The Quest 3 has just been upgraded to run with crazy framerates up to 240Hz. And The Unity Cube is probably the first app on the Quest Horizon Store to support 200+Hz framerates! Keep reading this article to learn more about Quest 3’s extended framerates, how to implement them, how to try them, and my firsthand impressions. It’s going to be an interesting read…
Quest 3’s extended framerate
Great job, Meta, with this update
A few days ago, Meta announced a very interesting new feature of the Quest 3: with just a software update, the Quest 3 has become capable of running framerates superior to 200Hz. The maximum default rate is 207Hz, and there is an experimental mode at 240Hz that can also be enabled by developers.
When I read this news, I was amazed: the headset I already own is now capable of an unprecedented smoothness! I wanted to try this feature, but the problem is that it should be enabled by the developers in their own apps. And I have no idea which app could support it. Virtual Desktop announced a 144Hz experimental mode, but it can do that because the rendering is made by a PC. But standalone developers already struggle to make their app run at 72Hz… how could they support 207? What app could run at such insane framerates?
The Unity Cube comes to the rescue
At that point, a light bulb lit in my mind: I HAVE THAT APP. I am the author of The Unity Cube, the app that is… just a cube. What app could be simpler than that? If not even The Cube can run at 207 Hz, no app can.
So I took my The Unity Cube project and worked to update the whole project to the new Meta SDK. The app was many years old, because, you know… a cube doesn’t need many updates… so I just left it as is after the first release.
After the porting to the latest version of Unity and Meta SDK (and the addition of hand tracking support!), I checked the documentation and implemented the framerate update with a few lines of code. Then I tested the app, and bam! SUPER SMOOTHNESS!
The Unity Cube proved again to be super useful: after having helped me to show you how to build a Quest app, how to publish a VR experience, and how to manage the Android permissions, now it can also show you 207Hz on Quest! I guess it is the first app (or at least, one of the first apps) on the Horizon Store to go at such a crazy framerate. It is really a gift that keeps on giving to the whole community.
How you can try 207Hz with The Unity Cube
You can find The Unity Cube on the Horizon Store at this link: https://www.meta.com/experiences/the-unity-cube/3648431918540026/
When you launch the app, it stays at 72Hz for like one second, then you see a tiny glitch and the app goes into crazy-fast-framerate mode at 207Hz.
Notice that to test the high framerate, you must have these conditions:
- You must use a Quest 3 headset (Quest 3S isn’t good, either)
- You must have at least the Horizon runtime v2.7 installed (if you have not, you can update your operating system)
Don’t expect anything fancy: there is a cube in front of you in all its magnificence, and you can move your head around, and also move your hands in front of it. That’s it… what else did you want from an app called The Unity Cube??
But this is still enough to test the smoothness of the framerate. I suggest you move your head around and then also try moving the controllers or the hands and see the effect. If you have a crash, please restart the app.
What about 240 Hz?
240 Hz can’t be enabled by app developers. 240Hz is an experimental feature that you can enable only by using some special command-line commands. And you must have some technical knowledge to do so.
To enable 240 Hz:
- You must have your headset in developer mode
- You must have ADB somewhere on your computer (you can also use SideQuest, that can act as an ADB GUI)
- You must have the headset connected to the PC via a USB cable
When you are in these conditions, you enable this special feature by sending these two commands to ADB (either via a console or via SideQuest):
adb shell setprop debug.oculus.forceDisplayScaling 1
adb shell setprop debug.oculus.refreshRate 240At that point, the headset will constantly try to go at 240Hz, even in the Home scene. To restore the previous framerate, you can send the opposite console commands to ADB, or simply reboot the device.
Hands-on 207Hz and 240Hz
I have tested both 207 Hz and 240 Hz. And I definitely think the experience is pretty cool. I had the same sensations as when I tried for the first time the 144Hz mode on the Valve Index.
It’s hard to describe the feeling: you feel like the virtual world is more reactive; it’s smoother. The first time you try it, it even feels a bit weird because you are not used to it: it is a bit like trying VR under a heavy dose of caffeine. Then the more you play with it, the more you get used to it. The virtual reality feels more real, more reactive. When you get back to 72Hz again, it feels like things are like “scattering”. You understand how immersive these framerates are when you go back to the normal 72Hz and you think that VR is not smooth, is more limited.
It’s not all roses and rainbows, though. Testing the cube, you will notice that when you rotate your head, you have the cube leaving a sort of “trail”. It is like you see the halo of the previous positions together with the new updated one for a split second. I don’t know if it is a problem of reprojection, or screen persistence, or what, but you see things slightly duplicating. The duplicated version is just a halo, so it is not disturbing, but it is there.
And while controller tracking works great, hand tracking gives me a weird sensation, like if my hands are a bit jumping from one position to the other. It’s hard to explain, but let’s say that the movement of the hands does not feel more fluid.
207Hz is also very hard to keep: at the minimum problem (e.g. you get close to the boundary of the Guardian), the framerate drops to half (which is still a lot). There is literally no margin for error.
And don’t get me started on 240Hz mode on non-supported apps. When I launched this experimental mode, I saw a lot of tearing and other artifacts in the home scene of the device. And the headset could not keep 240Hz anyway. The “halo” effect I was having on the cube was much more prominent, and I was seeing things literally duplicating when rotating my head. Then things got better when I launched The Unity Cube, since the app works well even at 240Hz thanks to its simplicity. On apps that can’t support that, it looks pretty bad. But when it works, it is as cool as 207Hz: honestly speaking, I couldn’t spot much difference.
How to implement Extended Framerates in your Quest app
Meta provided documentation on how to implement this feature in your app: here is the page for Unity, and here is the one for Unreal Engine.
Basically, you only have to call a line of code through which you request the runtime a specific framerate. It’s very easy. Anyway, with the help of AI, I decided to make things a bit better for my app: I made a script that calls that line of code, but also adds some safety checks. So my script waits a bit before changing the framerate to avoid crashes during startup, and excludes non-Quest 3 devices or non-updated Quest 3 devices from executing the code.
You can find my Unity code below. Feel free to use it as a starting point for the code needed by your application.
Notice that I had random crashes until I switched my app to Vulkan. I don’t know if it is a special case of The Unity Cube or if it is actually required, but if you experience random crashes, try to switch to Vulkan and see if it increases the stability of your experience.
Final considerations
Big kudos to Meta for having brought such a cool update to the Quest 3. This is something I’ve always appreciated about the Quest line: the hardware is already good, but what makes it special is that Meta keeps releasing a lot of software updates to it over time. And this is absolutely an unexpected cool update that makes the Quest an even more interesting device. I tried it, and found it good to increase the sense of immersion in virtual reality.
I suggest you give this new mode a try and then let me know your impressions! And if you want to leave a good review for the Unity Cube because you enjoyed the experience, well, that would make me happy!
The post You can now try Quest3’s 207Hz smooth framerate with The Unity Cube! appeared first on The Ghost Howls.
This is a companion discussion topic for the original entry at https://skarredghost.com/2026/09/01/meta-quest-207-hz-how-to/