Today Facebook announced that multi-user accounts and application sharing between accounts will be available on Oculus Quest headsets starting next month.
According to Facebook, these are two of the features most requested by Quest users. They go hand in hand: not only will multiple users be able to log into a headset next month, but the headset’s primary account will be able to share their apps and purchases with secondary accounts on the same device. This allows multiple users to progress through a game or experience with their own progress, save files and achievements.
Both primary and secondary accounts will still require a Facebook login. Application sharing applies only locally to secondary accounts on one headset, not multiple headsets. For example, a primary account can share its content with a secondary account that is also connected to the same headset. But if the owner of that secondary account logs in as the primary account on his own headset, he will not have access to the other user’s content on that device unless he buys it.
A primary account can share all of its content with the secondary accounts on the headset, but it does not work the other way around – the primary account will not be able to access any content associated with a secondary account that they do not yet have. Secondary accounts will be able to make their own purchases on a shared device, but will not be shared with the other accounts connected on the headset.
However, multi-device sharing is on the horizon – Facebook said “it will expand later to allow the account holder to share their purchases across three devices.” The post also noted that the only way to change the primary user on a headset is to reset the factory defaults.
Based on the information above, it seems that for a family with multiple Quest headphones, the best option would be to have only one account of the person connected as the primary account in all devices, with other members, then plugged into their own headphones as secondary accounts. If everything is purchased only on the main account, all users in the family will have equal access to the same content, without complications.
All new apps submitted to the Oculus Store from February 13 need to support application sharing. Existing applications will automatically be enabled for application sharing from February 13, but can be disabled for “contractual or other reasons” until February 12.
The features will be implemented as experimental at the beginning, allowing a primary account to add up to three secondary accounts starting next month. You can read more on the Oculus developer blog.