Mozilla is retiring its virtual and augmented reality web browser, Firefox Reality, handing the reins over to an outside team that plans to relaunch it under a new name. Igalia is developing a browser that uses Firefox Reality's source code. The goal is to release a similar VR/AR browser called Wolvicnext week. Mozilla plans to remove Firefox Reality from app stores in the coming weeks.
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Mozilla announced the change in a blog post and described it as a natural evolution of Firefox Reality, which the company launched in 2018. “We are at the forefront of developing new technologies,” the company said, citing the WebVR and WebAR standards. “In some cases, Mozilla continues to be the host of these new technologies… With other technologies, we find communities and organizations where our projects can continue to grow and contribute to the web.” Igalia has previously contributed to the WebKit and Chromium open-source projects.
Firefox Reality is currently available on the Meta Quest (formerly known as Oculus Quest) headset, HTC’s Viveport platform, the Pico standalone VR headset, and Microsoft’s HoloLens mixed reality headset. Firefox Reality, Mozilla’s VR browser, allows users to browse traditional websites with headsets, but is also a portal that enables full web-based virtual reality and augmented reality experiences.
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In announcing the retirement of Firefox Reality, Mozilla said: “Today, we are pleased to announce that the Firefox Reality browser technology will continue under Igalia, where it will adhere to the same principles we built Firefox Reality on — an open source browser that respects your privacy.”
The Wolvic browser (as the new name will be) will be available next week for AOSP-based, stand-alone XR systems and HarmonyOS tethered systems such as Oculus, Huawei VR Glass, Vive, Pico and Lynx.
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Wolvic will initially be released in a “beta” version, as Igalia will continue to port some of the features provided by Mozilla.
As we said above, the Firefox Reality browser is still available in VR app stores, but it will be removed in the coming weeks.
Source: The Verge
