---
title: Everywhere Actions — Interactive USDZ & QuickLook Experiences for iOS
description: Create interactive experiences for iPhone, iPad, and Apple Vision Pro with automatic runtime USDZ export. Needle Engine generates interactive USDZ files on-the-fly with animations, material changes, spatial audio, and tap interactions for Apple QuickLook — no manual export required.
---

# Everywhere Actions

<logo-header logo="/imgs/unity-logo.webp" alt="Unity"><a href="./unity/">Unity</a></logo-header> • <logo-header logo="/blender/logo.png" alt="Blender"><a href="./blender/">Blender</a></logo-header>

## What are Everywhere Actions?

Needle's Everywhere Actions are a set of carefully chosen components that allow you to create **interactive experiences without writing code**.

**The key capability:** Needle Engine **automatically generates interactive USDZ files at runtime** for iOS. When users tap "View in AR" on iPhone or iPad, your scene is converted to USDZ on-the-fly — complete with animations, material changes, audio, and tap interactions. This is different from static USDZ export: your interactive behaviors built with Everywhere Actions are preserved.

Build experiences that work across **all platforms**:

### Supported Platforms

| Platform | Support | Notes |
| --- | --- | --- |
| **Desktop** | ✅ Full support | Windows, macOS, Linux |
| **Mobile** | ✅ Full support | Android & iOS browsers |
| **VR Headsets** | ✅ Full support | Quest, Vive, Index, etc. |
| **AR Devices** | ✅ Full support | ARCore, ARKit devices |
| **<logo-header logo="/imgs/apple-logo.webp" alt="Apple">iOS WebXR</logo-header>** | ✅ **Full native AR** | Via [Needle Go App Clip](../xr/ios-webxr-app-clip) |
| **<logo-header logo="/imgs/quicklook-logo.webp" alt="QuickLook">iOS QuickLook</logo-header>** | ✅ Supported | Apple Vision Pro, iPhone, iPad |

<testimonial
  name="Martin F"
  role="3D Generalist, Slovenia"
  src="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1KKfct3Zpcw&t=8s"
>
It's the only thing I know that does Quick Look with one click and with interactions — that was amazing.
</testimonial>

:::tip Native WebXR on iOS Now Available! 🎉
Full WebXR support is now available on iOS through [Needle Go App Clip](../xr/ios-webxr-app-clip). Experience complete AR and VR on iPhone and iPad without app installation — just open your WebXR scene in Safari or Chrome!
:::

## How do I use Everywhere Actions?

For iOS support add the `USDZExporter` component to your scene. It is good practice to add it to the same object as the `WebXR` component (but not mandatory)

To add an action to any object in your scene  
select it and then click `Add Component > Needle > Everywhere Actions > [Action]`.

![](/imgs/everywhere-actions-component-menu.gif)

## List of Everywhere Actions

| Action | Description | Example Use Cases |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Play Animation on Click | Plays a selected animation state from an Animator. After playing, it can optionally transition to another animation. | Product presentations, interactive tutorials, character movement |
| Change Material on Click | Switch out one material for others. All objects with that material will be switched together. | Product configurators, characters |
| Look At | Make an object look at the camera. | UI elements, sprites, info graphics, billboard effects, clickable hotspots |
| Play Audio on Click | Plays a selected audio clip. | Sound effects, Narration, Museum exhibits |
| Hide on Start | Hides an object at scene start for later reveal. |
| Set Active on Click | Show or hide objects. |  |
| Change Transform on Click | Move, rotate or scale an object. Allows for absolute or relative movement. | Characters, products, UI animation (use animation for more complex movements) |
| Audio Source | Plays audio on start and keeps looping. Spatial or non-spatial | Background music, ambient sounds |
| WebXR Image Tracking | Tracks an image target and shows or hides objects. | AR experiences, product presentations |

## Samples

### Musical Instrument

Demonstrates spatial audio, animation, and interactions.

<sample src="https://engine.needle.tools/samples-uploads/musical-instrument" />

### Simple Character Controllers

Demonstrates combining animations, look at, and movement.  

<sample src="https://engine.needle.tools/samples-uploads/usdz-characters" />

### Image Tracking

Demonstrates how to attach 3D content onto a custom image marker.
Start the scene below in AR and point your phone's camera at the image marker on a screen, or print it out.

