Wolvic 1.6: VR Web Browser Release and New Features

By Riley ThompsonTechnology News

Wolvic 1.6 Released: A Web Browser for Virtual Reality Devices

The release of Wolvic 1.6, a web browser designed for augmented and virtual reality systems, is now available. The project continues the development of the Firefox Reality browser, which was previously developed by Mozilla. After Firefox Reality’s codebase stagnated, the company Igalia—known for its work on open-source projects like GNOME, GTK, WebKitGTK, Epiphany, GStreamer, Wine, Mesa, and freedesktop.org—took over development under the Wolvic project. Wolvic’s code is written in Java and C++ and is distributed under the MPLv2 license. Ready-to-use builds are available for the Android platform.

Wolvic supports a range of 3D headsets, including Oculus, Huawei VR Glass, Lenovo VRX, Lenovo A3, HTC Vive Focus, Pico Neo, Pico4, Pico4E, Meta Quest Pro, Pico Neo3, and Lynx. Work is also underway to port the browser to Qualcomm devices.

The browser uses the GeckoView web engine—a version of Mozilla’s Gecko engine packaged as a separate library that can be updated independently. Navigation is managed through a fundamentally different 3D user interface, allowing users to browse websites within a virtual world or as part of augmented reality systems. In addition to the 3D headset interface for viewing traditional 2D pages, web developers can use the WebXR, WebAR, and WebVR APIs to create specialized 3D web applications that users interact with in virtual space. The browser also supports viewing spatial 360-degree videos in a 3D headset.

Navigation is performed using VR controllers, while data entry in web forms can be done with a virtual or physical keyboard. Additionally, a voice input system is available, allowing users to fill out forms and send search queries using Mozilla’s speech recognition engine.

The browser’s start page provides an interface for accessing favorite content and navigating a collection of games, web applications, 3D models, and spatial videos adapted for 3D headsets.

What’s New in Version 1.6

  • Added support for Pico Neo3 virtual reality headsets.
  • Enabled fullscreen viewing of vertical videos (videos shot in portrait orientation, where height exceeds width).
  • Virtual keyboard now supports input auto-completion for Latin-based layouts. Auto-completion can be enabled in “Settings > Display > Latin Keyboard Input Auto-complete,” and dictionaries are downloaded as needed. Input stability has been improved and latency reduced.
  • New 3D environments added: “Country Meadow,” “Above the Clouds,” and “Milky Way.”
  • For devices other than those made by Huawei, the telemetry management option has been removed, as Mozilla’s telemetry service has been disabled. The option remains for Huawei devices, which use their own telemetry system.
  • Improved information display in fullscreen mode.
  • Added buttons for quickly resizing the window (doubling the size or returning to the original size) while maintaining the current aspect ratio.
  • The Gecko browser engine and Mozilla Android components have been updated to version 121, corresponding to Firefox 121 (previous releases used Mozilla Android Components 116 and Gecko 116).

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