Expo Horizon: Migrating Expo SDK to Meta Quest

Software Mansion's production guide for adding Meta Quest support to Expo apps using the expo-horizon packages.

This skill does not bundle a copy of the docs. For any task below, always webfetch the linked official README or Meta documentation page to get up-to-date installation steps, plugin options, API surface, and feature matrices. This skill only captures the decision tree, critical rules, and non-obvious gotchas that agents routinely miss.

Decision Tree

What do you need to do?
│
├── Starting from scratch or adding Quest support to an existing Expo app?
│   └── Follow the "Setup Workflow" below (do NOT auto-install location or
│       notifications packages) and webfetch: expo-horizon-core README
│       ├── Install expo-horizon-core
│       ├── Configure the config plugin (horizonAppId, panel size, supportedDevices)
│       ├── Add quest/mobile build scripts
│       ├── Add runtime device detection (isHorizonDevice, isHorizonBuild)
│       └── Detect expo-location / expo-notifications, then ASK before migrating
│
├── Need location services on Quest?
│   └── Webfetch: expo-horizon-location README
│       ├── Replace expo-location with expo-horizon-location
│       ├── Review the feature support matrix
│       └── Guard unsupported calls (heading, geocoding, geofencing, background)
│
├── Need push notifications on Quest?
│   └── Webfetch: expo-horizon-notifications README
│       ├── Replace expo-notifications with expo-horizon-notifications
│       ├── Configure horizonAppId in expo-horizon-core
│       ├── Use getDevicePushTokenAsync (Expo Push Service is not supported)
│       └── Skip badge counts (not supported on Quest)
│
└── Need to build, run, or publish for Quest?
    └── Webfetch: expo-horizon-core README (build variants) + Meta docs below
        ├── Build variants: questDebug, questRelease, mobileDebug, mobileRelease
        ├── Meta Quest Developer Hub (device management, sideloading)
        └── Meta Horizon Store manifest requirements

Setup Workflow (adding Quest support to an existing Expo app)

Follow these steps in order when the user asks to add Meta Quest support. Do not combine steps 2 and 3 into a single install command — the sibling packages require explicit user confirmation.

1. Install and configure expo-horizon-core.

   • Run npx expo install expo-horizon-core.
   • Ask the user for the config plugin values before writing them. Present all options in a single prompt so the user can paste custom values or accept defaults in one pass. Show each option on its own line with its default in brackets, e.g.:

     I'll add the expo-horizon-core config plugin to app.json. Please confirm or override each value (press Enter / reply "default" to accept the bracketed default):

     • supportedDevices [quest2|quest3|quest3s] — pipe-separated Quest devices your app supports (required for Meta Horizon Store submission).
     • horizonAppId [empty] — Meta Horizon application ID. Leave empty unless you plan to use push notifications; required by expo-horizon-notifications to issue device push tokens.
     • defaultWidth [1024dp] — Default panel width. Leave blank to omit.
     • defaultHeight [640dp] — Default panel height. Leave blank to omit. If you set width/height, make sure your Expo orientation matches (use "landscape" for wide panels).
     • disableVrHeadtracking [false] — Set true to omit the android.hardware.vr.headtracking manifest entry.
     • allowBackup [false] — Meta recommends false for sensitive data; set true only if you need Android backup in the Quest build.

   • Only write the plugin config after the user replies. Omit any option the user left blank so the package's own default applies (don't write empty strings for horizonAppId, defaultWidth, or defaultHeight).
   • Add quest / mobile build scripts to package.json.
   • Run npx expo prebuild --clean.
   • Webfetch the expo-horizon-core README for current option names and defaults before asking — the defaults above can change between releases.

2. Detect existing location / notification packages. Do NOT install the horizon equivalents yet.

   • Read the project's package.json.
   • Check dependencies and devDependencies for expo-location and expo-notifications.
   • If neither is present, skip the rest of this workflow — the user has no migration to do.

3. For each detected package, ask the user before migrating.

   • If expo-location is found, ask:

     "I found expo-location in your project. Do you want me to replace it with expo-horizon-location so location works on Meta Quest? (Quest has no GPS, heading, geocoding, or geofencing — unsupported calls will need to be guarded with ExpoHorizon.isHorizonDevice.)"

   • If expo-notifications is found, ask:

     "I found expo-notifications in your project. Do you want me to replace it with expo-horizon-notifications so push notifications work on Meta Quest? This requires a horizonAppId in the core config plugin, uses Meta's push service (not the Expo Push Service), and does not support badge counts or getExpoPushTokenAsync."

   • Present the questions together if both packages are present.
   • Wait for an explicit answer before running any install or edit for these packages.

4. Only after the user confirms, perform the migration for the approved package(s):

   • Install the horizon equivalent (npx expo install expo-horizon-location or expo-horizon-notifications).
   • Uninstall the original (npm uninstall expo-location or expo-notifications).
   • Update all import statements to the horizon package name.
   • For notifications: ensure horizonAppId is set in the expo-horizon-core plugin config and add expo-horizon-notifications to the plugins array.
   • Run npx expo prebuild --clean again.
   • Webfetch the relevant README (location or notifications) for the full feature support matrix and guard unsupported calls behind ExpoHorizon.isHorizonDevice.

5. If the user declines a migration, leave the original package untouched and note in the summary that feature X (location / notifications) will not work on the quest build until migrated.

Critical Rules

• Always install expo-horizon-core first. It is required by all other expo-horizon packages and sets up the quest/mobile build flavors that other packages depend on.

• Never auto-install expo-horizon-location or expo-horizon-notifications. When adding Quest support, detect existing expo-location / expo-notifications dependencies in package.json and ask the user whether to migrate each one. Install and configure only the packages the user explicitly approves. See the Setup Workflow above.

• Use quest build variants only on Meta Quest devices. Running questDebug or questRelease builds on standard Android phones is unsupported and will behave unexpectedly.

• Set supportedDevices in the config plugin. This is required for Meta Horizon Store submission. Use pipe-separated values: "quest2|quest3|quest3s".

• Run npx expo prebuild --clean after any plugin config change. The config plugin modifies native project files at prebuild time. Stale native projects will not reflect your changes.

• Replace imports, not just packages. When migrating from expo-location or expo-notifications, update all import statements to use the new package names (expo-horizon-location, expo-horizon-notifications).

• Quest has no GPS, magnetic sensors, or Geocoder. Features like heading, geocoding, reverse geocoding, and geofencing are unavailable on Quest. Guard these calls with ExpoHorizon.isHorizonDevice or ExpoHorizon.isHorizonBuild.

• Push notifications require horizonAppId. Without it, getDevicePushTokenAsync will not return a valid token on Quest devices. Use getDevicePushTokenAsync (not getExpoPushTokenAsync) on Quest; send the returned { type: 'horizon', data } token to your backend and deliver via Meta's push service.

• isHorizonDevice vs isHorizonBuild. Use isHorizonDevice for runtime hardware checks (physical Quest detection). Use isHorizonBuild for build-time feature gating (which native code was compiled in).

• Expo Go is not supported. You must use custom development builds via npx expo prebuild.

Official References

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