Oculus v14 adds microphone support for Oculus Quest via Oculus Link

What you need to know

• Oculus software update version 14 adds microphone support for the Oculus Quest when using it through Oculus Link.
• Oculus Link is now accessible via the Oculus Quest menu bar, making it easier to jump into PC VR gaming.
• Software version 14 should be available for download this week.

While Oculus Quest users have been able to play PC VR games via the Oculus Link service since late last year, there's always been one glaring issue with the way Oculus Link works. Simply put, the microphone on the Oculus Quest was disabled any time you hooked it up to your PC via a USB Type-C cable, which made multiplayer games extremely difficult. Players either had to utilize a headset with a built-in microphone and plug it into the 3.5mm audio jacks on either side of the Oculus Quest, or just go without talking to other players.

Now, with Oculus Software version 14, you won't have to deal with this horrendous limitation. That's great news for Oculus Quest players that were sick of workarounds or having a muted voice, and it likely means that Facebook will be pushing Oculus Link out of beta in the near future and branding the feature as a "stable" release. It's been half a year since Oculus announced Oculus Link and, now that this final feature has been added, means that there's almost no reason to choose an Oculus Rift S over an Oculus Quest when deciding between the two.

How to connect Oculus Quest to your computer

In addition to enabling the microphone, Oculus is adding an Oculus Link button right to the Oculus Home menu bar inside your Oculus Quest. That means jumping from Quest to Rift functionality is now just a simple press of a button from the dashboard. Oculus says to expect the version 14 update to appear on your Oculus Quest sometime this week.

Oculus has been quickly adding features to the Quest since launch, and it feels like every month brings some epic new feature that makes the Oculus Quest one of the best values in gaming. The last big update for the Oculus Quest brought about automated hand-tracking when controllers aren't detected. There aren't any commercial games available with hand-tracking support just yet, but we've got a great guide for some fun free games that you can try on your Quest right now.

While the official Oculus Link cable costs a fair bit of cash, 3rd party alternatives from Amazon are far cheaper and work just as well. In fact, Oculus even recommended the excellent $8 cable below before the official cable was available, making it a substantially cheaper investment if you're got a VR-ready gaming PC.