The Oculus Quest 2 is poised to receive two highly requested features, according to a new blog post. The Facebook-owned VR headset will offer multi-user accounts and app sharing; two new features that will make sharing your Quest 2 with friends and family much easier.
Multi-user accounts will enable Quest 2 users to add secondary accounts to their device. With app sharing, users can share the apps they've downloaded to secondary account holders, allowing friends and family to have their own progress and achievements in the apps.
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Oculus Quest 2's new headset-sharing features
Qculus Quest 2 users may not mind the thought of handing their VR headset to friends and family to try out games such as Beat Saber and Superhot VR, but the downside is that new users will surely affect their high-score streak.
Facebook's new upcoming features, multi-user accounts and app sharing, offers a solution to this issue. Primary account holders can add up to three new accounts and share apps with other users. This way, game progress and achievements can be personalized and saved separately in each account.
For now, the app-sharing feature is limited to a single device, but Facebook will change this restriction in the future. "We expect an increasing number of households to have multiple Quest devices, so the App Sharing feature will later expand to allow a primary account holder to share their purchases across three devices," Oculus said.
While the Quest 2's new features benefit crowded households, it also benefits Facebook. The social-media giant hopes that these new features will grow the VR community, promote apps in the Oculus Store and decrease piracy. On top of that, each new user will need to use his or her own Facebook account on the Quest 2, so this will certainly increase engagement on the social-media platform.
Some say VR headset sharing is gross
Not everyone is on board with VR headset-sharing, though. Gizmodo pointed out that the Quest 2 sports a porous foam that traps sweat and other gross excretions from users' face, making it a bacterial nightmare.
"I love my friends and family, but I do not love their stinky sweat glands," Victoria Song of Gizmodo wrote. "Some of them don’t have the decency to use a daily cleanser and moisturizer, so on top of sweat, I might have to deal with flaky skin cells rubbing against my forehead. Sweat aside, VR headsets also enclose your eyes and nose, prime vectors for germs and infection. No thank you."
Song is right. The Quest 2's foam makes it a hotbed for germs and microbes, and it's difficult to clean, but there is a solution. I, too, ran into the issue of dealing with my Quest 2 being drenched in sweat while using workout apps such as Dance Central and Supernatural, but thankfully, I discovered sweatproof liners.
Oculus Quest 2 sweatproof liners, made of silicone, cover the offending foam material. They're washable, sweat-resistant and comfortable. Each user of the Oculus Quest 2 can have their own sweatproof liner and wash it after use. That being said, Facebook's VR headset isn't a total lost cause for sharing with friends and family. You'll just need some personalized sweatproof liners and responsible secondary account holders who will do their part to clean up after themselves.
Facebook's new features will roll out to the Quest 2 first for an experimental phase, and then later roll out to other Quest devices. Oculus says apps will be automatically opted into app sharing on Feb. 13. For developers who don't want their apps to participate in the new app-sharing program, they must opt out by Feb. 12. All Quest apps created after Feb. 13 are required to support app sharing.
