Oculus Air Link is an integrated way to play PC VR games (on Oculus PC or SteamVR) wirelessly on Quest or Quest 2. This guide will show you how to activate the Air Link feature on both your headset and your desktop software.

Updated – January 13th, 2022

ℹ In order to use Air Link your PC hardware also meet the Oculus Link requirements.

Just like Oculus Link allows you to plug into a VR ready PC to play PC VR games, Oculus Air Link allows you to do so wirelessly.

For optimal Air Link performance, Oculus recommends the following:

  • Have your PC connected to your Router/Access Point via Ethernet cable
  • Headset should be connected to Wi-Fi via 5GHz band – AC or AX (AKA Wi-Fi 5 or Wi-Fi 6)
  • Your router shoulder be in the same room as the headset or in line-of-sight, and at least 1m off the ground
  • Don’t use a mesh network (range extenders, etc.)

To enable Oculus Air Link on Quest there’s a few steps you’ll need to go through. Here’s the breakdown.

Make Sure You’re Running Quest Software v30 or Later

Oculus Air Link requires that both your Quest headset and Oculus PC software are running v30 or later. Here’s how to check:

On Quest
  • In your Quest headset, open the Settings app (in your app library)
  • On the left side of the Settings page, scroll down to find the About section
  • On the About page, see the Version section, which should read 30.X or later (it may be a very long version number, like 30.0.0.221.359…)

If you aren’t already on v30 or later, see if there’s a prompt to update your headset on the About page next to the Software Update section. There’s no way to force the update, but if it says ‘No Updates Available’, you could try restarting your headset and checking again.

On Your PC
  • On your PC, launch the Oculus PC app (if you don’t already have it installed, you can download it here)
  • On the left side of the app, select Settings then go to the General tab
  • Scroll all the way to the bottom of the General section where you will find the version number which should read 30.X or higher (it may be a very long version number, like 30.0.0.222.459…)

If you aren’t already on v30 or later, go to the Library section and then the Updates tab, you may see an ‘Oculus Software Update’ item in the list. Allow it to update and restart the software if prompted, then check again to see if you are on version 30 or later.

If you still aren’t on v30, go to the Settings section and then the Beta tab. Enable the Public Test Channel option, then return to the Library section and the Updates tab to see if an ‘Oculus Software Update’ appears. Allow it to install and then check your version number again to see if you’re on v30 yet.

Activate Oculus Air Link on Your PC and Quest

On Your PC
  • On your PC, launch the Oculus PC app
  • On the left side of the app, select Settings, then go to the Beta tab
  • At the bottom of the Beta tab, find the Air Link option and enable it
On Quest
  • In your Quest headset, open the Settings app (in your app library)
  • On the left side of the Settings page, scroll down to find the Experimental Features section
  • In the Experimental Features section, find the Air Link option and enable it

Launching Oculus Air Link

Ok so you’re running the right version of the software and have activated Air Link on both devices. Now you’re ready to play. Here’s how:

On Your PC
  • Launch the Oculus PC software
On Quest
  • In your Quest headset, click on the system clock in the menu bar to open the Quick Actions page
  • On the left side of the Quick Actions page, click the Oculus Air Link button (you may be prompted with an ‘Air Link Requirements’ pop-up, read them then click Continue
  • In the next dialogue select your computer under Available Computers and click Pair
  • If you are prompted with a Pairing Code, go to your PC and click Confirm on the prompt
  • Back inside your headset, select your PC again and then Launch

Running Oculus PC and SteamVR Games with Oculus Air Link

Once you are running Oculus Air Link you will find yourself looking at the Oculus PC dashboard called Oculus Dash. From here you can launch Oculus PC games directly from the Library tab (or launch them on your PC).

If you want to run SteamVR games first activate Oculus Link so that you can see the Oculus Dash. Then you’ll need to launch Steam on your PC and then launch SteamVR by clicking the VR icon at the top right of the Steam window. SteamVR should automatically detect your Quest, and when you put your headset back on you’ll find yourself looking at the SteamVR dashboard.

From here you can launch SteamVR games from the Library tab of the SteamVR dashboard (or launch them from Steam on your PC).

Quitting Oculus Air Link (return to Quest dashboard)

If you want to stop playing PC VR games on Quest, you can quit Oculus Air Link by opening the Oculus Dash menu (click the menu button on your right controller), then looking on the far left of the menu bar to find the Oculus Air Link section.

Inside the section there is a ‘Quit’ button which will return you to the regular Quest dashboard).

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Ben Lang
Ben is the world's most senior professional analyst solely dedicated to the XR industry, having founded Road to VR in 2011—a year before the Oculus Kickstarter sparked a resurgence that led to the modern XR landscape. He has authored more than 3,000 articles chronicling the evolution of the XR industry over more than a decade. With that unique perspective, Ben has been consistently recognized as one of the most influential voices in XR, giving keynotes and joining panel and podcast discussions at key industry events. He is a self-described "journalist and analyst, not evangelist."
  • Trekkie

    Ive noticed a drop in resolution and a slight blur when in the Oculus home environment with Airlink. Anyone else noticed this or is Airlink simply adjusting for network bandwidth? I dont have WiFi 6 and use a Quest 2.

