According to the patch notes for the Quest’s v60 version, Meta is eliminating a function that allows you to see alerts from your smartphone while wearing a Quest VR headset. In 2021, the business included the ability to view iOS and Android alerts in the headgear.
Meta didn’t go into detail in the patch notes about why it’s eliminating the functionality, which is unfortunate. Without such alerts, it’s tough to know what’s going on on your smartphone when you’re completely absorbed in your Quest until you remove the headset from your eyes — which causes you to interrupt what you’re doing on your Quest.
However, if you have a Quest 3, the headset’s full-color passthrough is sufficient to see your smartphone’s screen for minor tasks such as skimming alerts. However, Adi Robertson, a coworker of mine, stated that reading phone displays on the Quest Pro was “virtually impossible,” and in my experience, the Quest 2’s grainy black-and-white passthrough is a terrible way to try to look at your phone.
While it’s unfortunate that v60 removes a key function, the update also includes several welcome new features. A new layout utility tool is available that “helps you spatially measure, align, and visualize real world objects directly in your physical space.” When you visit someone’s Quest profile, you will see “information about your shared experiences and connections” (though you can opt to keep such information private). When using mixed reality apps, the Quest Pro’s CPU and GPU will receive faster clock rates, and you may secure your cloud backups end-to-end by inputting a PIN.
The complete contents of the v60 upgrade may be seen on the Meta Quest blog and in the official release notes. The update is now being rolled out, but Meta claims that if you don’t have it yet, it “should be in your virtual hands soon.”
