Category: quest

Posted on

Meta is Pulling the Plug on Quest 1 Security Patches Next Month

Meta announced that security patches for Quest 1 are officially coming to an end next month, marking the final phase-out of the now five-year-old headset.

Meta sent an email to Quest 1 owners on Friday stating the 2019-era Quest will no longer receive any security updates or bug fixes starting August 31st, 2024.

While users will still be able to download and play supported apps, the company notes that “if any security vulnerabilities are discovered in the future, private data that is directly stored on the device or accessible from it would be at risk of compromise.”

Quest [left] and Quest 2 [right] | Photo by Road to VR
The first indication that Quest 1 was headed for the chopping block came in early 2023 when Meta announced that first-party social apps Parties and Meta Horizon Home would no longer support Quest 1.

Then, in March 2024, the company announced it was removing the ability for developers to target Quest 1 for new apps, essentially halting any new games or experiences.

It’s unclear whether Quest 2 will meet a similar fate so quickly. While Meta hasn’t released official sales figures, the company’s 2020-gen standalone is widely considered the best-selling VR headset to date. To boot, it still holding the top spot as a the most popular VR headset on Steam, with 38.10% of surveyed users using Quest 2 to play SteamVR games.

Meanwhile, Meta appears to making room for a new headset to supplant Quest 2 in its lineup, as Quest is now out of stock in nearly all regions when purchased direct from Meta.

You can see the full email from Meta to Quest 1 owners below:

Hi [User],

We’d like to let you know that starting August 31, 2024, we will no longer provide bug fixes or security updates for Meta Quest 1 headsets. You will still be able to download new apps and continue using your existing apps as long as they are supported by the developer. However, if any security vulnerabilities are discovered in the future, private data that is directly stored on the device or accessible from it would be at risk of compromise.

This update follows our announcement in January 2023, when we stopped releasing new features and new Meta Quest apps for Quest 1 on the Quest Store.

We’re excited about the future of Meta Quest and look forward to providing you with more groundbreaking MR experiences.

In the meantime, Meta Store Support is available to assist you with general inquiries.

Thanks,

The Meta Store Support Team

The post Meta is Pulling the Plug on Quest 1 Security Patches Next Month appeared first on Road to VR.

Posted on

Travel Mode is the Latest Vision Pro Feature to Come to Quest 2 & 3

Meta is finally rolling out the long-awaited travel mode for Quest 2 and Quest 3, ostensibly hacking away another unique feature from Apple Vision Pro.

Update (May 13th, 2024):  Meta says the new Quest 2/3 Travel Mode was specially tuned to account for the motion of an airplane, even when it comes to looking out the window. The company says in a blog post it will be updating Travel Mode in the future to work with other modes of transportation, such as trains.

It’s being pitched as an experimental feature for now, so to activate Travel Mode you’ll need to select it in the Experimental section of the Settings menu, which will then let you toggle Travel Mode on and off from Quick Settings.

The original article announcing Travel Mode follows below:

Original Article (January 25th, 2024): Airplanes seem like an ideal place to dive into VR, as you can switch out the cramped environment of the cabin for a giant movie theater, or whittle away the hours browsing the web on a massive screen—something that shouldn’t bother your seat mates too much. Although Quest’s tracking is one of the most reliable out there, it still has trouble in moving vehicles like airplanes and cars. Meta is apparently working to fix that.

For anyone who’s tried to use Quest on an airplane, it’s basically only usable when you’ve reached a consistent altitude and direction. When you’re taxiing, banking, taking-off or landing, you’ll quickly find yourself being unwittingly jostled around in VR, making it distractingly unusable. Gain attitude, and you might find yourself falling through the virtual floor.

Responding to X (formerly Twitter) user Andrew Fox, Meta CTO Andrew Bosworth says the company is working on a way to make Quest work better for in-flight entertainment.

Here’s Bosworth’s response:

“No, we use an IMU to keep objects localized relative to your headset motion so moving vehicles represent a challenge (when they accelerate in any direction). We also use the cameras, of course, they work together as the IMU is higher frequency but lower accuracy. Working on it!”

