Design

Glossary

Updated: Mar 2, 2026

A shared language allows designers and developers to communicate and collaborate efficiently. As an emerging space, immersive experiences continue to evolve — making a shared understanding more challenging than working with more mature technologies. When designing for Meta Horizon OS, these terms are essential to understanding the building blocks of the system.

avatar	A person’s embodied social representation across products. Avatars can be customized by users so that they show up the way they want.
boundary	A line that marks the limits of the area in which a person can move around when using a headset. The boundary is a safety feature to ensure physical objects are out of the way while a user is fully immersed.
gestures	A set of hand movements that enable actions without using controllers.
headset	The portion of an immersive experience device worn on the head, excluding the controllers or other peripheral devices.
immersive	Describes an experience that deeply involves the senses. Unlike 2D experiences, an immersive experience surrounds the user with digitally-generated sounds, visuals, and haptics.
locomotion	The ability to move within physical or virtual spaces.
mixed reality	An experience that combines physical and virtual surroundings.
passthrough	A feature that allows the user to see their physical surroundings while wearing a headset.
physical surroundings	The physical environment and objects around a user.
spatial audio	Spatialized audio creates the impression that sound has a specific origin in an immersive experience, even as a user turns their head or moves around. For example, when multiple people are speaking in a virtual space, the people closest to the user will sound louder than the people who are further away.
virtual environment	The user’s virtual surroundings within Meta Horizon Home. Users can choose from a variety of virtual environments as their primary landing space when fully immersed and not currently using an app.
window	A 2D container that displays content. Windows can be used to open 2D apps and to provide access to system surfaces like the Store, Library and Settings. Users can resize windows and place them in their surroundings.

Glossary

Key terms