Your friends, in your room.
ThinAir is a calling app for AR headsets like the Quest. The people you call appear as avatars standing in your actual room - passthrough AR, no virtual world to load into. You can start chat groups that are public for anyone to join or as private as you like.
Your room is the venue
No lobbies, no islands, no legs-optional plazas. ThinAir uses passthrough, so you stay in your own space and your friends simply appear in it...blocking the TV, sitting on your couch, standing by your desk like holograms, gesturing wildly, etc...
Costume party!
If your friends are in the same room they will be superimposed by their avatar. Throw on your 'sonas, creep each other out as monsters, point at each other as spidermen, or do the robot as robots. Your hair will always be perfect.
You, as your avatar
See yourself as an avatar in the mirror and when you look down. Pick avatars from the community or bring your own. Head, hands and fingers are tracked live, so a wave, a shrug, or talking with your hands all come through and full body tracking is available through SlimeVR.
A calling app, not a metaverse - ThinAir does one thing: it puts people in the room with you.
Q&A
Will people see my room? No, it's just the background. Your room is private and only visible to you. Your friends will see your avatar in their own room ... unless of course they are actually in your room in real life. If so, that's on you, you should've cleaned up.
What about friends in my room? Co-location is a feature! Once you agree on an anchor point your avatars and real-world locations will be synchronized and the costume party can begin (once you clean up).
Is ThinAir free? Yes, the app is free to use. I plan to open source it and support decentralized servers. The entire code base is built around portability and open standards.
Do I need an account? Not for basic use: you can be invited to a chat by anyone who has an account. You can also try on avatars in the mirror. Rooms can allow anonymous users, some people like chaos and might be open to drop-ins. That said, registering your email only takes a minute then allows you to create your own rooms and invite friends. I'd love to make it completely open but the bot spam and trolls would be horrible (why we can't have nice things).
Does it use controllers or hands? ThinAir supports both controllers and hand tracking ... but you will have a much more immersive experience seeing your own fingers wiggle so we suggest putting the controllers down.
Is ThinAir private? Yes, ThinAir is end-to-end encrypted. The server only relays encrypted packets and never sees your voice or avatar data. In a later release you will be able to run your own private server if you want to be extra sure.
What headsets are supported? ThinAir is tested on Meta Quest headsets and the performance targets them. Pico and Vive versions will be released soon and should work already from their browser. It will work on a desktop computer through any OpenXR headset. It can also be used on desktop computers without a headset just so you're not missing out while your friends talk.
Can I use my own avatar? Yes, you can upload your own avatar in a variety of formats (VRM, FBX, GLB, Blender) or choose from a huge library of open-license and community-uploaded avatars. Expect similar quality as Quest VRChat avatars though I've doubled their resource limits.
Is full body tracking supported? Yes, ThinAir supports full body tracking with SlimeVR or compatible hardware. It also takes advantage of Meta's body estimation with Quest 3 so you don't act like a floating torso if you only have a headset.
Will worlds ever be added? No, ThinAir is supposed to be a simple way to call your friends and chat as an avatar ... and maybe plan a meet-up in the extensive VR worlds of Resonite, VRChat, Rec Room, ChilloutVR, etc...
Will items be added? There is already a shared movie screen with Jellyfin support. Eventually shared items and interactive objects like a whiteboard will be added as options.