Today Oculus is starting to roll out the v30 update to Quest headsets, which brings multitasking, mic switching, and new accessibility options. The update also adds the wireless PC VR streaming feature, Air Link, to the original Quest.

Oculus announced the v30 update today, the latest in a series of patches which have aggressively improved the standalone Quest headset.

As with prior updates, v30 will roll out slowly to Quest and Quest 2 users, likely over the course of a week or more, but you can check for an update manually to see if it’s available to you. Here’s how:

How to Update Quest and Quest 2
  1. In your headset, bring up the Quest menu by pressing the Oculus button on your right controller. Find the Settings section (gear icon).
  2. On the left of the Settings section select ‘About’ at the bottom of the list
  3. Look next to the ‘Software Update’ label to see if a new version is available
  4. If no new version is available, try restarting your headset and checking again

App Multitasking on Quest

In an effort to make Quest more useful for productivity, Oculus is adding a multitasking feature for 2D apps.

Similar to the Oculus browser, users can have up to three ‘screens’ in front of them, each with different 2D apps. While the selection of 2D apps on Quest is limited to a handful of Oculus-specific apps like Explore, Store, Oculus TV, Scoreboards, and others, this multitasking functionality would be even more useful if Oculus ever opens up the headset to 2D Android apps.

SEE ALSO
The First $100 You Should Spend on Meta Quest Games

Once the multitasking feature reaches your headset, for now you’ll find it under the Experimental Features section of the Settings panel. Once enabled, you can drag-and-drop 2D apps to open them side-by-side.

Mic Switching Between Party & App Chat

The v30 update to Quest will give you more control over your mic, allowing you to switch between party chat and app chat.

As it stands right now, if you’re in a system-level Oculus party chat with friends, you won’t be able to communicate with players inside of a game which uses its own in-game voice-chat. The only way to do so is to drop out of your party.

v30 will make it easy to switch back and forth between party chat and app chat without leaving and rejoining the party. This will also make it easier for players joining the same app to transition from party chat to app chat (to take advantage of spatial voice audio, for instance).

Air Link Comes to Oculus Quest

Air Link is a wireless version of the Oculus Link feature which lets you plug your Quest headset into a capable computer to play PC VR games. The feature first debuted in the v28 update, but it was restricted to Quest 2. v30 now brings Air Link to the original Oculus Quest as well.

The feature is still experimental and takes quite a few steps to enable; check out our full Air Link setup guide here, including tips on the ideal networking setup to ensure maximum performance.

Color-blind & Height Accessibility Options

The v30 Quest update is also adding accessibility options, and gathering them in a new Accessibility section in the Settings panel.

SEE ALSO
The Best Meta Quest 3 Accessories & Why You’ll Want Them

In addition to the existing ability to change text size, v30 adds system-wide color-blind options to help people with Deuteranomaly (green-red), Protanomaly (red-green), and Tritanomaly (blue-yellow) color-blindness.

v30 also introduces a ‘Raise View’ feature (which will be in Experimental Features when available), which allows you to raise your viewing height by 16 inches (0.4 meters). The idea is to allow games to be played at a standing height even when players are seated. Oculus says the function can be disabled by applications (likely to prevent unintended gameplay where height is concerned).

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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."
  • Multitasking is an important news, and I think that it preludes to the release of Android apps on Quest

    • Buffy Stoney

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  • g-man

    Also coming to Quest: ads

    • Yeah, the worst thing.

      I never agreed to this, Facebook–and I do not want it!

      >:-(

      • Elite-Force_Cinema

        And you’re trying to say you want to force Oculus and Facebook to go out of business for good just so that you can force them to not for them to do better at treating their customers with respect but to force them to get all of their employees to go bankrupt and homeless instead simply because of this dumb shit reason you came up? Cause it sounds like you are, you Valve Index and SteamVR fantard!!

        • Rachel

          gg.gg/vmxfc?dQSMnRf

        • g-man

          Step away from the crack pipe buddy..

          • Elite-Force_Cinema

            How about no, you Valve Index and SteamVR fantard?

          • Elite-Force_Cinema

            Are you even listening to me?

    • Ragbone

      lol I knew fb would eventually start their sh*t. Im never getting an oculus headset again. Need to find a crack or something that disables this.

      • Elite-Force_Cinema

        And you’re trying to say you want to force Oculus and Facebook to go out of business for good just so that you can force them to not for them to do better at treating their customers with respect but to force them to get all of their employees to go bankrupt and homeless instead simply because of this dumb shit reason you came up? Cause it sounds like you are, you Valve Index and SteamVR fantard!

        • Tomo

          gg.gg/vmwau?IKG21hIInU

        • g-man

          Step away from the crack pipe buddy!

          • Elite-Force_Cinema

            How about no, you Valve Index and SteamVR fantard??

          • Ragbone

            Have at thee! By Jupiter I will give you a Jolly good thrashing with a kipper of +10 Dennis!

          • Elite-Force_Cinema

            Are you even listening to me??

    • Elite-Force_Cinema

      And you’re trying to say you want to force Oculus and Facebook to go out of business for good just so that you can force them to not for them to do better at treating their customers with respect but to force them to get all of their employees to go bankrupt and homeless instead simply because of this dumb shit reason you came up? Cause it sounds like you are, you Valve Index and SteamVR fantard!

      • g-man

        Step away from the crack pipe buddy

        • Elite-Force_Cinema

          How about no, you Valve Index and SteamVR fantard?

        • Elite-Force_Cinema

          Are you even listening to me?

  • Stuart Lawn

    Just updated to V30 and it has removed the ability to live stream to your Facebook page. Oculus has confirmed to me that this feature has been deprecated in this version. This is a big issue for me and for many people. Why would they do this?

    • Ender772

      cause its unstable and gltichy and poor quality

      • Elite-Force_Cinema

        http://disq.us/p/2istd2e

        And what do you want to do after you got a refund from Stride? Will you say that you will want to pray to god that game developer JoyWay goes out of business for good just so that you can force them to get all of their employees to go bankrupt and homeless instead simply because you think you have this dumb shit reason you came up? Cause it sounds like you are!!!

        • Ender772

          dude…wtf?? i have no idea what your saying…streaming was glitchy and bad…period

          • Elite-Force_Cinema

            And what do you want Stride to do in order for them to not be glitchy and bad game that should not exist? For them to do better at treating their customers with respect? For them to go out of business for good? Hahahahaha kill yourself bro! Your kind and rudeness is not welcomed here!!!!!