Meta announced it’s bringing some new parental tools to Quest headsets in the next few months which are aimed at giving parents more control over what their teens see and do in VR.

Meta’s VR headsets, which are only intended for kids 13 and over, lack a number of parental controls that you might find on traditional consoles such as PS5 or Xbox. Now the company says it’s bringing a number of new platform-level tools to its Quest platform soon so parents will know precisely what their kid are up to in VR.

Meta says that starting in April it will be expanding its headset pattern unlock system on Quest to go beyond the current one-and-done method it currently uses for headset unlocks. Soon parents will be able to put a pattern unlock on specific apps, something that will allow for tighter control on precisely what teens can access.

A month later, Meta will be introducing to teen accounts an automatic block on downloading or purchasing IARC rated age-inappropriate apps in the Quest Store. This is slated to come alongside a new suite of parental supervision tools, which Meta says will include the ability to allow apps through on a case-by-case basis. Teens will also be able to link a parent to their account so they can directly send and receive override requests for individual apps.

Image courtesy Meta

It seems Meta has thought of nearly everything too. In the near future, parents will also be able to block Link and Air Link to thwart teens from bypassing content locks by using Quest to play PC VR content through Steam or the Rift Store.

“Our initial suite of parental supervision tools, which include a Parent Dashboard accessible from the Oculus mobile app, will allow parents to link to their teen’s account,” Meta says in a blog post. “The process is initiated by the teen, and both the parent and teen have to agree to the experience. This is just a starting point, informed by careful collaboration with industry experts, and we’ll continue to grow and evolve our parental supervision tools over time.”

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This comes on the back of some fairly unflattering news pieces to hit the mainstream lately, such as the BBC’s piece in late February claiming a Metaverse app allows kids into virtual strip clubs, which has no doubt spurred the company to make good on its commitment to providing a safe and welcoming metaverse for all of its users.

Here’s a list of upcoming tools to expect in the coming months:

  • The parent will be able to approve their teen’s download or purchase of an app that is blocked by default based on its IARC-rating
  • Teens 13+ can submit an “Ask to Buy” request, which triggers a notification to their parent
  • The parent can then approve or deny the request from the Oculus mobile app
  • The parent will be able to block specific apps that may be inappropriate for their teen which will prevent the teen from launching those apps. Apps that can be blocked include apps like web browsers and apps available on the Quest Store
  • The parent will be able to view all of the apps that their teen owns
  • The parent will be able to receive “Purchase Notifications,” alerting them when their teen makes a purchase in VR
  • The parent will be able to view headset screen time from the Oculus mobile app, so they’ll know how much time their teen is spending in VR
  • The parent will be able to view their teen’s list of Oculus Friends
  • The parent will be able to block Link and Air Link, which will prevent their teen from accessing content from their PC on their Quest headset
  • Teens with linked accounts will be able to see a read-only view of the Parent Dashboard from the Oculus mobile app.
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Scott Hayden
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 3,500 articles on the topic. Scott brings that seasoned insight to his reporting from major industry events across the globe.

  • You what I want, almost none of the crap that’s on my f’n Quest 2 headset. I want the headset, the games I’ve purchased and apps I’ve specifically downloaded, the store to buy more games and download more apps that I want, and that’s about it. The rest is all convoluted garbage fluff and all the insidious “social” crap that everyone believes is essential but is completely and utterly not. If only you modern gamers knew what it was like to have a gaming device that’s just simple and pure, and the genuine satisfaction and joy that comes from that.

    • asdf

      all i hear you saying is me me me I want…. The quest isnt made catered to you, its for an industry crapbook believes is there and that group might not be 100% modern gamers. They could not be gamers at all, they could be young kids whoa re future gamers require these systems, just like an elderly person might need magnification or aided movement, just because you dont need or want it doesnt mean a large chunk of the demographic wont need or want it.

      When developing or designing stop thinking just about “what do I want” and understand they aiming for what does the majority, or even a large group of users want. Like from what you’ve said clearly some users want this as a core gaming machine and nothing else, if they felt that made up the majority and is whats going to sell, then it would very easily just be that.

      • I do not care what you think. You don’t know what you are talking about. You’ve drunk the Kool-Aid and that’s that. Go enjoy your “social” media with your “friends” and talk about lots of “important” stuff. . . .

        • John Doe

          Gamers are a minority. It’s not marketed for you, bro. Go back to your SNES, lmao.

          • Haha. I feel like created this account just to say that. Here, have some attention. . . .

    • NL_VR

      yes i am mostly interested in gaming in VR, all other crap i dont care.
      All this social and Horizon shit take to much focus imo.

    • Charles

      8/16-bit was and will always be the best era of video games.

  • kontis

    Will it also use AI to spy on them and report to parents if they have any gay tendencies (or other depending on laws in some countries) like Apple proudly announced, or is Facebook’s AI and on-device spying tech not as advanced yet?

    Silicon valley – every day battling to be the no 1 Orwellian dark lord ruling humanity.

    In other words – F… off and give me Valve’s HMD running Linux.

  • I’m so glad they’re finally putting these features in!!!

  • Charles

    No way that’s her daughter. Wonder what Facebook was thinking when they made this image to represent parental controls.

    • guest

      That’s just the demographically correct avatar that our favorite roadtovr troll would love rather than cute furries!

      • Charles

        Haha, not even sure what you mean.

        • guest

          Haha, its not trolling here because she’s probably on the Meta payroll, so here’s some troll-bait: The head of Valve recently said “The Metaverse is bullshit!”

  • Thanks To Quest For More Parental Controls Features!

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