PointerHalo: Hands-Free XR App Navigation Using Subtle Head Movements

As lightweight, affordable XR Head-Mounted Displays (HMDs) move toward everyday use, many popular smartphone apps will migrate to XR. Head movements offer a hands-free option for XR app navigation. However, existing head-based techniques usually require large motions and speed thresholds, which increase neck fatigue, can induce motion sickness, and appear obtrusive in public. This is especially problematic when using XR apps designed for prolonged engagement, where cybersickness is a key concern. In this paper, we present PointerHalo, a hands-free XR technique tailored for app navigation. It uses subtle head movements to invoke and select a compact halo of stationary icons around a head-controlled pointer, supporting both generic navigation (scroll, section switch, back-to-previous-page) and app-specific commands. Results showed that PointerHalo significantly reduced head movements by up to 81.1%, relative to two state-of-the-art head-based techniques.