keyboard.

Surface Keyboard is available exclusively as an experimental feature on the Quest 3, not the cheaper Quest 3S, and adds a virtual keyboard on top of any surface, such as a table or desk.

To set up, place your hands flat on the table where you want to place the keyboard. A keyboard will appear after a few seconds. This is the height calibration step.

VR upload to test the Horizon OS v85 PTC Surface keyboard.

As you can see in the video below, we tested the Surface Keyboard for the first time and found it to be surprisingly accurate. It’s much better than a floating virtual keyboard because you can rest your hands, and you can already type much faster.

In my case, at least in the current build, it only appears in the passthrough or virtual Horizon OS home space. Meta has an API for developers to use floating keyboards, and we’ll be watching closely for signs of a similar API for the Surface keyboard as this feature launches in stable channels.

Meta has been researching the technology for at least six years, and executives showed off a well-built prototype in 2023, with Mark Zuckerberg claiming it could reach 100 words per minute. However, that prototype required tracking marker tags on the table, as seen in a clip shared by Meta at the time. And the company did not disclose the error rate of the prototype.

And in 2024, Meta and researchers at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology Zurich announced that they had solved the problem of turning any surface into a keyboard without markers by combining a language model with a neural network that predicts touch events.

Meta hasn’t said whether this research led to the introduction of the delivery feature, but it seems at least likely that it’s related.

If you have a Quest 3, you can find Surface Keyboard in Advanced Settings in Horizon OS v85.

It is unclear why this feature is not available (yet) on the Quest 3S.

Remap Quest 3S action button

According to Meta, the Quest 3S currently lacks Surface keyboard functionality, but Horizon OS v85 PTC has its own new exclusive features.

The Quest 3S has an “action button” that has provided one function since the headset’s launch: toggle passthrough. Pressing this during a VR game will pause the game and show you the real world. This is essentially a “pause VR. You need to look around you” button.

Now, with v85 PTC, Meta says Quest 3S owners can remap the action button.

The Quest 3S doesn’t have v85 PTC yet, so we don’t know yet what it can be remapped to. If you have a Quest 3S running Horizon OS v85 PTC and have this feature, please let us know in the comments below.

Navigator set to default and horizontal feed removed

In case you missed it, earlier this week we reported on Meta’s announcement that the new “Navigator” UI will become the default when you “start” with Horizon OS v85 stable, and that the Horizon feed will be removed separately.

With PTC builds of Horizon v85, at least on my Quest 3, nothing like that has happened yet. This is also probably one of the very slow “rollouts” of Meta.