Researchers have gained root access to the Oculus Quest 2, allowing them to bypass the Facebook login step. The social media outfit's controversial enforced account login with its latest VR headset and platform has caused quite a ruckus, and this recent development is a promising step for researchers taking it into their own hands to find a way around it.
A post on Ready Hacker 1 (opens in new tab) by Kavya Pearlman, founder of XR Safety Initiative (XRSI), explains how researchers have gained root access to the Oculus Quest 2. It also explains how this has been verified by XRSI's researchers, and is currently working to "gather assurances to protect the individuals who discovered these methods of jailbreak".
XRSI is a non-for-profit organisation dedicated to promoting privacy and security in XR (virtual reality, mixed reality, and augmented reality).
The most recent virtual reality device out of Facebook, the Oculus Quest 2, launched just ahead of an announcement from the social media company that a Facebook account would be required to use its VR platform. That, in itself, has caused many users to baulk at the headset's offerings and go elsewhere, and even for those willing to use Facebook to login it's been far from a flawless execution.
Here's the update on the Oculus Quest 2 jailbreak efforts. You can read more at https://t.co/jtMEi1x7zU pic.twitter.com/U2NilxnGsFOctober 26, 2020
Multiple logins and banned accounts have caused headaches for some users, although Facebook is promising to fix these problems with incoming updates.
There's still a long way to go from this root access bypass to a simple and quick solution for your enthusiast user. As such, if you're looking to avoid Facebook, you should check out one of the many alternatives on our best VR headset (opens in new tab) guide. After all, even if you bypass Facebook's login on the Quest 2, you'd still be purchasing a Facebook product and putting more money in its coffers.
