Do u need a facebook account for oculus quest 2

One of the key barriers to adopting Meta’s excellent Quest 2 virtual reality headset has been the Facebook account requirement. That changes today.

Table of Contents Show

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Why Make a Throwaway Account?
What You Can’t Do
If You Already Have a Facebook Account
If You Have to Create an Account
Modding Your Quest 2

Meta is rolling out Meta accounts and Horizon profiles from today, meaning there’s no longer a need to link a Facebook account in order to enjoy VR experiences.

Unsurprisingly the requirement had made some Facebook-averse folks feel a little icky – given the privacy ramifications of having a Facebook account – so the change might make a Quest 2 purchase a little more palatable.

Meta had promised the profiles would come in August and today’s the day. In a blog post, the company says it’s all about giving users more flexibility.

The company writes: “Our new Meta account structure gives you more flexibility and control, letting you choose how you do and don’t show up—and whether Facebook and/or Instagram is part of your experience in VR and other surfaces where you use your Meta Horizon profile.”

The video accompanying the blog explains how to get started:

The new policy is a reversal of sorts. For the longest time after buying Oculus, the company enabled users to continue logging in with their Oculus account. That changed in 2020, much to the chagrin of headset owners who’d supported the company since the first Rift headset debuted on Kickstarter. While existing Oculus accounts can still be used, they are being phased out in 2023.

Of course, it’s not a perfect world. While a Meta account might not provide the same level of intrusiveness and personal exposure as a Facebook account, with all of the web tracking and targeted ads, this solution isn’t necessarily perfect.

Users will still be handing over some data to Meta, which presents problems of its own. The company says that not all users will see the option to set up a Meta account today, but it is now rolling out globally.

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Note, I'm not interested in jail breaking it. I am asking when is the official date you can buy one, plug it in, and not ever have to attach it to a facebook account. I am asking because I'll be ordering a VR headset soon. I like the value from a quest 2 and it seems a good place to start, but I live my life with certain values. One of those is 'no facebook' absolutely ever.

Update: As of February 26th 2022, they still require an account and there has been no official date. If you want a quest 2, you have to sign up for Facebook. This is so wrong and I just will not do it. I think it might be worthwhile to pay the premium for an HTC Vive Pro or Valve Index. Maybe later I'll decide to downgrade.

Update 2: Today (July 7 2022), it was reported that in August of 2022 the Quest 2 will be untethered from a facebook account. Source . The article mentions that more details will be released on Tuesday. As July 7th is a Thursday, I must presume that means July 12th. I post this for thread closure in case someone follows a link and lands here.

The PC was completed in March and it's amazing. I will be trying it out in VR shortly. While I'm 90% sure that I am going to go with a Valve Index, I'm 100% sure I'll not be going Oculus. A contributing factor was this thread. There is a lot of bad posts below. I expected better out of this sub. It was a honest question so that I could plan ahead.

Boumen Japet/Shutterstock.com

The Oculus Quest 2 is the best all-around VR headset you can buy, but that recommendation comes with a huge asterisk. In order to use a Quest 2, you need a Facebook account! Luckily, you can minimize that hassle.

Update, 8/24/22: Quest headsets no longer require Facebook accounts, so there’s no need to create a “throwaway” one. You still have to create a Meta account to keep track of your purchases, but it doesn’t have to be linked to Facebook.

Why Make a Throwaway Account?

Facebook requires that each Quest 2 user must have a Facebook account. This creates three distinct types of Quest 2 users. The first is someone with an existing Facebook account who may have no problem linking their Oculus account and sharing their VR content with their friends, families, and followers. We aren’t concerned with these folks, so it’s the remaining two kinds of Quest 2 users that are the subject of this article.

If you’re reading this, you’re either a Quest 2 user who has a Facebook profile but doesn’t want to merge it with your Oculus account, or you don’t have a Facebook account and you don’t want one. Regardless of which situation you’re in, there are a few things you can’t do or Facebook will be annoyed with you.

What You Can’t Do

Facebook has several policies that limit how much you can circumvent the requirement to merge your accounts. If you’re thinking of creating a dummy account with a fake name, that’s prohibited by Facebook’s real name policy. Likewise, their policies also prohibit one person from running more than one account.

If you violate these policies, you run the risk of being permanently banned, which may also mean losing access to the software you’ve bought for your Quest 2. Clearly, many people are getting away with fake and/or duplicate accounts, but if you go down this path you run a real risk of losing access to your purchases or at the very least grappling with Oculus customer support explaining your situation to them.

Assuming that you aren’t willing to risk the wrath of Mr. Zuckerberg and want to stick within Facebook’s policies, there are a few limited options.

If You Already Have a Facebook Account

If you have an active Facebook account that you use on a daily basis, but you don’t want to share your VR activities for everyone to see, your only real policy-friendly choice is to dig around in your Quest 2’s privacy settings and limit who can see your VR activity.

Go to Settings > Privacy Settings and carefully look through each type of activity.

The safest option is to choose “only me” for all types of activity. This means that although your activity will be on your timeline, no one besides you can see or interact with it.

If You Have to Create an Account

If you need to create a Facebook account to use your Oculus Quest 2, then you can at least lock it down. Start out by creating a Facebook account on Facebook’s website as usual. Be sure to use your real name, a real profile picture (or no profile picture), and to fill out the required minimum private information in your profile.

Next, click on the dropdown arrow at the top right and choose “Settings & Privacy.”

Then, choose “Privacy Checkup.”

Next, choose “Who can see what you share.”

On the next screen, change every setting to “Only Me” and then select “Next.”

Under Posts and stories, set Future posts to “Only Me.” Since this profile won’t have any friends, you can leave stories on “Friends.” And, since there should be no past posts, there’s no need to use the “Limit past posts” option.

The final step involves blocking specific users, but for this account that’s irrelevant, so just complete the wizard. Now you should have an account that’s Facebook policy-compliant but is locked down as much as possible.

Modding Your Quest 2

If you really want to burn your bridges with Facebook, there may be another option. Although it’s not one that we can recommend. Hackers have managed to “jailbreak” the Quest 2, allowing users to bypass the Facebook login. However, as you can imagine that goes against Facebook’s terms of service, and there are other limitations, but it is something all Quest 2 users should be aware of.