:::tip iOS: Full Native Support ✅
Image tracking works natively on iOS through [Needle Go App Clip](../xr/ios-webxr-app-clip) with ARKit support—no setup required!
:::

:::info Android: Browser Flag Required
**On Android** please turn on "WebXR Incubations" in the Chrome Flags. You can find those by pasting [chrome://flags/#webxr-incubations](chrome://flags/#webxr-incubations) into the Chrome browser address bar of your Android phone.
:::

[Read more about Image Tracking with Needle Engine](../xr/image-tracking)

<img src="https://image-tracking-zubckszr0qj2.needle.run/assets/needle-marker.png" alt="Image Marker" width=300 />    

<sample src="https://image-tracking-zubckszr0qj2.needle.run/" />


### Interactive Building Blocks Overview

<sample src="https://engine.needle.tools/samples-uploads/usdz-interactivity" />

## Create your own Everywhere Actions

Creating new Everywhere Actions involves writing code for your action in TypeScript, which will be used in the browser and for WebXR, and using our TriggerBuilder and ActionBuilder API to create a matching setup for Augmented Reality on iOS via QuickLook. When creating custom actions, keep in mind that QuickLook has a limited set of features available. You can still use any code you want for the browser and WebXR, but the behaviour for QuickLook may need to be an approximation built from the available triggers and actions. 

:::tip
Often constructing specific behaviours requires thinking outside the box and creatively applying the available low-level actions. An example would be a "Tap to Place" action – there is no raycasting or hit testing available in QuickLook, but you could cover the expected placement area with a number of invisible objects and use a "Tap" trigger to move the object to be placed to the position of the tapped invisible object.  
:::

Triggers and Actions for QuickLook are based on [Apple's Preliminary Interactive USD Schemas](https://developer.apple.com/documentation/arkit/usdz_schemas_for_ar/actions_and_triggers)

### Code Example

Here's the implementation for `HideOnStart` as an example for how to create an Everywhere Action with implementations for both the browser and QuickLook:  
@[code ts twoslash](@code/component-everywhere-action-hideonstart.ts)

::: tip
Often, getting the right behaviour will involve composing _higher-level actions_ from the available _lower-level actions_. For example, our "Change Material on Click" action is composed of a number of `fadeActions` and internally duplicates objects with different sets of materials each. By carefully constructing these actions, complex behaviours can be achieved.  
:::

### Low level methods for building your own actions

| Triggers | |
| --- | --- |
| `TriggerBuilder.sceneStartTrigger` | |
| `TriggerBuilder.tapTrigger` | |

| Actions | |
| --- | --- |
| `ActionBuilder.fadeAction` | |
| `ActionBuilder.startAnimationAction` | |
| `ActionBuilder.waitAction` | |
| `ActionBuilder.lookAtCameraAction` | |
| `ActionBuilder.emphasize` | |
| `ActionBuilder.transformAction` | |
| `ActionBuilder.playAudioAction` | |

|  Group Actions | |
| --- | --- |
| `ActionBuilder.sequence` | |
| `ActionBuilder.parallel` | |
| `GroupAction.addAction` | |
| `GroupAction.makeParallel` | |
| `GroupAction.makeSequence` | |
| `GroupAction.makeLooping` | |
| `GroupAction.makeRepeat` | |

To see the implementation of our built-in Everywhere Actions, please take look at `src/engine-components/export/usdz/extensions/behavior/BehaviourComponents.ts`.

## References
- [Apple's Preliminary USD Behaviours](https://developer.apple.com/augmented-reality/quick-look/)

## Further reading

:::tip <logo-header logo="/imgs/apple-logo.webp" alt="Apple">iOS WebXR Support</logo-header>
Want full WebXR features on iPhone and iPad? Check out our [iOS WebXR with App Clip](../xr/ios-webxr-app-clip) guide for complete AR and VR support without app installation.
:::

- [iOS WebXR with App Clip](../xr/ios-webxr-app-clip) — Full WebXR on iPhone and iPad
- [AR Showcase Website](https://engine.needle.tools/projects/ar-showcase/) — Interactive AR examples with a focus on iOS AR & QuickLook
- [Everywhere Action Samples](https://engine.needle.tools/samples/?overlay=samples&tag=everywhere+actions)
- [Image Tracking with Needle Engine](../xr/image-tracking)