We’re firm believers that great VR experiences are made more powerful, memorable, and fun when they happen with other people. Now, your Facebook friends can join you—virtually—in Rift with Facebook Spaces! This new VR app takes some of the best features of Facebook and brings them into your VR space. Spend time with friends and family like you’re really there, step inside 360 videos, draw and play with Touch, and more. The beta launches today for Rift—don’t miss it on the Oculus Store.

Bring Yourself into VR

To deepen the sense of immersion with your friends and family, Facebook Spaces lets you create an avatar so you’ll be familiar to the people who know you best. Choose one of your Facebook photos and the app will generate several options that recreate your likeness in VR. Then, customize your avatar’s hair/eye color, hairstyle, features, and more until it feels like you.

Make Memories in VR

Now that you’ve created your avatar, it’s time to play.

Use the magic marker to draw up anything from tic-tac-toe boards to fencing swords, then grab your drawing and hand it to a friend—wherever they are.

All your favorite Facebook content is here for you to browse in Spaces, only these 360 videos and photos can transport you and your friends to new places. Relive personal memories from your own Facebook Timeline, or make new ones in VR.

Bring Friends into Your Virtual World

You can also use Messenger to call friends who don’t have a VR headset via video chat. They’ll take the call on their device in the real world, but they’ll talk to your avatar in VR.

Don’t forget the selfie stick. Use it to take photos of your experience and share the memories you create to your Facebook feed.

Facebook is releasing this in early beta, and we can’t wait to hear what you think. The team will be busy iterating on the app as we all learn more about how to make these new social features the best they can be. We’ll see you in Facebook Spaces.

— The Oculus Team