We tested the Oculus Quest 2 virtual headset from Facebook. If you know what it is and why it is not available in Germany, just skip the next two paragraphs.

The virtual reality headset Oculus Quest 2 offers high quality VR performance for 350 Euro – completely self-sufficient, you don’t need a PC or smartphone for operation (A mobile device is only required for initial setup, more on that later). On top of that, the Quest 2 can also be used with Windows VR software on the PC, for this you have to attach it to the computer with a conventional USB cable. No other manufacturer offers this variety of functions, other self-sufficient headsets – for example from Pico or HTC – perform less and cost significantly more.

No VR without Facebook: Even an existing Oculus account is required you can link to a Facebook account.

But there is a catch: Oculus is owned by Facebook; and Facebook finally wants to make money with its expensive VR subsidiary. Therefore, Facebook forces the users of Quest 2 to connect a Facebook account to the headset. One can only speculate about what Facebook will bring. One thing is certain in any case: Data recorded by VR headsets should be very valuable for advertising customers, after all, the headset knows when to flinch, where to look for how long and what to instinctively walk towards.

Facebook is undoubtedly sitting on a treasure trove of data, after all, in addition to Oculus, the US company also owns WhatsApp and Instagram. The Bundeskartellamt has therefore decided to prohibit Facebook from merging user data. Apparently this is one of the reasons why Facebook decided not to sell any Oculus products in Germany for the time being.

Can be bought without any problems (Image: jkj / c’t magazine)

For this test we were still able to buy a Quest 2 without any problems: We ordered the device from the French Amazon.fr in Germany – we didn’t even have to create our own account for this, Amazon.fr also works with a German Amazon customer account. With 343, 19 Euro including shipping the headset was even a bit cheaper than in the official Oculus store: an order to Austria for example costs 349 euros including shipping. As with the predecessor, a mobile device with Android or iOS and an installed Oculus app is required for the initial setup of Quest 2. The app asks you to log into your own Facebook account immediately after starting. After that, you can control almost everything in the glasses yourself – so theoretically you can uninstall the app. Oculus veterans who have previously only used their headsets with an Oculus account must enter a Facebook account to install Quest 2, Oculus and Facebook accounts are then merged, including any software purchases linked to the Oculus account.

Account fiddling Even if you want to use the Quest 2 exclusively as a PC headset with a cable connection to your computer, you can’t avoid Facebook logging in: You can’t do anything with the Quest 2 without an app and Facebook coupling , on the displays you only see a “Please pair” message. Since an Android runs on the headset, you could get the idea of ​​bypassing the Oculus store by installing your own APK packages. It actually works (very comfortably with the unofficial Sidequest app store, by the way), but you still have to pair the app and Facebook with the headset first – because this is the only way to activate the required developer mode.

It is also necessary to have your Oculus / Facebook account activated as a developer account. This worked without delay in the test, but you have to save a credit card for this (even though PayPal was already active as a source of payment in the associated Facebook account). In the curious German-English mish-mash of the developer area, it was said that a telephone number could be stored instead of the credit card, but this option was not offered to us.

In the heise forum was mentioned more often of the fact that, as a data-sparing person, you could simply set up a Facebook fake account and then link it to Quest 2. According to Facebook, this violates the guidelines and, despite rumors to the contrary, this rule has not been overturned by German courts. Still: We just got it from