The main options to handle input in an XR game or application include:
In some cases, you might use more than one of these options at the same time. For example, you could use the XR Interaction Toolkit to allow the user to pick up objects in the environment, use the Input System to bind a pause function to a controller button, and use the XR.Node API to read the hardware state so that you can animate the controller GameObject.
Note: The OpenXR plug-in, which supports many different XR devices and controllers, provides its own, additional way to access XR input and tracking data. You can still use the XR Interaction Toolkit, the Input System, or the XR.InputDevice and XR.Node APIs. (The legacy Input Manager is not supported when you use the OpenXR plugin.) See Input in Unity OpenXR for more information.
The XR Interaction Toolkit builds on the Input System and the base UnityEngine.XR API to support XR input. It provides a near ready-to-use set of components for handling XR input and defining interactions between the user and the environment and the scene UI. Even if you choose not to use the toolkit’s interaction system, you can use the input components as a starting point to save set-up effort. The toolkit provides two basic approaches to handling input:
See Actions for more information about Input System Actions.
Tip: The Starter Assets available in the XR Interaction Toolkit provide presets and input actions that remove most of the rote setup work involved in using action-based input.
The XR Interaction Toolkit defines the following base interactions:
The XR Interaction Toolkit uses these interactions with additional components to let the user interact with the environment. For example, if you add a GrabInteractable component to an object, the user can trigger Select to grab it. By default, select is bound to the grip button of an XR controller, but you can change the binding as you see fit. You can also use your own actions and bindings alongside those defined by the toolkit.
You can access the controls of XR Controllers, such as buttons and joysticks, in the same ways you would access any game controller. To access tracking data, use the XR.InputTracking API in code. You can also use the Input System TrackedPoseDriver component to control a GameObject with a tracked device such as a HMD or controller. The TrackedPoseDriver component is also available from the Legacy Input Helpers package, in case you are not using the Input System.
Note: When you use the OpenXR plug-in, you must use the Input System. The Input Manager is not supported.
The XR Hands package provides access to hand tracking data from XR devices that support it. To access this data, you must also use an XR provider plug-in that has been updated to support hand tracking, such as OpenXR version 1.7.
The XR Hands package provides the following:
The XR Input APIs provide direct access to XR input. The API lets you find connected XR devices and read their tracking data and state of their input hardware.
See Unity XR Input for more information about the XR input API.
Device makers and other third parties often provide their own input and interaction APIs that you can use instead of or in addition to those provided by Unity.
Did you find this page useful? Please give it a rating:
Thanks for rating this page!
What kind of problem would you like to report?
Thanks for letting us know! This page has been marked for review based on your feedback.
If you have time, you can provide more information to help us fix the problem faster.
Provide more information
You've told us this page needs code samples. If you'd like to help us further, you could provide a code sample, or tell us about what kind of code sample you'd like to see:
You've told us there are code samples on this page which don't work. If you know how to fix it, or have something better we could use instead, please let us know:
You've told us there is information missing from this page. Please tell us more about what's missing:
You've told us there is incorrect information on this page. If you know what we should change to make it correct, please tell us:
You've told us this page has unclear or confusing information. Please tell us more about what you found unclear or confusing, or let us know how we could make it clearer:
You've told us there is a spelling or grammar error on this page. Please tell us what's wrong:
You've told us this page has a problem. Please tell us more about what's wrong:
Thank you for helping to make the Unity documentation better!
Your feedback has been submitted as a ticket for our documentation team to review.
We are not able to reply to every ticket submitted.