Virtual reality replaces your view with a digital environment. Augmented reality adds digital information to a view of the physical world. Mixed reality goes further by using spatial understanding so digital content can appear positioned in, respond to, or be occluded by the physical environment. XR is the umbrella term for these and related spatial technologies.
Those definitions are useful, but product labels are inconsistent. A video-passthrough headset can run fully immersive VR in one application and mixed reality in another. “Spatial computing” describes a way of presenting and interacting with digital content in space; it is not a mutually exclusive fourth point on the same spectrum.
VR, AR, and MR compared
| Term | What the user sees | Typical spatial behavior | Example form |
|---|---|---|---|
| VR | A computer-generated environment replaces most or all of the physical view | Head and input tracking control the virtual viewpoint and interaction | Opaque headset running an immersive game or simulation |
| AR | Digital content is added to a direct or camera-mediated view of the real world | May range from a screen-fixed overlay to content anchored to a detected surface | Phone-based overlay or see-through glasses |
| MR | Physical and digital content are presented together | Environment mapping, anchors, depth, occlusion, and tracked input can let both affect the experience | Passthrough headset placing interactive objects around a room |
| XR | Not one display mode | Collective term for VR, AR, MR, and related techniques | Used by standards such as OpenXR and WebXR |
What is virtual reality?
VR is intended to make the virtual environment the primary visual context. The W3C’s WebXR Device API says immersive VR content is not intended to be integrated with the user’s environment. Head tracking updates the view, while controllers, hands, eyes, or other devices may provide input.
Because the physical room is obscured, VR relies on setup and safety systems such as a defined play area, passthrough shortcut, or external supervision. Learn the hardware basics in the beginner’s guide to VR, then use the setup checklist before an active session.
What is augmented reality?
AR keeps the physical world central and adds digital material. A phone can show labels or objects through its camera. Optical see-through glasses can place light-generated imagery within the user’s direct view. A camera-passthrough headset can also produce AR-like experiences.
Not every overlay has deep awareness of the room. A compass label or face effect is augmented content, but it may not understand walls, furniture, or object depth. That is why AR and MR are often separated by the strength of spatial integration rather than by the mere presence of a real-world view.
What is mixed reality?
Microsoft describes mixed reality as a blend of physical and digital worlds built around environmental perception, spatial mapping and anchors, tracked input, and spatial sound. In practice, MR applications can place a virtual screen on a wall, keep an object anchored to a table, or hide part of a digital model when a real object passes in front of it—if the device and application support the required mapping and depth behavior.
Passthrough alone does not prove that an application meaningfully understands the room. Camera quality, latency, depth sensing, scene mapping, occlusion, field of view, and developer implementation all affect the result. Our mixed-reality headset guide explains those buying and capability questions.
Where spatial computing fits
Apple uses “spatial computing” for visionOS experiences that can move among windows, 3D volumes, shared space, and a fully immersive space. That vocabulary focuses on how applications occupy and respond to the user’s space.
Spatial computing can therefore include conventional-looking windows, AR or MR interactions, and fully immersive VR-like scenes. It is a product and interaction framework, not a universally standardized replacement for VR, AR, or MR.
Where the metaverse fits
The metaverse is a concept about connected or persistent virtual worlds and services, not a display technology. The European Commission’s virtual-worlds FAQ defines a metaverse as an interoperable network of virtual worlds. VR can be one way to enter a virtual world, but a headset does not make every VR application a metaverse, and a virtual world can be accessed on a flat screen.
See how VR relates to the metaverse for the practical distinction.
Five questions that clarify any XR product
- Can you see the physical environment? Directly, through cameras, or not during the experience?
- Does content stay fixed in space? A stable anchor requires tracking and software support.
- Does the system understand surfaces and depth? Look for documented scene, plane, mesh, or depth capabilities.
- Can real and virtual objects occlude one another correctly? Poor occlusion makes objects appear pasted on top.
- Which modes does the application use? Hardware capability does not guarantee every app implements it.
What this means when choosing hardware
Choose VR for focused immersion, simulation, and games where the virtual world should dominate. Choose AR when persistent awareness of the physical environment is central. Look for MR capability when digital content must be placed, manipulated, or visually integrated with the room.
Then verify the exact software. The headset buyer’s guide starts with platform and use case; reviews of Meta Quest 3, Quest 3S, PS VR2, and VIVE Focus Vision document their different platform roles without assuming that every headset offers the same kind of XR.
The same test applies to glasses: Ray-Ban Meta and Oakley Meta models without a display are camera-and-audio wearables, while XREAL One is a tethered spatial display. Neither category should be treated as automatically equivalent to a tracked MR headset.