    • Jonathan Winters III

      Me too – it made me worry that all games would be like that – but I’ve not actually opened any games yet – are your games blurry/low res like Oculus home?

      • Trekkie

        I haven’t tried to play any games yet but the wallpaper in the Oculus Home look weird. It was blurry and swimming a bit.

        Will be trying Alyx today but am worried it will spoil the grandeur of that game. I plan to move my router around and see what happens. I was also in the next room when I did my initial tests. Maybe it needs line of sight. But the framerate was perfect.

        If it works well I can sit on my bed and play Alyx! Pure bliss.

        • Gonzax

          Alyx works perfect with VD, it should work well with Air Link too

    • Trekkie

      OK I can confirm that when playing Alyx there was a drop in resolution. There were compression artifacts, a very subtle shimmer, as if a screen is there in front. Its more pronounced when looking at textured surfaces. The framerate was fine though. Would be nice to have a debug/test tool which tests the efficiency of the Airlink connection and provides some stats.

      • Kevin White

        Would be interesting to test the latency.

        • Trekkie

          I could see no lag whatsoever. Very smooth.

    • benz145

      Which version of Wi-Fi are you using? 802.11n (Wi-Fi 4), 802.11ac (Wi-Fi 5), or something else?

      • Trekkie

        5 Hhz WiFi 5. Virgin Media Hub3/router (UK).

        • johann jensson

          Make sure you are not on a different channel. I made that mistake and wondered why i had stutters (Quest 2 chose to use the 2.4G channel instead of the 5G one – automatics, always broken when you need them most… :)

    • DjArcas

      Were you hoping that wireless was somehow magically as good as a cable?

      • Trekkie

        No. So a HDMI cable is the best solution (As in the RIFT etc). The USB3 cable solution depends on compression as it has a lower throughput and hence you can see compression artifacts and banding. That is expected. But using this solution extensively I find that the drop in quality was acceptable and a valid compromise.

        However my point, which you seem to be missing, is that the quality drop over WiFi 5 is even lower than USB and is unacceptable, taking away from the gameplay experience. As a game developer who writes 3D renderers for a living, I know the tradeoffs we make with the limited amount of hardware power we have today but there are acceptable limits. And I found WiFi 5 lacking.

        My bet is that WiFi 6 or 5G is what will make this work. And I laud FB for making a start in this direction, especially given the fact that the hardware in the Quest2 is already ready for this jump.

        • Ray

          Your guess is wrong – It’s works very very well on Microsoft flight sim 2020 over wifi and my router is wifi 5 and it’s downstairs! Not even got a link to PC via ethernet – Sometimes it does lose quality though if I have my security camera and smart TV on – Which is why I am getting a wifi access point router via ethernet cable up in my room where the PC is – I expect quality to be just as good as a cable and not trailing wires or lose connections!!

  • It’s all still way too convoluted imo, and it will continue to be until everyone can use this feature basically as easily as they can selecting a game from the main Oculus Quest 2 games menu, but it’s a step in the right direction.

    • benz145

      Yeah I think that’s the plan, for not it’s still experimental, but Oculus has been clear that they want to integrate PC streaming directly with the Quest interface. Some info here:

      https://www.roadtovr.com/oculus-link-quest-2-90hz-resolution-native-interface-upgrade/

      • Yeah, the Vive focus already does that and it is super easy to use… I think they should take inspiration from it

        • Buddydudeguy

          It doesn’t get any easier than hitting the launch button. What exactly are you wanting?

    • Buddydudeguy

      huh? It is that…right now. Launch Air Link, and go. Works perfect.

      • No it’s not. Currently you also need to have an additional app installed on your PC, and you need to make that app is running and you have also set the Air Link option that’s hidden away in one of the menus there too, and then you kinda have to sync them up, and then when you do select it goes to the same menu that runs on your PC rather than the one we’re used to in Quest, which is a bit clunky. And so on. It’s not as seamless as clicking on Air Link in my Quest and seeing all my PC VR games and then picking the game I want to play.

        • Buddydudeguy

          None of what you listed is hard, or a big deal. Are you fishing for complaints?

          • BlueKitGaming

            and your fishing for a fight

          • Buddydudeguy

            I’m not responsible for your butthurt.

          • Taylor D. Ireland

            Here’s a concept which I’m sure will go over your head: Customers provide feedback after using a product to help improve it.

          • People like you really are part of the problem: Some says “Make it super simple and intuitive for everyone” and you say “It’s fine as it is”–even though I literally just described a bunch of the ways it’s more clunky and convoluted than it needs to be–you are totally and utterly missing the point. Please never get a job as a product or user interface designer.