The issue is basically the same for any optically-tracked VR headset on the market at this point. However, this hasn’t stopped companies from thinking of clever ways around it. Holoride, an Audi co-founded startup, partnered with HTC to hook its standalone Vive Flow headset into cars using a retrofitting device which accounts for the vehicle’s relative motion, letting users engage with a handful of licensed apps.

In 2021, Meta announced it was attempting something similar in a partnership with BMW, which would more accurately anchor virtual objects by hooking Quest’s tracking system into the car itself. Although the company issued an update on the research project in mid-2023, it’s still unclear when we’ll see it in the company’s consumer VR headsets.

Undoubtedly one of the biggest names to promise a solution to travel woes lately is Apple, as the company announced its $3,500 Vision Pro headset would include a ‘Travel’ mode, which Apple says can be used to “stabilize visuals for use on planes.” How this works is still a mystery at this point, although it’s possible the headset switches to a special tracking mode based purely on visual sensors while ignoring IMUs entirely. It would lead to less accurate tracking overall, but at least be useable in an airplane.

Could Meta be up to something similar? It’s likely. If the company wants to keep core feature parity with Vision Pro, which launches February 2nd, we may see something sooner rather than later. Of course, there’s no timeline on Meta’s efforts just yet, so we’ll be keeping an eye on Bosworth’s Instagram, as he regularly does Q&As there.

The post Travel Mode is the Latest Vision Pro Feature to Come to Quest 2 & 3 appeared first on Road to VR.

Posted on

New Quest Update Adds More Vision Pro Features & Passthrough Improvements

Meta is set to release its v65 update to Quest, promising a number of improvements ostensibly spurred by its ongoing competition with Apple Vision Pro.

The company says in a recent blogpost that v65 will include updates to the spatial video playback feature introduced in v62, a new way to view panoramic stills in-headset, and improvements to how passthrough works on Quest 3.

In early April, Meta rolled its v64 update for Meta Quest 3, which included marked boost in passthrough quality, improving color, exposure, contrast, and dynamic range for a more realistic view in mixed reality. Now the company says it’s tweaking passthrough again, bringing more of its UI into mixed reality.

When it starts rolling out gradually, users will notice that Quest 3’s lockscreen, power-off menu, and other panels will no longer appear in the previous gray void-like VR environment, but now allow you to continue seeing your environment until you take off the headset—basically like how it’s done on Vision Pro.

Other v65 updates include the ability to upload upload panoramic photos or spatial video to Quest headset using the Meta Quest mobile app, now available for users of iPhone on iOS 17 and later. Being able to view iPhone-captured spatial video was one of the big features touted by Apple Vision Pro, which Meta was quick to undercut with its v62 release in February, bringing native support for the MV-HVEC video codec.

The post New Quest Update Adds More Vision Pro Features & Passthrough Improvements appeared first on Road to VR.

Posted on

Meta Quest Subscriptions Soon to Be Charged in Local Currencies in Scandinavia, Switzerland & New Zealand

If you live in Europe outside of the Eurozone, or in New Zealand, Meta says recurring subscriptions will soon be priced in local currency and not in U.S. dollars.

One of the Quest platform’s biggest subscription plans right now is its Meta Quest+ game service, which lets you play a revolving catalogue of Quest games by either paying $8 USD per month, or $60 USD a year.

Meta announced that starting May 22nd, users in Norway, Sweden, Denmark, Switzerland and New Zealand will start seeing charges in their respective local currencies, and not in USD, which was initially offered at launch of the service in June 2023.

For example, Sweden-based Meta Quest+ users currently pay $10 per month, and $75 per year, so it’s likely we’ll see a direct conversion there since pricing has already been adjusted relative to that country’s built-in taxes, etc.

Meta hasn’t said whether it will expand this localized pricing to other regions charged in USD. Many countries, including Canada and the entirely of the Eurozone, are charged in their respective currencies already.

