Meta Is Working To Spin Off Worlds From The Horizon Mobile App

Assets added in recent updates to the Meta Horizon mobile app suggest that Meta is preparing to spin off the now mobile game-focused Horizon Worlds into a separate app, codenamed Eclipse.

In March, following far-reaching layoffs and reorganization of the VR and Horizon teams within Reality Labs, and a declaration to begin “Explicitly Separating” Horizon Worlds From Quest, Meta made the decision to drop Horizon Worlds from its series of VR devices, going mobile-only. The company then partially reversed this decision just days later, clarifying that only the Horizon Engine-based Worlds would be deprecated on VR devices.

Now, Meta appears to be preparing to spin off Horizon Worlds from the Horizon mobile app into a new one, internally codenamed Eclipse, with Horizon Create appearing to be its current pre-release name.

In early August, dataminer and programmer Nori discovered in-development pages in the Meta Horizon mobile app referencing the new Meta Horizon Create app, which is described as an app for playing, remixing, and building mobile game Worlds with integrated AI tools.

In the August 25th update to the Meta Horizon mobile app, numerous strings were added describing the transition to Horizon Create and informing users that they’ll need to migrate there to access mobile games.

This would represent the clearest separation yet between Worlds and VR, further establishing them as increasingly distinct platforms.

Since March 2026, most of Meta’s public comments about Horizon have focused on VR. The company even seemingly canceled planned GDC 2026 talks related to Horizon Worlds, while the Horizon Studio creation tools announced at Meta Connect 2025 have received few new announcements.

At GDC 2026, Meta detailed changes to the Horizon Store, including the removal of World listings and a more modern page design intended to encourage users to engage with VR apps and games. In one session, the company showcased some of this new design work.

But notably, the design shown for the Meta Horizon mobile app was dramatically simplified, with the Store as the primary landing page and the navigation bar only containing additional headset, messages, and search buttons.

As of late August 2026, that design does not match the Meta Horizon mobile app, which still mixes numerous World recommendations with VR experiences and other platform features.

This suggests the design showcased at GDC 2026 may instead represent how the app is intended to look after the removal of Worlds, leaving it focused on VR app and game discovery, headset management, and off-headset socialization.

Meta promises updates at its Meta Connect 2026 conference on “expert-led VR developer sessions covering SDK updates, AI development workflows, controller-free interactions and new ways to grow revenue.” The company has meanwhile offered few hints about Horizon Worlds or Horizon Studio, so it remains to be seen whether either will feature at the event, and whether any such announcements form part of a broader reboot of Worlds.