Meta's Quest 2 hand tracking now finally lets you clap in VR

Meta has revealed the Quest 2’s new Hand Tracking 2.0 system that dramatically improves the feature’s functionality, allowing users to finally clap in VR. 

Showcased to us across a variety of short videos, Meta’s new Hand Tracking 2.0 is currently only available to developers, and even then it’s an optional upgrade, so we don’t have our hands on it just yet, however, the feature is expected to be available as the default hand tracking system later this year. 

Utilizing “a new method of applying deep learning to better understand hand poses when the device’s cameras can’t see the full hand or when the hand is moving quickly” (via UploadVR) the new Hand Tracking 2.0 technology should allow the Quest 2 headset to better keep track of your hands even when they’re obscured from the camera suite’s direct view. 

This allows for users to use more varied, complex, and nuanced gestures such as clapping, a simple task that has been notoriously difficult in VR since one hand obscures the other unless you’re clapping directly in front of your face. 

Alongside Hand Tracking 2.0 improving gestures such as waving and high-fiving, the improved hand tracking system also generally increases the accuracy of the software, allowing users to better manipulate objects in a virtual environment. 

While this feature might not be the most groundbreaking improvement Meta’s Quest headset has ever seen, the technology is undoubtedly vitally important for the future that Meta is trying to create. 

While we don’t know much about Meta’s next virtual reality headset, or their AR glasses either for that matter, it’s likely we’ll soon see a new headset entirely controlled by hand tracking so users can seamlessly interact with the virtual environments in the metaverse, which is where Meta wants everyone to be spending all of their time.