Though Oculus has added plenty of new features to Quest since its launch, in the latest update its removing one: the ‘Go Live’ feature was the only direct method for livestreaming the headset’s view to the web (via Facebook), but it’s gone as of the v30 update. Users can still cast from Quest to a smartphone or PC for local spectating.

The v30 update for Oculus Quest brought multitasking, mic switching, Air Link for original Quest, and more, but it also quietly removed a feature which wasn’t mentioned in the update notes.

The ‘Go Live’ feature once allowed users to livestream their VR adventures to Facebook, but in v30 it’s been removed. YouTuber Lipnox VR spotted the missing Go Live feature and Oculus support confirmed to them that it had been removed in the latest update.

Go Live unfortunately could only stream to Facebook (and not other popular streaming platforms like Twitch or YouTube), and didn’t offer a many options in terms of audience control; you could stream to all of Facebook, just your friends, or to a specific group. That made Quest’s only direct livestreaming tool less useful than it could have been.

Luckily the ‘Casting’ feature, which streams to devices on your local network, still works fine as of v30, which means it’s easy enough to have local spectators watch what’s going on in the headset. Technically it’s possible to livestream the casted view (assuming you’re casting to your PC), but this isn’t a great workaround because it requires additional software and has negative quality implications.

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Although Go Live is gone, expert streamers can still make use of the Oculus Mixed Reality Capture Tool to stream content from Quest. Granted, the tool is focused on more complex mixed reality rather than basic first-person streaming, and only supports a handful of specific apps.

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Ben is the world's most senior professional analyst solely dedicated to the XR industry, having founded Road to VR in 2011—a year before the Oculus Kickstarter sparked a resurgence that led to the modern XR landscape. He has authored more than 3,000 articles chronicling the evolution of the XR industry over more than a decade. With that unique perspective, Ben has been consistently recognized as one of the most influential voices in XR, giving keynotes and joining panel and podcast discussions at key industry events. He is a self-described "journalist and analyst, not evangelist."
  • xyzs

    Anyway the share and discover tabs are useless…
    The main menu icons should be Apps/Store/Link/Settings

  • Zack71

    Zuckerberg fascista

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  • Jistuce

    I care about “casting” a lot more than “streaming”.

    Not enough to shout about it in bold and then upvote my own post, but I care.

    • JakeDunnegan

      Yeah, wasn’t going to up or downvote, but the whole “self-upvote” did it for me…

    • xyzs

      Yeah this guy is desperate in trying to be more apparent than others…

  • asdf

    I care about casting more than streaming and a lot of businesses do too for demos and more…. turn your brain on before making bold statements like that

  • ender707

    Casting to a screen when my family and I are using the quest is much more useful to me than streaming to facebook. Not everyone is a streamer. Sorry that you lost a feature you care about – hopefully it comes back in an improved form later?!?

  • As it was implemented, it was not much useful… I hope it will come back improved!

  • Can I still cast Dillion Harper?

  • Patrick S.

    removed from rift also

  • Mublett

    They had a fix for a while, it worked until this evening for me. In experimental features, turn on “hey facebook.” Then restart your headset. To start live streaming, say “hey facebook, start streaming.” This will or did open up the old live streaming menu. I was doing it up until today, but it is not working as of this evening. As a work around I cast to my tv and use my phone or laptop camera to live stream that to FB, laptop works better than phone.