Oculus Move uses built-in head and controller tracking to estimate your burned calories. While this is generally accurate, you need to measure your heart rate to gauge your true effort. Unfortunately, while the Quest 2 has Bluetooth support, Meta has yet to enable support for any popular fitness watches or trackers.
But don't lose hope yet! Our favorite Quest 2 fitness app, Supernatural, directly connects to some lifestyle and fitness smartwatches. And Meta added the ability to connect Bluetooth heart rate monitor straps in 2023, so you can see your heart rate for any app.
How to pair a smartwatch or fitness tracker with Supernatural
Supernatural supports the Apple Watch, Wear OS 3 or 2 watches, and HRM straps with BLE support, connected to the official companion app.
It specifically doesn't support "Fitbit, Garmin, and Samsung Galaxy watches" because they "require integrations that we do not currently support." However, the newer Galaxy Watch 4 and Galaxy Watch 5 should work since they run on Wear OS 3.
Some Garmin users claim on Reddit that they can get their newer Garmin watches to work by enabling Broadcast HR mode and then connecting via Bluetooth. So if you own one, you might as well test this for yourself!
Once you've chosen your fitness watch, follow these steps:
1. Download the Supernatural Companion App from the Apple App Store or Google Play Store.
2. Once logged into the app, select the heart icon on the bottom navigation bar.
3. On your fitness watch, put it into Bluetooth pairing mode.
4. In the app, tap Pair Heart Rate Tracker. Enable the app to connect to nearby devices.
5. Find your smartwatch or fitness tracker from the list of devices, then click Next.
6. Once your smartwatch or fitness tracker is paired, click on the Start Tracking button.
Once your smartwatch or fitness tracker is paired with the Supernatural Companion App, you'll just need to select Start Tracking in the Heart Rate Tracker tab before your workouts in the future.
This will enable Supernatural to display your heart rate in the Quest 2 app — so you can see for yourself if you're hitting a certain threshold or HR zone, or if you're pushing too hard — and will give you even more workout statistics from Supernatural.
How to sync a heart rate monitor strap to the Quest 2
Even if you can't use your favorite fitness smartwatch with other popular Quest 2 fitness apps, you can sync a Bluetooth heart rate monitor strap. Specifically, Meta officially supports our two favorite straps, the Garmin HRM-Dual and Polar H10; but it also says that "other heart rate monitors that use Bluetooth for pairing may also be pairable with your Meta Quest."
Unlike a fitness watch, pairing a HRM strap to the Quest 2 is easy.
1. Press the Oculus button and open Quick Settings, then full Settings.
2. Click Devices > Bluetooth.
3. Remove your headset and place your HRM strap of choice into Bluetooth pairing mode.
4. Select Pair next to Bluetooth Pairing, then tap the + button.
5. Find your strap in the list of options, and select it to pair it.
With a HRM strap, you can see your heart rate, but Oculus Move doesn't necessarily incorporate that information into its caloric results. If that's something you want, you'll want to use Supernatural (which does take it into account). Unfortunately, Supernatural has a fairly expensive monthly subscription, but the licensed music and frequently-added coached workouts make it worth it to many.
Otherwise, you can always simply start a custom cardio workout on your watch before you put on your Quest 2 headset; you can't see your heart rate in headset, but that might be better for immersion anyway. And you'll get more accurate results in your favorite fitness app instead of exporting data from Oculus Move.
We can only hope other games add direct fitness watch support in the future, or that Meta prioritizes a direct Bluetooth connection with the upcoming Quest 3. While using the Quest 2 for daily fitness is something plenty of people do, there are definitely ways to improve the experience!
For now, feel free to check our list of our favorite Quest 2 workout accessories to make playing Supernatural (or any other fitness app) more bearable and productive.
More than you think
While the basic mechanics look a lot like a Beat Saber clone, Supernatural is much more than that. Daily curated playlists, personal trainers, and movements that'll make you sweat every last ounce out every single day. It might not replace everything you can do at a gym, but it'll certainly fill the gap and, because it's so much fun to play, will probably keep you coming back more regularly than a gym might.
Even if fitness brands sell their own heart rate monitor chest straps, plenty of athletes prefer to make sure the Polar H10 works with it instead due to its acclaimed accuracy. It connects over both Bluetooth and ANT+, so most fitness watches will recognize it. It's comfortable, easy to attach, and comes in multiple colors.
