Comes with some caveats to regain control.
What you need to know
- A GitHub script allows Oculus Quest 2 owners to unlink the Facebook account attached to their virtual reality headset.
- A Facebook account and credit card are required to initially run the tool.
- The tool unlinks the always-required Facebook account but also disables other Oculus features.
There is a new tool that lets Oculus Quest 2 owners remove the Facebook account requirement from their virtual reality headsets.
‘Oculess’ is a script that can be sideloaded onto the Oculus Quest 2 to log the user out of Facebook while still making the headset usable. The specific tool comes after Facebook, Instagram, and WhatsApp suffered an outage globally earlier this week. The Oculus Quest 2 and Ray-Ban Stories glasses were also rendered useless during the outage since all require an active Facebook account.
The tool can unlink the Facebook account from the Oculus Quest 2 so that it can still work even if the social media network were to go down again. Oculess can also disable system telemetry, which is the app data sent to Facebook, and firmware updates since future updates could potentially break the tool.
Oculess does break Oculus Store apps and default apps such as the Oculus Browser because they require Facebook to check, but the headset can still use sideloaded apps. The tool can be removed from the headset with a factory reset if wanting to return back to official programs.
Oculess can be downloaded from GitHub and requires enabling sideloading on the Oculus Quest 2 or Oculus Quest, though the process requires a Facebook account and a credit card to set up the headset and developer’s account. The tool works to unlink an existing Facebook account, rather than set up the headset without one completely.
Oculus Quest 2
$300 at Amazon
$300 at Best Buy
$300 at Oculus
The Oculus Quest 2 offers increased power, resolution, and flexibility over the original virtual headset. It is a complete, all-in-one headset that does not need to be tethered to a PC or smartphone in order to work.
