Meta for Work Shared Mode Hand and Body Tracking Privacy Notice

Effective date: 13 November 2023

What is hand and body tracking

Hand and body tracking is a feature for Meta Quest devices that allows you to switch between hands and controllers to interact with your surroundings and have a more seamless or immersive experience, such as by navigating virtual menus or selecting applications and websites on Meta Quest devices with your hands, or having an obstructing hand removed from a scene. You have the choice to turn hand and body tracking on and off in Settings.

How hand and body tracking works

When hand and body tracking is enabled, our software analyses images of your hands and body from the cameras on your headset to estimate the location of certain key points on your hands and body (such as your knuckles, arms, legs and torso). All of this analysis is done on your device in real time as you move, and the images and estimated points are deleted in real time after processing. We do not collect or store this data on Meta servers.

The software fits a generic hand and body model over the estimated points on your hands and body, resulting in estimated body scale data (standardised numerical values such as between -2 and 2, which estimate the proportion of certain parts of your body to the generic body model e.g. "1" for height, "1.2" for arms or "-0.5" for legs), estimated hand size (represented by standardised numerical values such as between 0.5 and 1.5), and estimated hand and body pose data (such as approximate position and orientation of fingers and body parts).

Estimated body scale and estimated hand and body pose data are processed on your device or Meta servers, and are continuously generated and overwritten in real time as they provide this feature.

Estimated hand size data is also processed on your device or on Meta servers. It is generated every time you put on your headset and start using hand and body tracking. We store estimated hand size data on our servers to ensure that hand and body tracking works properly, and this data will be deleted within 90 days, when no longer needed for that purpose. Estimated hand size data is stored on your device to provide you with a consistent experience throughout your shared mode session, and the device will be programmed to delete the data when you choose to end your session or within one year, whichever occurs first.

As estimated body scale, estimated hand size and estimated hand and body pose data (collectively, "abstracted hand and body data") is based on generic models and standardised numerical values, it is not unique to you. For example, your estimated hand size might be "1", and many other people would have that same estimated hand size.

On Meta Quest Pro, Meta Quest 2 and earlier devices, our software will only process a subset of this hand and body tracking data (i.e. only data about your hands) due to system limitations.

If another person uses your shared mode session on your Meta Quest devices when you have enabled hand and body tracking, the raw hand and body images, estimated points on hands and body, and abstracted hand and body data from such person may also be processed unless they turn off the feature. You can only permit other people to use the feature during your shared mode session if they have enabled it or if you are their legally authorised representative.

How to enable and disable hand and body tracking

To enable this feature, navigate to the Settings tab in VR, select Movement tracking and toggle the Hand and body tracking feature to enable it. You can disable hand and body tracking at any time by toggling the feature off in Settings.

If you choose to disable hand and body tracking, you can use controllers to interact with your surroundings on Meta Quest devices. See our Privacy Policy for more information.

What data is collected

We collect and retain certain data from your device to provide the hand and body tracking feature and ensure that it works properly, consistent with our Privacy Policy:

As explained above, we store estimated hand size data on our servers and delete it within 90 days.

We also collect and retain your usage data, image telemetry (e.g. exposure, contrast) and other information about your interactions with hand and body tracking, such as tracking quality, the amount of time that it takes to detect your hands and body, and the number of gestures that you make. If you have chosen to share additional data with Meta, we collect additional data about how you use your headset (including hand and body tracking) to help Meta better personalise your experiences and improve Meta Quest (Learn more). The data described in this paragraph is sent to and stored on our servers and will be disassociated from your shared mode device when we no longer need it to provide the service or improve the hand and body tracking feature. If the organisation that manages your device removes it from shared mode, the data associated with that device will be deleted.

If your device crashes, we send crash logs about your device to our servers, which may contain recently generated estimated body scale and estimated hand and body pose data, as well as other information about your interactions with the hand and body tracking feature, consistent with our Privacy Policy. This data is deleted from Meta servers within 90 days, when no longer needed to provide hand and body tracking.

What data is shared

Hand and body tracking in applications

When you enable hand and body tracking and choose to use an application that supports this feature, the app will collect your abstracted hand and body data. If you use an app offered by Meta, the app will use this data consistent with this Privacy Notice and our Privacy Policy. If you use a third-party app, the app will process your abstracted hand and body data in accordance with the app developers' privacy policies. App developers are only permitted to use this data for purposes outlined in the Developer Data Use Policy, which describes how developers must handle user data. But we do not control how a third-party app uses, stores or shares your abstracted hand and body data. Please read the developers' privacy policies to understand how they process your data. See also our Privacy Policy for more information about how third parties access your data.

Hand and body tracking on websites

When you enable hand and body tracking and choose to visit a third-party website that supports this feature, the website may collect your estimated hand and body pose data. You will receive a notice when you visit a website that requests access to this data, and you can decline the request. We do not control how third-party websites use, store or share your estimated hand and body pose data once they've collected it, so you should only allow access to this data by websites that you trust.