Web/API/PositionSensorVRDevice

ObsoleteThis feature is obsolete. Although it may still work in some browsers, its use is discouraged since it could be removed at any time. Try to avoid using it.

This is an experimental technologyCheck the Browser compatibility table carefully before using this in production.

The PositionSensorVRDevice interface of the WebVR API represents VR hardware's position sensor. You can access information such as the current position and orientation of the sensor in relation to the head mounted display through the PositionSensorVRDevice.getState() method.

Methods

PositionSensorVRDevice.getState(): Returns the current state of the position sensor for the current frame (e.g. within the current window.requestAnimationFrame callback) or for the previous frame, contained with a VRPositionState object. This is the method you'd normally want to use, versus getImmediateState().
PositionSensorVRDevice.getImmediateState(): Returns the current instantaneous position sensor state. This is intended to only be used rarely, for certain special uses, for example sampling the immediate position of a hand orientation sensor — or at least it will be, in the future.
PositionSensorVRDevice.resetSensor(): Can be used to reset the sensor if desired, returning the position and orientation values to zero.

Properties

This interface doesn't define any properties of its own, but it does inherit the properties of its parent interface, VRDevice.

VRDevice.hardwareUnitId Read only: Returns the distinct hardware ID for the overall hardware unit that this VRDevice is a part of. All devices that are part of the same physical piece of hardware will have the same hardwareUnitId.
VRDevice.deviceId Read only: Returns the ID for this specific VRDevice. The ID shouldn’t change across browser restarts, allowing configuration data to be saved based on it.
VRDevice.deviceName Read only: A human-readable name to identify the VRDevice.

Examples

The following example is taken from our [[../../../../../../mdn.github.io/webvr-tests/positionsensorvrdevice/index|positionsensorvrdevice]] demo, which uses the WebVR API to update the view of a simple 2D canvas scene on each frame of a requestAnimationFrame loop.

function setView() {
  var posState = gPositionSensor.getState();
  if(posState.hasPosition) {
    posPara.textContent = 'Position: x' + roundToTwo(posState.position.x) + " y"
                                + roundToTwo(posState.position.y) + " z"
                                + roundToTwo(posState.position.z);
    xPos = -posState.position.x * WIDTH * 2;
    yPos = posState.position.y * HEIGHT * 2;
    if(-posState.position.z > 0.01) {
      zPos = -posState.position.z;
    } else {
      zPos = 0.01;
    }
  }

  if(posState.hasOrientation) {
    orientPara.textContent = 'Orientation: x' + roundToTwo(posState.orientation.x) + " y"
                                + roundToTwo(posState.orientation.y) + " z"
                                + roundToTwo(posState.orientation.z);
    xOrient = posState.orientation.x * WIDTH;
    yOrient = -posState.orientation.y * HEIGHT * 2;
    zOrient = posState.orientation.z * 180;

  }
}

Here we are grabbing a VRPositionState object using PositionSensorVRDevice.getState() and storing it in posState. We then check to make sure that position and orientation info is present in the current frame using VRPositionState.hasPosition and VRPositionState.hasOrientation (these return null if, for example the head mounted display is turned off or not pointing at the position sensor, which would cause an error.)

We then output the x, y and z position and orientation values for informational purposes, and use those values to update the xPos, yPos, zPos, xOrient, yOrient, and zOrient variables, which are used to update the scene rendering on each frame.