Here’s the full statement from Meta below:

Hello ‘User’

We’re writing to inform you that as of May 22, any active subscription tiers that are available in Norway, Sweden, Denmark, Switzerland or New Zealand will no longer be charged in U.S. dollars and instead will charge users in the local currency of each country – Norway (NOK), Sweden (SEK), Denmark (DKK), Switzerland (CHF), New Zealand (NZD).

When this update goes live, any subscription tier pricing will automatically be updated according to our latest price tiers, which account for conversion rates and locally relevant price formats. The next monthly charge for users in affected regions will be charged in the relevant local currency mentioned above.

If you have any questions, please contact developer support.

Thanks,
The Meta Quest team

The post Meta Quest Subscriptions Soon to Be Charged in Local Currencies in Scandinavia, Switzerland & New Zealand appeared first on Road to VR.

Posted on

Prop Hunt-style VR Multiplayer ‘Mannequin’ Heads Into Early Access on Quest Next Month

Fast Travel Games announced it’s bringing Mannequin, the upcoming asymmetrical stealth social VR game, into early access on Quest via App Lab starting next month.

Update (April 22nd, 2024)

Fast Travel Games announced Mannequin is set to release in early access on Quest via App Lab starting on May 2nd, priced at $20.

At its early access launch, Mannequin is slated to include all four maps featured during its Open Alpha, which is said to include updated visuals. The studio says there will also be improved friend list features, as well as the option to password-protect party play and custom games.

The studio says it’s also going to release promotional codes which will discount the game to $10 during its launch weekend. For now, players of the Open Alpha can still play until its official cut-off date on April 28th.

Notably, an early access release on PC VR is in development, however Fast Travel hasn’t said exactly when we can expect that, or the PSVR 2 version of the game as such.

In the meantime, check out the latest gameplay trailer below:

Update (March 20th, 2024)

Previously only available to Discord members, Fast Travel Games just opened Mannequin’s open alpha a bit more with the launch on SideQuest, the unofficial sideloading app store for Quest 2/3/Pro. It’s only available for a limited time between now and its Spring 2024 launch, so make sure to jump in sooner rather than later.

It also has a number of updates, including the ability to find friends In custom games, two new levels (replacing Courtyard and The Lab), an updated lobby, and a number of balance and performance tweaks, Fast Travel says.

Additionally, the studio threw out a new gameplay trailer that includes a brief explainer of the action, linked above:

Original Article (February 20th, 2024): First revealed in September, Mannequin promises to bring a 2v3 experience akin to a deadly game of cat and mouse, letting two elite Agents hunt three shape-shifting aliens, aka Mannequins.

Somewhat like the ‘Prop Hunt’ mode from Gary’s Mod, the Mannequins have to blend into the scenery of frozen humans, but have the power to ambush Agents by dashing forward and freezing them in place with a single touch. On the flipside, Agents can scan for Mannequins and neutralize with their trusty EMP gun.

Fast Travel Games says the alpha “represents a very early build of the game with a first look at just a few of the levels and features planned for the full game,” and is said to include two levels in addition to a social lobby so players can chat or talk strategy ahead of matches.

The open alpha is free to download via the game’s Discord (see update), with the full game set to launch on Quest, PSVR 2, and PC VR headsets later in 2024.

The post Prop Hunt-style VR Multiplayer ‘Mannequin’ Heads Into Early Access on Quest Next Month appeared first on Road to VR.

Posted on

Quest Now Natively Supports Spatial Video Originally Meant for Vision Pro

One of the big features being touted by Apple is Vision Pro’s ability to play back spatial video captured on iPhone 15. The data miners were right, and Meta has confirmed it with the release of its v62 software: Quest now natively supports the MV-HVEC video codec, stealing just a bit of Apple’s thunder.

Update (February 1st, 2024): Meta announced that, using the Meta Quest mobile app, you’ll be able to upload and playback spatial video captured by iPhone 15 Pro and iPhone 15 Max on your Quest headset.

