Web/API/XRSession/visibilityState

Secure contextThis feature is available only in secure contexts (HTTPS), in some or all supporting browsers.

The read-only visibilityState property of the XRSession interface is a string indicating whether the WebXR content is currently visible to the user, and if it is, whether it's the primary focus.

Every time the visibility state changes, a visibilitychange event is fired on the XRSession object.

Syntax

visibilityState = xrSession.visibilityState;

Value

A DOMString containing one of the values defined in the enumerated type XRVisibilityState; this string indicates whether or not the XR content is visible to the user and if it is, whether or not it's currently the primary focus.

The possible values of visibilityState are:

hidden: The virtual scene generated by the XRSession is not currently visible to the user, so its requestAnimationFrame() callbacks are not being executed until thevisibilityState changes. Input controllers are not being handled for the session.
visible: The virtual scene rendered by the XRSession is currently visible to the user and is the primary focus of the user's attention. To that end, the session's requestAnimationFrame() callbacks are being processed at the XR device's native refresh rate and input controllers are being processed as normal.
visible-blurred: While the virtual scene rendered by the XRSession may currently be visible to the user, it is not the user's primary focus at the moment; it's also possible the session is not currently visible at all. In order to optimize resource utilization, the user agent may be handling the session's requestAnimationFrame() callbacks at a throttled rate. Input controllers are not being processed for the session.

Usage notes

It's important to keep in mind that because an immersive WebXR session is potentially being shown using a different display than the HTML document in which it's running (such as when being shown on a headset), the value of a session's visibilityState may not necessarily be the same as the owning document's visibilityState. For instance, if the viewer is using a headset tethered to a computer and the immersive scene is obscured by a configuration UI, the user could peek out from behind the headset and still be able to see the document itself on their computer's monitor.

Specifications

Specification	Status	Comment
WebXR Device APIThe definition of 'XRSession.visibilityState' in that specification.	Working Draft	Initial definition.

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
`visibilityState`	Chrome Full support 79	Edge Full support 79	Firefox No support No	IE No support No	Opera No support No	Safari No support No	WebView Android No support No	Chrome Android Full support 79	Firefox Android No support No	Opera Android No support No	Safari iOS No support No	Samsung Internet Android Full support 11.2

Legend

Full support: Full support
No support: No support