WebXR Expands Capability and Partnership Potential, and the Ecosystem Continues to Grow Around It

WebXR has seen a string of developments recently, all pointing to a quickly maturing and more capable content access ecosystem overall. Chrome Version 81 brings two updates to its WebXR support in an updated Application Programming Interface (API) for Augmented Reality (AR) support and something called the Hit Test API, which enables virtual content placement in the user’s environment leveraging WebXR’s existing tracking support and the device’s camera and sensor suite. Mozilla, a longtime proponent of WebXR, launched an introduction app for WebXR called Hello WebXR to showcase what’s possible for Extended Reality (XR) content, such as basic Virtual Reality (VR) interactions/experiences; Mozilla also has a dedicated browser called Firefox Reality for this type of content. The Oculus browser added hand tracking support for WebXR applications. Some third-party content discovery tools have also started to grow surrounding WebXR, such as Sidequest, which aims to make content discovery easier.

These announcements span across the market, from both major and smaller players (such as Zappar and 8th Wall), which points to a level of acceptance and maturity for WebXR. A certain level of adoption is always required for a new technology to take off—not enough users, not enough content, and vice versa—and so WebXR has started strong in this regard.

Perhaps the most impactful element of WebXR will be the democratization of content access and development tools.

Every barrier to consuming content is a churn point for a user. There are so many points in the End-to-End (E2E) delivery and consumption pipeline at which a user can drop out, but the direct user interaction point with an app or a browser can often be point one of failure. Removing the need for an app download for every piece of content is not just a benefit, but will become compulsory as the amount of content available to a user dramatically increases. Futuristic use cases like AR Cloud—see ABI Researh’s AR Cloud: Enabling Technologies, Use Cases, and Market Dynamics (AN-2801) for a deeper dive into its potential—where entire cities could have a digital interactive twin in AR, don’t work if every single content access point requires another app download, another login, or another device type. Browsers provide a common point of entry for all of these.

WebXR can also be beneficial in the enterprise, for the same reasons. Enabling browser-based access to an AR platform allows easier integration into existing systems, reducing some system integration concerns. In the user’s hands, content access can be more streamlined, with easier support for Single Sign-On (SSO) and similar integrations.

As always, questions of privacy and security have cropped up, and will continue to with increasing regularity as usage increases. Much of the groundwork has been laid with traditional browsers, but the nature of AR/VR content and the potential for new data and usage requirements can stress existing privacy and security understanding: always-on cameras for tracking and/or content passthrough, image and object recognition, and multi-source content access all pose questions regarding best practices.

This type of ecosystem does take time to mature. Developers, and developer tools, need time to adjust and support a new workflow. Content creators need to shift thinking around what’s possible on browsers and how cross-device access might impact their content and User Experiences (UX). Since WebXR is still evolving, things can change and break with more regularity than traditional development, and so mission-critical content and applications may not be well-suited to the browser-based opportunity today.

WebXR is universal by nature, but the most capable and promising content isn’t inherently universal as well. Understanding target use cases and users remains a necessity for all. While WebXR has some objective universal benefits compared to apps, there are also shortcomings. Applications are the de facto standard for mobile content, and so going against that can limit overall audience. Having a tailored, separate experience housed within an app also is beneficial for some implementations; being able to ship a device with preinstalled applications allows quicker and easier initial setup, a boon for enterprises looking for the quickest Return on Investment (ROI) possible.

WebXR is still relatively unknown; therefore, the benefits for users must be showcased differently than traditional content. For enterprises, quick rampup and cross-device support are great and positive, with traditional apps assuming they are implemented in development. Content democratization therefore isn’t as impactful in this instance. For consumer content, content discovery is paramount—as is accessing that content easily. As the amount of content available increases, as it naturally will over time, being able to get users’ eyes on content can be make or break; WebXR is set up to better support content discovery and so can be a compelling destination compared to traditional content /app stores. This is true for any content and device type, but especially so for AR/VR, where physically accessing the content can be difficult—navigating menus, using virtual keyboards, etc. There is also some strong content fragmentation happening in the AR/VR market, with specific content stores for specific devices already commonplace. WebXR can help to address this as well. 

Overall, WebXR isn’t as exciting as some of the new hardware and content being seen, but it is far more fundamental. Looking at the ubiquity of browsers on desktops, and how streamlined content access has become on those browsers over the years, highlights the total potential for WebXR going forward.