Calls for a Quest 2 ‘jailbreak’—a means of freeing the device from Facebook account requirements and other software-based restrictions—cropped up within days of the headset’s release. Today, less than two weeks later, the first jailbreak for the headset has reportedly been verified.

XRSI—a non-profit promoting privacy and security in the XR space—today claimed it has verified a Quest 2 jailbreak method which achieves full control of the device and can skip the Facebook account requirement. Here’s the full statement from Kavya Pearlman, the founder of XRSI, via the group’s blog, Ready Hacker 1. 

A researcher from the XR community has gained root access to Oculus Quest 2 and is able to bypass Facebook Login. XRSI’s own researchers have validated this jailbreak and are currently working to gather assurances to protect the individuals who discovered these methods of jailbreak. We have also learned there are other researchers out there, who have gained similar access and are unsure how to proceed without clear policies around the right to repair. If you are one of those researchers, we urge you to contact us and share the details in a secure manner. Contact XR Safety Initiative XRSI via info@xrsi.org or Use Signal 510-990-4438

Days after the launch of Quest 2, Robert Long, a WebXR developer at Mozilla, offered up $5,000 of his own cash to anyone capable of freeing Quest 2 from Facebook services. Shortly afterwards, Oculus’ departed founder, Palmer Luckey, vowed to match Long’s bounty which gained support among a few other voices in the community.

Long said about today’s news that XRSI’s “legal and security expertise has been crucial in pushing this effort forward.” He had originally planned to crowdfund an even larger bounty for the jailbreak, but it seems jailbreakers have beat him too it. Still, he says he intends to make good on his offer and encourages the same of others who offered matching support.

“I’m still committed to paying out my bounty and I hope members of the community will as well when we get this figured out,” Long says.

Photo by Road to VR

XRSI, the organization that verified the Quest 2 jailbreak, has set out to “create standards, guidelines, and awareness for XR stakeholders.”

The group has put forth a framework that they say is a “free, globally accessible baseline rulebook built by bringing together a diverse set of experts from various backgrounds and domains, including privacy and cybersecurity, cloud computing, immersive technologies, artificial intelligence, legal, artists, product design, engineering, and many more.”

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One of the many issues surrounding the jailbreak is invariably the ‘Right to Repair’—the ability to have full control over hardware and software you own—which is conventionally applied to smartphones and wearables such as smartwatches and fitness devices. XRSI wants to help extend the same to AR/VR headsets, which would including protecting the right of users to jailbreak devices like Quest 2.

Update (October 26th, 2020): A prior version of this article misattributed the statement of a Quest 2 jailbreak verification to Robert Long. This has been updated to reflect XRSI’s role in the announcement.

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Well before the first modern XR products hit the market, Scott recognized the potential of the technology and set out to understand and document its growth. He has been professionally reporting on the space for nearly a decade as Editor at Road to VR, authoring more than 4,000 articles on the topic. Scott brings that seasoned insight to his reporting from major industry events across the globe.
    • Ron

      lol

    • dk
      • flamaest

        Alien for sure.

      • Dick Massive

        Lol. When he finished sipping that water, steam came out of his ears, he went bright red with anger, before punching a paper straw.

  • I 100% support these guys and their efforts.

  • Lucidfeuer

    Like the original iPhone jailbreak, they’re making Facebook more of a service than anything else. Glad I have my Oculus account.

  • ComfyWolf

    It’s too bad a jailbreak can’t increase IPD, now the only thing making it not worth getting

  • DigoriePiper

    Bravo ! Oculus is too important to be turned into a spying platform for Facebook / CIA. Zuck deserves this – let’s hope an open Android VR standard emerges for apps so that the games will be completely portable from SideQuest and still be available to Facebook inmates.

    • Ad

      We need alternative hardware too, but this hopefully makes a dent.

  • TechPassion
  • Jistuce

    Let the firmware update cat&mouse game begin!

    I really do hope there’s a fundamental flaw that Facespace can’t fix easily. I want this to be PSP levels of broken security.

    • the fundamental flaw is android and the fact that that they challenged the hacking/modding community making you use a facebook account. hehe. once someone gets root and possibly cracks the bootloader its going to be on like donkey kong with custom roms and game backups. android is just too easy to make it do what you want.

  • Lulu Vi Britannia

    Honestly, I can’t help but laugh at a group that feels like mentioning the “diverse background of the team” is a relevant argument in the tech industry.

    Not to mention the cat&mouse game that another comment already mentionned. Facebook will fight it. This is gonna be entertaining to watch, and I’ll definitely go on their side if I ever get banned from Facebook, but for now, the best is to stick to the rules until the Law gets that shit resolved.

    • Raphael

      So you’ll only “go on their side” if it ever directly affects you.

    • Caven

      Out of curiosity, what do you think “a diverse set of experts from various backgrounds and domains” means? I get the impression you’re thinking of an entirely different type of diversity than what the article really means.

