CHLORO
Role
Timeline
Team
Skills
Chloro is a mixed reality app that uses spatial data and mixed reality to analyze your room, identify the best spots for houseplants, and provide actionable care recommendations. Currently in closed beta testing, with early access available early spring 2026.
Final Design
Takeaways
1. Designing Mixed Reality Apps for Practical Use Cases
Effective lifestyle mixed reality apps should go beyond immersion and leverage features unique to the device to solve real-world problems. In this example, the Quest 3’s ability to measure room dimensions and window sizes enables precise calculations of lighting conditions, which can be visualized to help houseplant enthusiasts make quick informed decisions about plant placement.
2. Optimizing Presentation for Feedback and Engagement
When showcasing a project on platforms like LinkedIn, creating a concise 30-second demo video focused on the most impactful interactions proved highly effective. This approach not only captures attention quickly but also encourages more targeted feedback on the app’s core concept and functionality, helping refine ideas and communicate the project’s value more clearly.
Introduction
A good XR product starts with the user, not XR.
Before Chloro ever became an MR experience, it began as a concept for a consumer plant app that could offer better, more personalized recommendations. The idea was sparked after repeatedly killing my string of hearts plant. Despite using a light meter, following online watering schedules, and combing through Reddit threads for troubleshooting, I still couldn’t figure out how to keep it alive. This frustration led to self-directed user research.
my poor plants...
Research
The problem: most plant care advice is generic, but every space is unique.
To better understand this gap, I reached out to plant enthusiasts through Discord communities and campus poster sign-ups to interview them about their experiences with houseplant care.
Q: Why do you take care of houseplants? Or, why have you stopped taking care of houseplants?
HOUSEPLANT BEGINNERS
I stopped because I don’t have much room here or light, but I want to find a species that can work out
HOUSEPLANT ENTHUSIASTS
I enjoy how they look in my space, but in the past I have stopped and handed off plants that need lots of sunlight.
EXOTIC HOUSEPLANT COLLECTORS
I love the feeling they bring to my home and find watching them thrive to be very rewarding.
I have had to scale it back as it can be a very time consuming hobby
Q: Let’s say a plant expert visited your house. What are some questions you would like to ask?
EXOTIC HOUSEPLANT COLLECTORS
Bright indirect light is something I struggle to understand…
HOUSEPLANT BEGINNERS
im not rly sure maybe how well itd do, basic needs, etc.. how much care/time it would need, because school/work could get in the way
HOUSEPLANT ENTHUSIASTS
What do polkadot plants want?
What tools help care for plants? (I don’t have a soil/humidity checker for example)
More Key Insights
82% of participants mention Watering, Light and Placement as top issues.
“I would LOVE to know which plant species I can realistically grow except a cactus!”
“How many times a day should i water my plant? Where is the best place to put my plant?”
“how much water does each plant get, and how often, what is the proper amount of light?”
90% of responses mention aesthetics or comfort as reasons to care for houseplants.
“because it’s rewarding to see something grow with effort you put in, and because it spruces up the space.”
“I love having greenery in my appartment as decoration.”
“I feel like having plants in my house. I think they really add to the decor and vibe.”
Market Research
Current solutions such as mobile apps stop at the surface.
Most houseplant care apps on mobile focus on visual identification using camera input. You take a photo, and the app suggests a fix, but it rarely goes further than that.
How about using extended reality (XR) as a solution?
The Quest 3’s highly accurate spatial data recognition could provide more accuracy and immersion for Chloro than a mobile app.
Prototyping
Months after the research, I joined the XR Design Challenge and began building Chloro. Because Chloro targets houseplant enthusiasts, the flow needed to be simple and fit a “goldilocks” session length of about 20 minutes. This required careful iteration of the different interactions to be efficient, yet easy to use.
Storyboards to Development Ready UI screens
Current Design
UI Interactions (Scale, Rotate, Customize)
Plant Identification (using custom trained model)
Thank you!
There's so many people I need to thank for the creation of this project: Thank you to immersive insiders for hosting the hack, it was an incredible event. Thank you to AWE Builders Nexus for giving me a platform to present and pitch Chloro to investors! A special thanks to everyone who offered valuable feedback throughout this journey— I couldn’t have done it without your support.
