Camera platform support

The AR Foundation XRCameraSubsystem is supported on the ARCore, ARKit, Meta OpenXR and XR Simulation platforms, as shown in the following table:

Provider plug-in	Camera supported	Provider documentation
Google ARCore XR Plug-in	Yes	Camera (ARCore)
Apple ARKit XR Plug-in	Yes	Camera (ARKit)
Apple visionOS XR Plug-in
Microsoft HoloLens
Unity OpenXR: Meta	Yes	Camera (Meta OpenXR)
XR Simulation	Yes	Camera (XR Simulation)

Check for camera support

Your app can check at runtime whether a provider plug-in supports camera components on the user's device. Use the following example code to check whether the device supports camera components:

void Start()
{
    if (LoaderUtility
            .GetActiveLoader()?
            .GetLoadedSubsystem<XRCameraSubsystem>() != null)
    {
        // XRCameraSubsystem was loaded. The platform supports the camera subsystem.
    }
}

Note

This example code assumes that your app has already initialized XR.

By default XR initializes automatically when your app starts, but this is configurable via Project Settings > XR Plug-in Management > Initialize XR on Startup. Refer to the XR Plug-in Management End-user documentation for more detailed information about managing the XR Plug-in lifecycle.

Note

This code example returns true if the provider plug-in implements the camera subsystem. The availability of the camera on a specific device may not be available other reasons, for example user permissions.

Optional features

The following table lists the optional features of the camera subsystem. Each optional feature is defined by a Descriptor Property of the XRCameraSubsystemDescriptor, which you can check at runtime to determine whether a feature is supported. The Description column lists the optional API that may or may not be implemented on each platform. Refer to Check for optional feature support for a code example to check whether a feature is supported.

Tip

Check the API documentation to understand how each API behaves when the provider does not support a feature. For example, some properties throw an exception if you try to set the value when the feature is not supported.

Feature	Descriptor Property	Description
Brightness	supportsAverageBrightness	Indicates whether the provider implementation can provide a value for XRCameraFrame.averageBrightness.
Color temperature	supportsAverageColorTemperature	Indicates whether the provider implementation can provide a value for XRCameraFrame.averageColorTemperature.
Color correction	supportsColorCorrection	Indicates whether the provider implementation can provide a value for XRCameraFrame.colorCorrection.
Display matrix	supportsDisplayMatrix	Indicates whether the provider implementation can provide a value for XRCameraFrame.displayMatrix.
Projection matrix	supportsProjectionMatrix	Indicates whether the provider implementation can provide a value for XRCameraFrame.projectionMatrix.
Timestamp	supportsTimestamp	Indicates whether the provider implementation can provide a value for XRCameraFrame.timestampNs.
Camera configuration	supportsCameraConfigurations	Indicates whether the provider implementation supports camera configurations.
Camera image	supportsCameraImage	Indicates whether the provider implementation can provide camera images.
Average intensity in lumens	supportsAverageIntensityInLumens	Indicates whether the provider implementation can provide a value for XRCameraFrame.averageIntensityInLumens.
Focus modes	supportsFocusModes	Indicates whether the provider implementation supports the ability to set the camera's focus mode.
Face tracking ambient intensity light estimation	supportsFaceTrackingAmbientIntensityLightEstimation	Indicates whether the provider implementation supports ambient intensity light estimation while face tracking is enabled.
Face tracking HDR light estimation	supportsFaceTrackingHDRLightEstimation	Indicates whether the provider implementation supports HDR light estimation while face tracking is enabled.
World tracking ambient intensity light estimation	supportsWorldTrackingAmbientIntensityLightEstimation	Indicates whether the provider implementation supports ambient intensity light estimation while world tracking.
World tracking HDR light estimation	supportsWorldTrackingHDRLightEstimation	Indicates whether the provider implementation supports HDR light estimation while world tracking.
Camera grain	supportsCameraGrain	Indicates whether the provider implementation can provide a value for XRCameraFrame.cameraGrain.
Exif data	supportsExifData	Indicates whether the provider implementation supports EXIF data.

Optional feature platform support

The following table lists whether certain XR plug-in providers support each optional feature.

Feature	ARCore	ARKit	Meta OpenXR	XR Simulation
Brightness	Yes
Color temperature		Yes
Color correction	Yes
Display matrix	Yes	Yes
Projection matrix	Yes	Yes
Timestamp	Yes	Yes
Camera configurations	Yes	Yes		Yes
Camera image	Yes	Yes		Yes
Average intensity in lumens		Yes
Focus modes	Yes	Yes
Face tracking ambient intensity light estimation	Yes	Yes
Face tracking HDR light estimation		Yes
World tracking ambient intensity light estimation	Yes	Yes
World tracking HDR light estimation	Yes
Camera grain		iOS 13+
Image stabilization
EXIF data		iOS 16+

Check for optional feature support

Your app can check at runtime whether a camera provider supports any optional features on the user's device. The XRCameraSubsystemDescriptor contains Boolean properties for each optional feature that tell you whether they are supported.

Refer to the following example code to learn how to check for optional feature support:

void CheckForOptionalFeatureSupport()
{
    // This is inefficient. You should re-use a saved reference instead.
    var manager = Object.FindObjectOfType<ARCameraManager>();

    // Use manager.descriptor to determine which optional features
    // are supported on the device. For example:

    if (manager.descriptor.supportsCameraImage)
    {
        // Camera image is supported.
    }
}

---

Apple and ARKit are trademarks of Apple Inc., registered in the U.S. and other countries and regions.