“With this new feature, you can experience your memories and media content like never before,” the company says in a blog post.

The original report follows below:

Original Article (January 29th, 2024): The information was obtained by X (formerly Twitter) user M1Astra, who notes a number of strings found within a beta version of Meta’s app for iOS. The strings that most likely refer to native support for the MV-HVEC codec include:

  • “Immerse yourself in your favourite memories by uploading videos on the Meta Quest app.”
  • “Enable spatial video in your camera settings. {link}”
  • “Upload spatial video” “Spatial video ready”

M1Astra notes there are some possibly related strings that refer to Apple’s spatial video too:

  • “Your videos are ready!” “Your video is ready!”
  • “From the Meta Quest app gallery, upload videos to view them in VR”
  • “Go to the cloud gallery of the Files app in your headset to experience your videos”
  • “Uploaded videos are stored on Meta servers. Your headset will need to be connected to the Internet to view them.”
  • “View uploaded videos on Meta Quest in the Files app Synced media tab”
  • “Cancel upload?”

Quest users can already view iPhone’s spatial videos, however official support is set to not only make it easier, but more closely align Quest 2/3/Pro’s feature set with Vision Pro.

Notably, spatial video capture is only available on iPhone 15 Pro and iPhone 15 Pro Max—in addition to the $3,500 Vision Pro itself, which is set to ship out to pre-order customers starting on February 2nd. It’s thought that spatial video will be a more prominent feature moving forward, possibly arriving on a wider swath of iPhone 16 models in the near future.

The post Quest Now Natively Supports Spatial Video Originally Meant for Vision Pro appeared first on Road to VR.

Posted on

Xbox Cloud Gaming Coming to Quest 3 in December

Meta announced at Connect 2023 that Xbox Cloud Gaming is heading to Quest in December, meaning you’ll be able to play all of your favorite flatscreen games on offer through Xbox Game Pass Ultimate.

Meta’s full unveiling of Quest 3 yesterday came with a fair bit of news, including specs, price, pre-orders and shipping dates; long story short, you can get Meta’s $500 consumer mixed reality headset starting October 10th, with pre-orders now live.

Sometime in December, Meta says we’ll also get support for Xbox Cloud Gaming on Quest too, which users will be able to use on a virtual screen that can be adjusted and resized.

There’s no specific date yet for when to expect Xbox Cloud Gaming to the Quest platform. On stage, Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg only mentioned that it’s “coming to Quest in December,” so it’s possible we’ll see even Quest 2 included in the list of supported hardware in addition to Quest 3 and (presumably) Quest Pro.

As it stands, there are a few standard caveats. Xbox Game Pass Ultimate subscription and a supported controller (sold separately) is required. Meta says in a blogpost that some streaming limitations may apply as well, including variable server availability and wait times, and geographical restrictions.

Want to know if Quest 3 is worth it? We haven’t gone in for our deep dive review yet, although we got a full hands-on with the headset right before Connect 2023 this week that goes into everything from confort to clarity.

Posted on

Meta Unveils Quest 3 Pre-orders, Release Date, Specs & More

At Connect 2023 today, Meta released the long-awaited info drop for Quest 3, its first mixed reality headset for consumers, which includes specs, price, online pre-orders, launch date and more. Here’s the main bits:

Note: Make sure to check out our detailed hands-on with Quest 3, diving into everything from comfort to clarity.

Quest 3 is officially now available for pre-order, with shipping slated to start on October 10th, 2023. In the US, you’ll be able to find Quest 3 online through Meta as well as its official partners, including Amazon, Best Buy, Target, and Walmart.