      • knuckles625

        Caven is correct, diversity as mentioned in this article means coming from different technical background and expertises, not skin colors or nationalities.

    • Ad

      What law? And dumbass read it again: “a diverse set of experts from various backgrounds and domains”

    • flamaest

      Sony fought it with the PSP for YEARS, and each firmware update was hacked in days by legions of nerds. Good.

      • Andrew Jakobs

        yeah, maybe the PSP, but the PS3 superslim is still not hacked, so Sony did learn from the past..

        • Whatname?

          Not really. Vita was hacked to pieces. It’s even worse than PSP, people are downloading games from Sony PS store for free.

          Sony learnt nothing. I can say the same for Nintendo.

          • Jistuce

            Sony learned SOMETHING, because the Vita was harder to hack than the PSP was.
            People forget how EASY the PSP was to break.

            Unfortunately, Sony also tried to control all forms of access to the Vita, which meant custom memory cards, weird data cable connector, and no USB MSC access.

        • Tony Dee

          PS3 Superslim has been hacked. Check out PS3HEN

          • Andrew Jakobs

            ah, ‘finally’ then, and it still works with the latest official firmware? (I have a Phat with rebug CFW).

  • Pablo C

    What is the fuss here: Oculus offers 5000 to anyone that could break it. Of course someone does. Oculus pays and fix the issue. Repeat 2 or 3 times, and you´d have an unbreakable Quest 2.

    • Classi Fied

      It’s not Oculus that’s giving the $5000, it’s the founder they kicked out and another dude on Reddit for a combined total of $10’000.

      This is also about being able to run the Quest 2 without Facebook, not about the bug bounty being offered.

    • Ultimaniacx4

      You’ve grossly misunderstood the situation.

  • It will be fixed soon… but for now, what a win!

  • flamaest

    GOOD. Screw You Facebook.

  • Andrew Jakobs

    “software you own” That’s the problem, you don’t own the software, you have a license for the use of the software, which is something completely different than owning it..
    With software on a physical disc, the only thing you own is the box and the disc, but not the software on it..

    • Dick Massive

      Not going to cry, are you Andrew ?

      • Andrew Jakobs

        What the hell has that got to do with my comment. What I said is what the reality is. you don’t own software (unless you created it yourself or bought the company who made it) you buy a license for using it.

        • Sveinung Sjåstad

          Sure, that is the case in certain countries. Not others.
          Terms of service are in many cases also completely null and void the second it even suggests something counter to consumer law.
          In my country, the software I bought belongs to me, and I can do whatever I want with it, modify it as i please (just can’t SELL it afterwards).

    • Nostrildumbass

      I think the implication is that it’s not referring to the Oculus Quest default OS, but by the hacked OS being free use and likely open source, you do metaphorically “own” it.

  • Pablo C

    So, the jailbreak allows to play online Quest games without oculus noticing it? I wonder how long that can last….

    • Doctor Jack

      No, it’s so you can use the headset without oculus and facebook, to play as PCVR, through usb-c link (or wireless), or depending on custom roms, you can play your installed games and use a service like sidequest, or some other alternative store/direct download…

      You can’t access oculus services without a facebook account being active, maybe temporarily, while people can with the regular oculus store or the quest 1, but as of 2023 it will be impossible, so you’d have to use your headset through other means.

      Not much help if you bought a ton of games through the oculus store, but at least you could still minimally use the HARDWARE you bought.

      • Pablo C

        Yeah, that´s true, I barely touch my Quest anymore, though my wife uses it for excercising (BOX VR).

      • ViRGiN

        Why would you jailbreak q2 to use it with pcvr? The point of jailbreak is to avoid Facebook, by going pcvr you need to install Oculus app.

        Don’t even start hyping that someone will make an alternative. If there is someone capable making it in par to Oculus link, they won’t waste their talent to develop it for free lol.

        Jailbreak is entirely piracy driven.

        • kaosstar

          No one uses the Oculus app for Quest PCVR, except for a few exclusive games. Most people just use SteamVR. Also, there are several free alternatives to the Oculus Link, such as the popular ALVR wireless streaming software.

        • Nostrildumbass

          Steam. Do yourself a favor and stop buying ANYTHING from the Oculus store. Buy all your games through Steam, the single trusted PC gaming distribution platform for the past 2 decades.

      • is the concept of “you are renting and not buying” ie “you will have nothing but be happy” kkkk

  • Andrew Roy

    Please, please, please let this be permanent. I would gladly buy the vr headset if I don’t need a facebook account.

  • Dev Rifter

    would be cool to install Steam vr on oq2

  • Solid Snake

    Someone needs to get linux running on the quest 2 so we can use steam vr.

  • Megan Garbut
  • Jeff Vaughn

    I would love to get my hands on this to change the boot “O” to the login to “Ready Player One” entry to the Oasis