I tried the new Alo Moves VR yoga app for Meta Quest. It was a surprisingly fun alternative to in-person classes.

When you buy through our links, Business Insider may earn an affiliate commission. Learn more

One thing I've learned as a daily runner is that you can never stretch too much. I don't have time to join a weekly in-person yoga class, but after a minor running injury, I wanted to try a guided stretching experience without needing to leave home. This brought me to the Alo Moves XR app.

Alo Moves XR is a mixed-reality subscription service for Meta Quest VR headsets. It offers guided yoga, pilates, and meditation classes that aim to replicate a real-life experience without the time commitment of commuting or the intimidation newcomers might feel stepping into an actual yoga studio.

Instead of wandering into a traditional class where I would have been inexperienced, I donned a Meta Quest 3S headset, opened the Alo Moves XR app, and followed along with a virtual reality instructor — all from the comfort of my living room.

Alo Moves already offers classes via apps on iPad, iPhone, and Apple TV, but the jump to the Meta Quest headset makes the experience much more intimate. The mixed-reality classes use your physical space and drop an instructor right in front of you. By the end of my first yoga session, I was fully immersed in the experience.

As an easy-to-use fitness app, Alo Moves XR should appeal to plenty of people. It doesn't use the headset's controllers or do anything too advanced. Instead, it simply brings a yoga or pilates studio to you. In some ways, it's the perfect introduction to getting started with these kinds of exercises. However, its simplicity is also one of its drawbacks. In its current form, there's a sense that the app is only scratching the surface of what a virtual yoga experience can be. It's a promising start, but there's room for improvement.

The app is easy to use but requires a subscription

Intrigued by the possibility of improving my daily running routine by working on my flexibility and core strength, I decided to try Alo Moves XR by going through its class catalog daily. I used the service with a Meta Quest 3S headset, but it's also compatible with the Meta Quest 3, Meta Quest Pro, and Meta Quest 2.

The app is free to download on the Meta Horizon Marketplace, but unlocking classes costs $70 annually or $10 a month. You can also purchase a bundle with a year-long subscription and a Meta Quest 3S headset for $370.

Unfortunately, existing Alo Moves members who already pay for the brand's other subscriptions don't automatically gain access to the XR app. The company promises new monthly content and has been delivering more since its launch. According to my count, there are about 80 mixed-reality videos as of March 2025.

Getting started isn't hard. The different types of exercises are grouped and each is labeled with the time and intensity level. I only saw beginner, intermediate, and moderate skill levels, but those served my needs, and I wouldn't have ventured past that anyway.

As a word of warning, you will need to find enough room to fully stretch out. Even when I did find space on the floor, I found myself bumping into a ceiling fan. Though I would likely have benefited from a yoga mat, I was able to make do without one.

Yoga in VR has its pros and cons

Compared to many other fitness apps, the Alo Moves XR interface is basic. All the videos are funneled into a grid on top of a white window. The image used for each class can be hard to differentiate quickly since most look similar. The meditation ones reuse a lot of the same visuals too.

Once you select a class and begin following along, Alo Moves XR is really just you and a life-sized virtual instructor showing and telling you what to do. The app's visual quality on the Meta Quest 3S is solid overall, enabling a good feeling of immersion. I noticed a tiny amount of digital artifacts around the 3D capture of the instructor, but not enough to be distracting.

Previously, Supernatural has been my primary experience with VR fitness, and it's a more advanced app. Unlike Alo Moves XR, Supernatural uses the Meta Quest controllers to guide you through HIIT (High-Intensity Interval Training) exercises. In Supernatural you follow virtual balloons with your hands and do squats to avoid obstacles. In this way, the app can tell whether you're on track and making progress. Alo Moves XR doesn't have that same level of tracking for its exercises. That means there's limited gamification and no feedback on how well you're mimicking postures or completing tasks.

For some people, this will take the pressure out of performing. Yoga heavily focuses on going slow and breathing, so it makes sense to take a more relaxed approach. For other people, the simple achievements offered for completing multiple classes in a row might not be compelling enough.

Personally, I don't need a gaming aspect, but I would have liked a more closely guided experience that indicates when I'm not in the correct position. As a newbie, I wanted some feedback on my form mostly so I wouldn't accidentally hurt myself.

I found myself constantly looking up to observe the instructor's movements, awkwardly trying to match their arms and legs, and breathing in and out on command. This would have been exactly the same if I had gone to an actual yoga class, but Alo Moves does have some perks when it comes to visibility.

To combat your need to turn your head, there are two mini-instructors on the left and right. If you get turned around to the side, you should still be able to see what's happening. This is clever and a good use of technology. It didn't quite alleviate my need to look up, but it offers a small advantage over a real-life class.

Doing yoga or pilates with a VR headset is better than you might expect, but still not ideal. Since a lot of the stretches are at a slow, gentle pace, the headset never felt insecure. The Quest 3 or 3S are generally light enough that I wouldn't foresee too many people having issues with the weight. Still, you are wearing something on your head and over your eyes. In my experience, it gets sweaty after 10-plus minutes of working out, so that is something to keep in mind.

Should you buy Alo Moves XR?

Alo Moves XR does a commendable job of bringing yoga and pilates instructors right into your house. The app uses mixed reality to enable a futuristic fitness experience that used to be only found in science fiction.

If you already own a Meta Quest headset, Alo Moves XR is an excellent option for yoga fans or anyone looking for more fitness experiences to test out in VR. Even if yoga isn't your thing yet, there's a seven-day free trial, so you can give it a shot without spending a dime.

That said, I don't think an app like this is a big enough selling point to purchase a Meta Quest VR headset if you don't already have one or plan to use it for other features, like gaming. A Meta Quest headset costs between $300 and $500, and the app costs $70 a year on top of that. For that kind of cash, you should first consider attending an in-person class. And if in-person isn't an option, the Alo Moves iPad app or Apple's Fitness+ service are worthwhile alternatives for people who don't want to buy a headset.