The mixed reality headset is being offered in two variants, a 128GB version for $500, and a 512GB version for $650. Here are those prices in GBP, EUR, and JPY:

  • £479.99 GBP (128GB), £619.99 GBP (512GB)
  • €549.99 EUR (128GB), €699.99 EUR (512GB)
  • ¥74,800 JPY (128GB), ¥96,800 JPY (512GB)
Image courtesy Meta

Meta announced it’s bundling both variants of Quest 3 with Quest-exclusive sequel Asgard’s Wrath 2, valued at $60. On top of Asgard’s Wrath 2, which is due out sometime this winter, the 512GB version includes a six-month subscription to the PS Plus-style game service Meta Quest+, valued at $108.

Following the release of Quest Pro last year, which initially sold for $1,500 but was later reduced to $1,000, Quest 3 is the company’s first mixed reality headset created specifically with consumers in mind. It includes color passthrough sensors which allow the user to see the outside world, which is not only useful for switching between VR mode and checking out your surroundings, but also for playing AR games using your physically environment as a backdrop.

There are a ton more announcement on the way, so make sure to follow along with us for all of the latest XR news to come from Connect 2023.

Quest 3 Specs

Resolution
2,064 × 2,208 (4.5MP) per-eye, LCD (2x)
Refresh Rate
90Hz, 120Hz (experimental)
Optics
Pancake non-Fresnel
Field-of-view (claimed) 110ºH × 96ºV
Optical Adjustments
Continuous IPD, stepped eye-relief (built in)
IPD Adjustment Range 53–75mm
Processor
Snapdragon XR2 Gen 2
RAM 8GB
Storage 128GB, 512GB
Connectors
USB-C, contact pads for optional dock charging
Weight 515g
Battery Life 1.5-3 hours
Headset Tracking
Inside-out (no external beacons)
Controller Tracking
Headset-tracked (headset line-of-sight needed)
Expression Tracking none
Eye Tracking none
On-board cameras 6x external (18ppd RGB sensors 2x)
Input
Touch Plus (AA battery 1x), hand-tracking, voice
Audio
In-headstrap speakers, 3.5mm aux output
Microphone Yes
Pass-through view Yes (color)
MSRP
$500 (128GB), $650 (512GB)

– – — – –

Connect 2023 kicks off today, taking place September 27th and 28th at Meta’s Menlo Park headquarters. There’s been a ton of news already, so make sure to follow along with Connect for all of the latest XR stuff from Meta.

Posted on

Meta CTO Rebukes Report Claiming Cancellation of Quest Pro Line

According to a recent report from The Information, Meta is allegedly spinning down Quest Pro alongside a broader move to cancel the future ‘Pro’ line of XR hardware altogether. Meta CTO Andrew Bosworth says however, “don’t believe everything you read.”

Meta has reportedly stopped ordering new components for the Quest Pro from its suppliers, The Information maintains. While it’s thought Meta will continue selling its $1,000 Pro-branded mixed reality headset as long as there is enough stock, the report alleges the entire Pro line was has been suspended, putting a second-generation Quest Pro distinctly out of the question.

Speaking in an Instagram Stories post yesterday, Bosworth rebukes the claim that a potential Quest Pro 2 has officially been cancelled for good, saying that his team is developing multiple prototypes in parallel for all of its projects. Notably, he doesn’t address whether it’s spinning down the current version of Quest Pro, however he implies that the report of Quest Pro 2’s demise was the result of a disgruntled employee whose project was cut.

Here’s Bosworth’s statement in full:

“I have to explain this every year. There is no Quest Pro 2 headset until we decide there is. What I mean by that is there are lots of prototype headsets—lots of them—all in development in parallel. Some of them, we say, “that’s not the right one,” and we shut it down. Some of them, we say, “that’s the right one,” and we spin it up. What you need to understand is, until it goes out the door, it doesn’t get the name. So, there might be a Quest Pro 2, there might not be. I’m not really telling you, but I will say don’t believe everything you read about what’s been stopped or started. A lot of times it comes from someone who’s unhappy their particular project got cut when there are other projects that did not get cut.”

Still, it’s clear there’s been some turbulence in how Quest Pro was handled from the get-go. Originally launched for $1,500 in October 2022, Meta decided only a few months later it would slash Quest Pro by $500, putting at its $1,000 price tag today. Meanwhile, Quest 2 has seen multiple price changes, ranging from $300 to $400 for the same 128GB variant.