Browser compatibility

Update compatibility data on GitHub

	Desktop						Mobile
	Chrome	Edge	Firefox	Internet Explorer	Opera	Safari	Android webview	Chrome for Android	Firefox for Android	Opera for Android	Safari on iOS	Samsung Internet
`PositionSensorVRDevice` Experimental'Deprecated'Non-standard'	Chrome Full support Yes Notes' Full support Yes Notes' Notes' The support in Chrome is currently experimental. To find information on Chrome's WebVR implementation status including supporting builds, check out Bringing VR to Chrome by Brandon Jones.	Edge Full support 79 Notes' Full support 79 Notes' Notes' The support in Edge is currently experimental. To find information on Edge's WebVR implementation status including supporting builds, check out Bringing VR to Edge by Brandon Jones.	Firefox Full support 39 Notes' Disabled' Full support 39 Notes' Disabled' Notes' The support for this feature is currently disabled by default in Firefox. To enable WebVR support in Firefox Nightly/Developer Edition, you can go to `about:config` and enable the `dom.vr` prefs. A better option however is to install the WebVR Enabler Add-on, which does this for you and sets up other necessary parts of the environment Disabled' From version 39: this feature is behind the `dom.vr` preference. To change preferences in Firefox, visit about:config.**	IE No support No	Opera No support No	Safari No support No	WebView Android No support No	Chrome Android No support No	Firefox Android Full support 39 Notes' Disabled' Full support 39 Notes' Disabled' Notes' The support for this feature is currently disabled by default in Firefox. To enable WebVR support in Firefox Nightly/Developer Edition, you can go to `about:config` and enable the `dom.vr` prefs. A better option however is to install the WebVR Enabler Add-on, which does this for you and sets up other necessary parts of the environment. Disabled' From version 39: this feature is behind the `dom.vr` preference. To change preferences in Firefox, visit about:config. Full support 44 Notes' Notes' The `dom.vr` prefs are enabled by default at this point, in Nightly/Aurora editions.*	Opera Android No support No	Safari iOS No support No	Samsung Internet Android No support No
`getImmediateState` Experimental'Deprecated'Non-standard'	Chrome Full support Yes Notes' Full support Yes Notes' Notes' The support in Chrome is currently experimental. To find information on Chrome's WebVR implementation status including supporting builds, check out Bringing VR to Chrome by Brandon Jones.	Edge Full support 79 Notes' Full support 79 Notes' Notes' The support in Edge is currently experimental. To find information on Edge's WebVR implementation status including supporting builds, check out Bringing VR to Edge by Brandon Jones.	Firefox Full support 39 Notes' Disabled' Full support 39 Notes' Disabled' Notes' The support for this feature is currently disabled by default in Firefox. To enable WebVR support in Firefox Nightly/Developer Edition, you can go to `about:config` and enable the `dom.vr` prefs. A better option however is to install the WebVR Enabler Add-on, which does this for you and sets up other necessary parts of the environment Disabled' From version 39: this feature is behind the `dom.vr` preference. To change preferences in Firefox, visit about:config.**	IE No support No	Opera No support No	Safari No support No	WebView Android No support No	Chrome Android No support No	Firefox Android Full support 39 Notes' Disabled' Full support 39 Notes' Disabled' Notes' The support for this feature is currently disabled by default in Firefox. To enable WebVR support in Firefox Nightly/Developer Edition, you can go to `about:config` and enable the `dom.vr` prefs. A better option however is to install the WebVR Enabler Add-on, which does this for you and sets up other necessary parts of the environment. Disabled' From version 39: this feature is behind the `dom.vr` preference. To change preferences in Firefox, visit about:config. Full support 44 Notes' Notes' The `dom.vr` prefs are enabled by default at this point, in Nightly/Aurora editions.*	Opera Android No support No	Safari iOS No support No	Samsung Internet Android No support No
`getState` Experimental'Deprecated'Non-standard'	Chrome Full support Yes Notes' Full support Yes Notes' Notes' The support in Chrome is currently experimental. To find information on Chrome's WebVR implementation status including supporting builds, check out Bringing VR to Chrome by Brandon Jones.	Edge Full support 79 Notes' Full support 79 Notes' Notes' The support in Edge is currently experimental. To find information on Edge's WebVR implementation status including supporting builds, check out Bringing VR to Edge by Brandon Jones.	Firefox Full support 39 Notes' Disabled' Full support 39 Notes' Disabled' Notes' The support for this feature is currently disabled by default in Firefox. To enable WebVR support in Firefox Nightly/Developer Edition, you can go to `about:config` and enable the `dom.vr` prefs. A better option however is to install the WebVR Enabler Add-on, which does this for you and sets up other necessary parts of the environment Disabled' From version 39: this feature is behind the `dom.vr` preference. To change preferences in Firefox, visit about:config.**	IE No support No	Opera No support No	Safari No support No	WebView Android No support No	Chrome Android No support No	Firefox Android Full support 39 Notes' Disabled' Full support 39 Notes' Disabled' Notes' The support for this feature is currently disabled by default in Firefox. To enable WebVR support in Firefox Nightly/Developer Edition, you can go to `about:config` and enable the `dom.vr` prefs. A better option however is to install the WebVR Enabler Add-on, which does this for you and sets up other necessary parts of the environment. Disabled' From version 39: this feature is behind the `dom.vr` preference. To change preferences in Firefox, visit about:config. Full support 44 Notes' Notes' The `dom.vr` prefs are enabled by default at this point, in Nightly/Aurora editions.*	Opera Android No support No	Safari iOS No support No	Samsung Internet Android No support No
`resetSensor` Experimental'Deprecated'Non-standard'	Chrome Full support Yes Notes' Full support Yes Notes' Notes' The support in Chrome is currently experimental. To find information on Chrome's WebVR implementation status including supporting builds, check out Bringing VR to Chrome by Brandon Jones.	Edge Full support 79 Notes' Full support 79 Notes' Notes' The support in Edge is currently experimental. To find information on Edge's WebVR implementation status including supporting builds, check out Bringing VR to Edge by Brandon Jones.	Firefox Full support 39 Notes' Disabled' Full support 39 Notes' Disabled' Notes' The support for this feature is currently disabled by default in Firefox. To enable WebVR support in Firefox Nightly/Developer Edition, you can go to `about:config` and enable the `dom.vr` prefs. A better option however is to install the WebVR Enabler Add-on, which does this for you and sets up other necessary parts of the environment Disabled' From version 39: this feature is behind the `dom.vr` preference. To change preferences in Firefox, visit about:config.**	IE No support No	Opera No support No	Safari No support No	WebView Android No support No	Chrome Android No support No	Firefox Android Full support 39 Notes' Disabled' Full support 39 Notes' Disabled' Notes' The support for this feature is currently disabled by default in Firefox. To enable WebVR support in Firefox Nightly/Developer Edition, you can go to `about:config` and enable the `dom.vr` prefs. A better option however is to install the WebVR Enabler Add-on, which does this for you and sets up other necessary parts of the environment. Disabled' From version 39: this feature is behind the `dom.vr` preference. To change preferences in Firefox, visit about:config. Full support 44 Notes' Notes' The `dom.vr` prefs are enabled by default at this point, in Nightly/Aurora editions.*	Opera Android No support No	Safari iOS No support No	Samsung Internet Android No support No

Legend

Full support: Full support
No support: No support
Experimental. Expect behavior to change in the future.': Experimental. Expect behavior to change in the future.
Non-standard. Expect poor cross-browser support.': Non-standard. Expect poor cross-browser support.
Deprecated. Not for use in new websites.': Deprecated. Not for use in new websites.
See implementation notes.': See implementation notes.
User must explicitly enable this feature.': User must explicitly enable this feature.