It's great news for anyone using or interested in buying a Meta Quest headset (formerly known as Oculus Quest). Meta has decided to let go of the major limitation that required users to login into the virtual reality headsets using their Facebook credentials.
Meta is introducing a new account system for its virtual reality headsets that will start rolling out next month (August 2022). This means Facebook will no longer be needed in any form while logging into the best VR headset.
Don’t worry this doesn’t mean you will be locked out of your headset or lose your apps. If you have been using a Facebook account for your Quest headset, you will need to make a new Meta account. If you have been using an Oculus account, you can keep using that till January 1 2023. Once you migrate your account from either Facebook or Oculus, Meta says you should be able to see the VR apps you previously purchased.
Annoyingly, one of the only ways to log into the Quest headsets before this was to use a Facebook login. Scores of people raised complaints against this citing that they did not want to link their social media accounts to the platform. Many people also refrained from getting a Quest headset primarily for this reason.
Mark Zuckerberg seems to be following in on his promise from last year where he said he would work on a login other than a personal Facebook account. Talking about work applications for VR he said, “Not everyone wants their social media profile linked to all these other experiences, and I get that, especially as the metaverse expands.”
Interestingly, the Quest does need a new Meta account now, which still requires quite a bit of information like address, email, date of birth and payment details. Meta does say this is not a social profile, but with Meta moving more towards metaverse environments, it does need you to create a Meta Horizon profile.
Meta’s social VR interface — the Horizon profile — will appear both in VR and “other surfaces, like the web.” It will have an avatar and show the number of followers etc. But unlike Facebook, you can create multiple Horizon profiles using different Meta accounts. Meta says (opens in new tab) this is a way for people to maintain multiple personas, like one for gaming with friends.
These accounts can also share apps on the same device using Meta’s App Sharing feature and have the option to link to Instagram or Facebook accounts.
After renaming the Oculus Quest 2 headset to Meta Quest, the company is now focussing on its Metaverse pursuits and seems to be creating an ecosystem for it. This includes the Horizon social profiles and it also gives Meta a chance to go beyond its old name.
Next: Save on some of the best Oculus 2 games with the Meta Quest Summer Sale.
