What you need to know
- The v42 update for Oculus Quest and Quest 2 is rolling out starting today.
- The Oculus Move fitness app will add achievements and a more in-depth menu that tracks progress week to week.
- The parental control settings now allow parents to block several VR social features for teens with a toggle.
Meta has revealed a few new features that will be rolling out with the v42 software update for Meta Quest and Quest 2 virtual reality headsets starting today.
The first new feature in the v42 update introduces achievements into the Oculus Move fitness app, which rewards Quest and Oculus Quest 2 users for achieving certain goals. Some of these milestones include up to 5,000 calories burned, completing the first weekly goal, or completing 100 daily goals.
No points are attached to the achievements, but can be earned while doing other VR tasks or playing games like some of the best Quest 2 games. The achievements menu can be found in its own dedicated tab within the Oculus Move VR app.
The Move app also adds a new menu called Move Trends that helps break down progress from week to week. It calculates the increases or decreases of stats such as total calories, time using the Move app, and even calories burned per minute. Meta has been expanding on the fitness app with more ways to see your progress by adding the ability to sync with the mobile Oculus Move app and Apple Health last month.
The other new addition coming with the update is another setting for the parental controls menu introduced with the v41 update last month. The new setting is called "Block Social Features" and allows parents to enable or disable certain features that deal with communicating with other people in VR.
The features that can be toggled outlined in the announcement post include creating or joining parties, watching Meta Horizon Home content with others, sending or receiving messages, and even the option to post to Facebook. Although, there is now a new notification when the supervised teen "ages into a new content rating band." Meta said it will continue to expand upon parental settings with more tools as VR evolves.
The Meta 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.
