My Quest 3 just got the new Horizon OS 2.4 Public Test Channel (PTC) update, which lets me move around my virtual Home space without holding controllers.
Hand-gesture movement is nice, but my favorite new feature is the custom app arrangement in the Library that finally lets me put apps where I want.
These new features are easy to miss if you don’t know where to look or how to switch them on. It only takes a few minutes to get familiar with the controls, but a little preview always helps.
Hand-Gesture Movement Controls
Hand-gesture movement might not sound like a big deal, but it’s actually quite a convenience upgrade. I often pop on my Quest 3 without picking up the controllers to check what’s new, browse the web, or watch a video. Now, I can move around Horizon Home with just my hands.
After checking out my Instagram wall in 3D, I can teleport to the balcony with a thumb tap to admire the waterfalls in my environment, or swipe my thumb to turn and walk back to the browser wall to check the latest news. I found it to be very reliable, and the visuals make sense, showing directional indicators on my avatar’s hand when the hand-movement controls are active. The controls disappear when not in use.
You can check if you have the new hand-tracking controls in the Settings app. If you see a menu at the top right of the Movement tab, you can select Hands to see the hand-movement layout. Below that, Meta added an option to watch a video guide.
It’s fairly intuitive. Make a fist with either hand, then tap with your thumb to activate the control overlay. You’ll see left and right arrows, suggesting you can swipe left and right to turn. You can also swipe forward and back to walk or aim with a ray and tap to teleport to the highlighted spot.
The gestures quickly become familiar, and you’ll soon be zipping around without needing controllers, a nice addition to hand-tracking.
Your Library Your Way
Meta finally lets me set up my app library however I want! That’s a long-overdue feature. It’s frustrating to dig through a long list of apps to find old AAA games I haven’t finished, like Asgard’s Wrath 2 or Vampire: The Masquerade – Justice.
I keep pretty busy, so games that offer several hours of gameplay might sit in my library for a month or more, getting pushed down the recents list by other apps. Old favorites that are worthy of replaying also tend to get buried. So this is a huge convenience feature.
Meta defaults to sorting by the most recently used games and apps, so I couldn’t rearrange anything until I changed that. The same is true if you sort by A-Z, Z-A, or Installed. The last option is Clear sort, and that’s where the magic happens. By removing the automated sorting, I could drag and drop apps anywhere in my library, or drag over another app to create a folder.
I put frequently used system apps at the top, followed by the games I’m actively playing and a few utilities. It’s great to arrange games and apps my way, instead of having to search or scroll through the entire library.
App Crash Recovery
There’s one more practical improvement in Horizon OS 2.4. Meta says apps can now restore a previous session after closing unexpectedly, so Browser panels should reappear where they were if the app crashes. I haven’t had the misfortune of testing that yet, but it sounds like the kind of small reliability upgrade that matters more if you use your Quest as a spatial computer.
As usual, keep in mind that the timing of Horizon OS rollouts can be unpredictable, and PTC features are still undergoing testing, so a wider release isn’t guaranteed. However, these are useful upgrades that seem likely to appear in future Quest updates.
