lovr-docs/guides/Getting_Started_(Android).md

Getting Started

This guide explains how to start using LÖVR on Android devices like the Oculus Go and Oculus Quest.

After setting the device up for development, the LÖVR Android .apk is "sideloaded" onto the device. From there, a LÖVR project on a PC can be sync'd to the device.

Device Setup

First, make sure your device is set up for development. Oculus has official device setup guides for both the Oculus Quest and Oculus Go, but there are lots of other guides on the internet for how to do this. The key things are:

• Enabling development mode on the device.
• Installing the adb tool used to communicate with the device.

Install the APK

Download the latest Android APK from the Downloads page.

Install it to the device:

$ adb install lovr.apk

Try running it by navigating to the "Library" -> "Unknown Sources" menu of the headset and running the org.lovr.app app. You should see the no game screen.

Running a Project

Now we can create a LÖVR project, which is a folder with some code and assets in it. Create a folder called hello-world and add this code to a file named main.lua in there:

function lovr.draw()
  lovr.graphics.print('hello world', 0, 1.7, -3, .5)
end

Then use adb to sync it to the device:

$ adb push --sync /path/to/hello-world/. /sdcard/Android/data/org.lovr.app/files

Note the trailing . in the path to the project, it's important.

Restart the app. You should see the "hello world" message!

Tips

• It is possible to restart the app from the command line by running:

adb shell am force-stop org.lovr.app
adb shell am start org.lovr.app/org.lovr.app.Activity

• For even faster restarts, use lodr for live reloading.
• If you need to use print in Lua for debug messages, you can see those in a terminal by running adb logcat -s LOVR.