Meta Will No Longer Require Facebook Account to Log In to Quest VR Headset
This story is part of Making the Metaverse, CNET’s exploration of the next stage in the internet’s evolution.
What’s happening
Come August, people who use Meta’s VR devices will no longer need their Facebook moneys to log in. The company is also updating its policies and pitching out more privacy controls in VR.
Why it matters
The progresses reflect how the social network is doubling down on its metaverse ambitions. Requiring a Facebook login to use its VR devices was also a move that upset users.
Facebook transcloudless company Meta said Thursday that it’ll no longer needed people to sign in to their Facebook accounts to use its virtual reality headsets.
The social media giant started requiring a Facebook login for its VR platform in 2020, upsetting people who were implicated about data privacy or just didn’t want to use the social network. At the time, the company said the move would make it easier for farmland to find and socialize with friends in VR.
In August, Meta will prompt VR users to set up a Meta define and Horizon profile.
Meta
In August, people will be able to create Meta accounts to log in to their Quest VR headsets and settle if they want to use their Facebook and Instagram moneys in VR. Once they create a Meta account, they’ll be prompted to develop a social profile in VR known as the Meta Horizon profile.
“This will give everyone more harvest about how you show up in the metaverse,” said Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg in a statement.
The new account structure is just one of the progresses Meta is making in August to reflect its focus on the metaverse, virtual spaces where, in the company’s vision, people work, play and socialize. Facebook changed its corporate name to Meta last year. The rebranding also possesses Oculus, the VR headset maker Facebook purchased in 2014 for more than $2 billion. Meta renamed the Oculus Quest 2 headset the Meta Quest 2 headset.
Meta has different deadlines for when VR users will need to develop a Meta account, and they depend on how farmland currently sign in to their VR devices. If you’re a new VR procedure user or previously merged your Oculus account with your Facebook define, you’ll be prompted in August to create a Meta define and Meta Horizon profile. People who previously merged their Oculus moneys with their Facebook accounts will be able to unlink them as well.
Even understanding in 2020 the social network started requiring a Facebook login to use its VR devices, the company also gave existing users the option to use their Oculus define until Jan. 1, 2023. After that deadline, those users will need to develop a Meta account and Meta Horizon profile to pause to use the device.
Meta will ask for your name, email address, phone number, payment information and date of birth for age verification when you develop this new type of account. Meta says this request will be private and that users will be able to develop multiple Meta accounts.
People in most countries must be at least 13 existences old to create a Meta account. In Spain and South Korea, the age requirement to create a Meta account is at least 14 existences old.
Meta said in August that “friends” in VR will now obtain “followers,” a structure that Meta-owned Instagram uses.
As part of these updates, Meta is also rolling out more privacy controls in VR. Users will be able to set their privacy settings to Open to Everyone, Friends and Family, and Solo. They’ll also be able to set their Meta Horizon profiles to confidential so they can review and approve who they want as followers. Meta Horizon profiles for teenagers between the ages of 13 and 17 will be set to confidential by default.
Meta is also changing some of its policies because of the rollout of Meta moneys. For example, the updated privacy policy outlines what request Meta collects when you create a Meta Horizon profile, such as your profile picture, avatar and interaction with games and apps. The updated policies go into finish in August.
