WebXr hand input module - Level 1

Category: Device
Type: Chromium catches up
Status: Enabled by default (Chrome 131)
Intent stage: None

Breaking change: No
Enterprise impact: None
Chromium flag: webxr-hand-input
Spec maturity: Working draft

WPT details: API shape is relatively simple consisting largely of the enum and a simple idl to get a "joint space", which is used in other tested APIs; however, generating realistic synthetic joint data (~50 poses) is quite difficult and error prone. Further, no test API currently exists to supply this data. https://github.com/immersive-web/webxr-test-api/issues/86 tracks investigating adding such an API. IDL validation: https://wpt.fyi/results/webxr/hand-input?label=experimental&label=master&aligned

Summary

Exposes hand joint data on XrInputSources for use during a WebXr session. This allows developers to have more fine grained interactions during WebXr sessions.

Motivation

XR systems support tracking of users' hands to allow direct interaction and manipulation of virtual objects in XR applications. This feature provides sites an interface through WebXR to make use of these system hand trackers in a standardized way. https://github.com/immersive-web/webxr-hand-input/blob/main/explainer.md

Standards & signals

Specification: https://immersive-web.github.io/webxr-hand-input
Firefox: Defer
Safari: Shipped/Shipping — https://webkit.org/blog/15443/news-from-wwdc24-webkit-in-safari-18-beta
Web developers: Strongly positive
Tracking bug: https://crbug.com/359418633

Ecosystem

Web Platform Tests: https://wpt.fyi/results/?q=webxr%2Fhand-input
Chrome Platform Showcase: https://chrome-platform-showcase.paulkinlan-ea.deno.net/features
GenDN reference: https://gendn.paulkinlan-ea.deno.net/features
chrome.dev demos search: https://www.google.com/search?q=site%3Achrome.dev+WebXr%20hand%20input%20module%20-%20Level%201
MDN Web Docs: https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/search?q=WebXr%20hand%20input%20module%20-%20Level%201
Baseline status: https://webstatus.dev/?q=WebXr%20hand%20input%20module%20-%20Level%201

Samples: https://immersive-web.github.io/webxr-samples/immersive-hands.html

View on chromestatus.com