Meta headsets will no longer require a Facebook account starting next month.
In August, Meta will start rolling out Meta accounts, which can be used to set up Meta headsets. you will still be skilled to link your Facebook account to your Meta account to message and call Facebook friends from VR, but this is no longer required.
If your Facebook is currently linked to your Quest, you can choose to unlink it when you set up your Meta account.
Meta accounts are purely for login, they are not social media accounts. But you still need to set up a ‘Meta Horizon’ VR social profile, formerly known as your Oculus profile. As with current Oculus profiles (or other platforms such as Xbox Live and PlayStation Network), you have a username, profile name, profile picture, and avatar.
Your Meta Horizon profile is visible to others in VR apps and when you’re searched for in the Oculus app or Quest’s social menu, but you can customize exactly who can see your activity status (whether you’re online and the app you are currently using).
These changes come less than two years after the company demanded a Facebook account in good standing for its headsets, starting with the release of Quest 2 in October 2020. Linking the use of a hardware device to a profile’s status on social media was a widely unpopular decision, and some users left a paperweight†
At Connect 2021 in October, CEO Mark Zuckerberg announced† “To be fair, we’ve heard your feedback more widely, we’re working on making it so that you can log into Quest using an account other than your personal Facebook account.” Nine months later, Meta is ready to deliver on that promise.
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