Fluctuating prices aside, Quest Pro’s raison d’être has never really been clearly defined, as the company has nebulously pitched it to professionals as a would-be workstation. In practice, Quest Pro has been more of a developer kit for studios hoping to build consumer apps for the cheaper Quest 3, coming in Fall 2023 at $500. Meanwhile, Quest Pro users have reported a host of usability issues since launch, decidedly making it feel a little less ready for prime time than the company probably hoped.

Whatever the case, Quest Pro 2 would need a much clearer value proposition—provided whatever prototypes Meta has waiting in the wings also don’t also get cut.

Posted on

‘Roblox’ Launches on Quest Store, Casting a Shadow on Meta’s Own Social VR Platform

One of the biggest names in social gaming is now officially on the official Quest Store, launching out of App Lab starting today. Roblox is home to tens of millions of daily users and user-generated experiences, casting a clear shadow on Meta’s own social VR platform, Horizon Worlds.

Update (September 27th, 2023): CEO Mark Zuckerberg revealed that Roblox will be available on the official Quest Store starting today, coming out of its two months on App Lab. The company says that you can purchase items within an experience, you won’t be able to buy additional Robux from your Quest device. This functionality is on the way, Meta says. The original article follows below:

Original Article (July 12th, 2023):

A Curious Proposition

Meta confirmed today that Roblox is coming to Quest “in the coming weeks” starting as an Open Beta on App Lab before eventually graduating to a full launch on the main Quest store.

On one hand, the move is a win for Meta. Roblox is one of the most popular social gaming and user-generated content platforms; playing in a similar ballpark with the likes of Minecraft and Fortnite. Getting Roblox onto Quest brings a valuable and recognizable IP to the platform, along with a huge new social graph of non-VR players.

On the other hand, Roblox is very nearly a direct competitor to Meta’s own social VR platform, Horizon Worlds. Both Horizon and Roblox are heavily focused on social experiences and user-generated content. But compared to Horizon, which caters only to the smaller demographic of VR players, Roblox has some 66 million daily active players across Xbox, iOS, Android, desktop—and soon, Quest.

For comparison, that means the number of people playing Roblox every day (66 million) is more than the total number of Quest headsets ever sold (believed to be around 20 million).

So ambitious creators looking to build content for the largest audience (and largest return-on-investment) will see the scale tipped vastly toward Roblox over Horizon.

Whether or not Roblox on Quest will stifle the fledgling Horizon remains to be seen, but needless to say this is an awkward situation. Not just for Meta though; Roblox also represents a looming threat to other social VR applications like VRChat and Rec Room.

Roblox Content Compatibility on Quest

Roblox currently has some 15 million playable experiences for users to choose from, but not all (probably not most) will be suitable to play on Quest.

Meta says the Roblox Open Beta on Quest is a “great opportunity for the Roblox developer community to optimize their existing games for Quest and build new ones for VR while gathering input and feedback from the Quest community.”

That said, Roblox Corp plans to automatically enable VR support for some portion of existing Roblox experiences, though exactly how many is unclear.

“[…] we have automatically updated the Access setting for some of the experiences that use default player scripts to include support for VR devices. We have found that experiences that use default player scripts typically run well in VR without modifications. Automatically publishing these experiences allows us to seed our library of experiences that support VR devices,” the company says in its announcement of Roblox on Quest.

Presently it isn’t clear if or how the company plans to ensure that user-generated Roblox experiences on meet minimum performance expectations on Quest.

Modernized PC VR Support for Roblox

Roblox has offered PC VR support for many years at this point and the company appears committed to continue supporting the platform in addition to Quest.

Less than a month ago Roblox Corp announced that it would adopt OpenXR to future-proof its VR support, including for PC VR headsets. The update also included improvements to correctly synchronizing the player’s VR playspace and scale to that of the current experience.

Additional reporting by Scott Hayden