  • Nicholas

    The compression sucks just as bad as link (if not more) initially did.

    • Pablo C

      Can you elaborate? I was just playing Lone Echo and it looks almost just-like on my Rift S (gtx1080). I´m genuinly amazed. I´m using Virtual Desktop though.
      I wonder if cable VR is about to disapear.

    • johann jensson

      I disagree. With 120Mbs data rate the quality is very good, practically the same as cable link.

      I’ve played HL: Alyx over AirLink and it doesn’t look quite like Quest 2 clarity, more like Rift S, but it’s because i could use no more than 1.1x supersampling with my RTX3080. If i had a 3090 or something stronger, it would probably come close to a supersampled Quest 2 resolution.

  • Thanks for this amazing tutorial!

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    • JakeDunnegan

      Agreed – very helpful – I missed the second acknowledgement of AirLink on the Beta tab – thanks!

  • vevige4026

    You can also activate Airlink for the quest 1 :
    https://360rumors.com/enable-air-link-oculus-quest-1-5-steps-easy/

  • Mateusz Pawluczuk

    AirLink Seems to be running on Test Accounts too. So no FB account needed.

    The only unknown is how much longer will developers have this option (to create unmerged accounts).

  • JPRacer77Qc

    My PC is WiFi 6 but my router is WiFi 5. Can I link the Quest 2 directly to the PC using WiFi 6 (ad-hoc)?

    • Ray

      My PC has built in wifi 6 (which is backward compatible) and router is Wifi 5 – Works perfectly!!

      • JPRacer77Qc

        Thanks. But my question is is it possible to connect directly to the PC (ad-hoc) without the router?

        • doublej42

          So I did this and tested it and the router was faster than a direct hotspot. Even with a 5900x it took too much overheard and gave me an average of 5 ms more network lag and 3 ms more game re set time lag.

          • JPRacer77Qc

            Thank you.

          • Raphael

            I also tried the direct from PC method after some youtubers claimed it was faster…. turns out if was unplayable. Router wins.

          • Slayer187

            I use my wifi 6 from my board and is actually faster so router only wins when you do not know how to configure it.

          • Foreign Devil

            How did you configure your wifi 6? I got a new ASUS board that has wifi 6e but only have wifi 5 router.

  • Zack71

    I like playing PC Games, like The Witcher 3, usinq the Quest 2 wireless as a big monitor, 2d or 3d.
    I use Vorpx, then I set it in Cinema mode.
    In this way you can use a big screen, in 3d too.

    I’d like Oculus recognize the gamepad, because playing without seeing the gamepad is very frustrating.

    • johann jensson

      I’ve been using VorpX only with cable to date (Witcher 3 in VorpX was one of the best gaming experiences of my life, and it was already my 3rd playthrough!).

      Does AirLink need more performance than cable link, using VorpX?

      • Zack71

        ?!
        Well, I had not great experience with Oculus Link, it never went very well with my pc.
        It often crashed and so on.
        With Virtual Desktop (and, then, Air Link) I never had problems…
        I think Air Link works better than Link.

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  • Pablo C

    How does it compare with Virtual Desktop?

  • John Doe

    If I could get the Oculus Application to actually work, that be great, but just like the other 90% of Oculus users, I get the “Can’t reach Oculus service”. So, yeah, the software sucks!

  • VRFriend

    This is a valuable article. There should be more articles like this one.

  • Geogaddi

    Anyone here use Virtual Desktop?

    I see some users state that it is superior to Airlink, especially for VR gamers with weaker/older PC setup (like mine), since it does a lot of the processing in the headset instead of the PC.

    It costs £20 though so I’m a bit hesitant on pulling the trigger…

    • Just_Another_Internet_User

      I think it works better than air link even with a beefy pc. Granted it’s been a couple of months since I tried air link so they may have made it better. Also I found the UI for launching a game or exiting a game in virtual desktop to be superior.

      • Geogaddi

        I see you can also play stereoscopic games (well mainly the last Tomb Raider trilogy) and watch some 3D movies in it. But yeah if it improves performance it would be worth it to me.

  • Duckman

    How much difference is there between wi-fi 5 & 6? I’m asking because Playstation 5 has Wi-fi 6 built in and I think that one day it might get wireless adapter for PSVR 2

  • duked

    If Airlink is connected to the first router (the one that is connected to the internet and to the PC via Ethernet cabel), then a mesh network would work, right?

    • benz145

      I would think so but I haven’t tested it.

  • lucid orion

    I have version 40 something on both as shown in the first tab of this tutorial. But in my beta settings on the oculus pc app, I don’t have the option to airlink. its just not there, does anyone have this issue or any solutions that doesn’t involve an airlink cable?

  • Harlow Gunning

    For some reason it says “Graphics Card not compatible” What do I do?