After the goodness that was in update v28, Oculus has more juicy features coming in its next update v29. These updates will be rolling out to headsets from now and it might take a week or so before it rolls out to all headsets around the world. So keep your Quest powered and in sleep mode and keep your fingers crossed that it auto-updates overnight. Or you could always force the update as soon as the update v29 file becomes available.

What’s new…

Here is a copy & paste from Oculus support forum. Scroll to the bottom to catch my views at the end of all these features.

Multi-User Accounts and App Sharing for Quest

• We launched Multi-User Accounts and App Sharing for Quest 2 in February and are excited to announce the release of Multi-User Accounts for Quest.
• With this new addition, you can use multiple Oculus accounts on one headset.
• Learn how to add additional accounts to your Oculus Quest.

Phone Notifications

• You can now view Phone Notifications without removing your headset. You’ll receive notifications to your headset from apps you’ve enabled lock screen notifications for on your iPhone.
• This feature is for iOS only, but Android support is coming soon.
• If you use Oculus with Multi-User Accounts, your notifications will be secured and inaccessible by secondary account holders.
• To begin receiving iPhone notifications to your Oculus headset, turn on Phone Notifications from the Devices section of your Oculus app.

File App

• You’ll now be able to access, browse, manage, share, and organize files located on your VR device. Additionally, you will be able to download files from Oculus Browser to the Files App and upload files from your device to websites via Browser.

Passthrough Environment Shortcut

• You’re now able to quickly access Passthrough through a new shortcut. Use this to set your default Home environment as Passthrough, and switch back and forth between reality and virtual reality. To access this shortcut, look for the Passthrough Home “eye” icon on the Quick Settings menu.

Light Theme

• Light Theme is being introduced to Oculus Quest 2 and Quest. You’re able to change the appearance of system features and Oculus apps to a light theme.
• To opt in to this experimental feature, open your Universal menu, Select Settings, then select Experimental Features. Choose Display Theme to select between a dark or light theme.

Universal Menu

• We’ve redesigned our Universal menu to make it easier to multi-task and quickly access pinned and recently launched apps. You’ll still be able to access core system-level functions like your Settings, Notifications and headset battery level.

Night Display

• We’ve added Night Display to your Settings. Now, you can change your display to warmer colors which may be easier on your eyes.
• To begin using: With your headset on, open your Universal menu, select Settings, then select Device. Turn on Night Display and adjust the Display Warmth to a comfortable setting.

Record Audio with Headset Mic

• We’ve added the ability to record your headset mic audio while recording video in VR. When you begin recording video, your mic audio will automatically begin recording as well.
• To stop recording your mic audio, mute your mic in the Quick Actions menu.

Live Overlay

• This feature allows you to look like you’re really “in” VR by layering your real-life self over a live shot of whatever you’re seeing in the headset.
• Just place your phone on a flat surface and aim it at yourself while casting (or enlist a friend to hold the camera), toggle to Live Overlay and hit record to get started.
• You can even film in selfie mode so you can check out how you look mid-game. 
• Live Overlay works for any VR apps that support Casting and Recording, and you can record, watch, and share videos you make from within the Oculus App.
• Live Overlay works on the iPhone XS and newer iPhone models. It will begin rolling out as a test feature to a subset of users with an upcoming Oculus mobile app update, coming soon.

My views…

So there are some pretty exciting new features in v29. Probably not as exciting as v28 was, but there are still some features that I am looking forward to checking out.

Phone notifications is the headliner feature for me. There is only so much patience one can have carefully peeking through the bottom of your nose light bleed flap, trying to read who has messaged you on your phone. We are likely far off being able to reply to them, but it was a big surprise to read that this feature is coming to iOS first and not Android.

The File App will make copying over video files to your desktop much easier. Downloading files and uploading them via the browser might open a number of options on Quest. Let’s see what abuse and hackory this feature gets over the coming months.

The redesigned Universal Menu looks pretty awful to me. The colours just look jarring, but maybe in time, I’ll get used to it I am sure. But from videos and screenshots from early adopters, they just don’t look consistent to me and the Quest UI. Perhaps Oculus has a longer plan for this, some say it could be Android apps, colour me surprised if this actually happens though.

Recording Audio with the headset mic is a game-changer for gameplay streamers and content producers. I am not alone when it comes to wasting combined hours trying to sync up gameplay with audio captured elsewhere. Made worse when Quest’s own video feed also goes out of sync. There is a lot going on here, so we will see if we still get sync issues between gameplay and the microphone recordings. On the plus side, at least it’s one less device to strap on to the headset or one less element to sync up to final videos.

Battery levels have moved to controllers themselves. This is a great quality of life feature for me. Having them moved to the controllers just makes perfect sense and a kind of ‘why wasn’t this done at day one’ feature. Let’s hope they finally add the moving thumb-sticks back in too eh?!

We will soon see more ads for games in the Oculus App on mobile. Oculus will help developers by improving the discoverability of their game by allowing ads for games in the App Store. With over 200 App Lab games as well as the officially released games on the store, it is getting hard to be noticed on the App Store and this is a big help for devs and specific games to get noticed on the store.

Keep an eye on the update as it rolls out from yesterday. Usually US gamers get the bite of the cake before us in the East get to take a nibble.