The YouTube app on Quest has a big redesign hidden in it. UploadVR found the entry points in recent updates, with the first references going back to late August. Google's work is on the full-space view, the mode where YouTube surrounds you instead of sitting in a window next to your other apps.

The in-development YouTube view on Quest, with a video in the main window, a description panel on the left and a browsing panel of other videos on the right
Photo: UploadVR

That view has barely changed since the Oculus Go version in 2018. Quest owners have picked up higher video resolutions along the way, plus wall anchoring on Quest 3 and 3S, and a Panel Mode that opens YouTube in a flat window. Panel Mode even got a makeover that looks a lot like YouTube on a smart TV. Watching together came and went, removed when Meta moved to its Loft home environment.

While a video plays in the new version, you can open a second window to browse, and whatever you pick there plays in the main one. That main window gets grab handles and corner handles for resizing, like other windows in Horizon OS, the software that runs Quest. It also resizes itself to match the shape of what you're watching.

The references are already in the app on Quest, so this looks like a software update, not new hardware.

A control bar in the Horizon OS style lets you change your environment or jump to Panel Mode. Typing moves to Meta's own system keyboard.

All of this brings Quest closer to YouTube on Android XR, Google's software for headsets, and on Vision Pro, where the app arrived earlier this year. Those versions browse like a smart TV, then switch to different controls once a video starts, including ways to adjust the viewing area for 360-degree and 180-degree 3D video. The Quest build doesn't have those controls yet.

Meta has been improving its tools for these apps and pushing developers and partners to tune them for its headset software, with the NBA and Disney+ among the names. The company's $1,299 VR Glasses go on sale in spring 2027.

There's no date for the YouTube redesign, so it's no reason to buy a Quest 3 or 3S now, or to hold off on one. The references are already in the app on Quest, so this looks like a software update, not new hardware.