Oculus today announced new features coming to Quest 2 in update v28, including Air Link for wireless PC VR streaming, support for 120Hz refresh rate, and the ability to track your desk and keyboard in VR for enhanced productivity.

The latest Quest update is due to start rolling out to users any day now and will bring with it a slew of updates.

Air Link for Wireless PC VR on Quest 2

Image courtesy Oculus

The Oculus Link feature has long allowed Quest and Quest 2 to plug into a VR Ready PC to play PC VR content from Oculus PC or SteamVR. Now in v28 Oculus will introduce Air Link to Quest 2, which will allow the same PC VR streaming functionality over a Wi-Fi connection.

Oculus says that Air Link will launch initially as an experimental feature, which it expects to improve over time. So far it sounds like Air Link will only work with Quest 2 (and not the original Quest). Air Link will require v28 software on both Quest 2 and the Oculus PC software before it will work.

Oculus says that Air Link will work best if your PC is connected to your router via ethernet and if you use your Quest 2 in the same room as a 5GHz router, otherwise you might see performance issues due to varying connection quality. The company says that the wired version, Oculus Link, will continue to offer the best quality and most reliable experience.

While Air Link will only work on Quest 2, third party applications like Virtual Desktop can also stream PC VR content wirelessly to the original Quest.

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120Hz Refresh Rate on Quest 2

Image courtesy Facebook

We’ve known this one was in the works for some time now, but v28 of the Quest software will finally bring an optional 120Hz refresh rate to Quest 2.

Most apps today run at 72Hz, while a handful of apps and the Quest 2 system software run at 90Hz. The new 120Hz mode will initially be introduced as an experimental feature which users will be able to opt into, thus allowing developers to run their apps up to 120Hz if they choose.

Quest 2 currently supports 72Hz, 90Hz, and 120Hz refresh rates. Higher refresh rates are harder to maintain from performance standpoint, but can reduce flicker while increasing immersion and comfort.

Oculus also says it will upgrade Oculus Link to support a 120Hz refresh rate in the future (though it isn’t clear if this will come to Air Link).

Desk & Keyboard Tracking

Similar to the couch tracking feature which was recently added, v28 of the Quest software will allow users to mark their desk to be tracked by the Guardian boundary system. This will show the location of your desk from within the headset, making it easy to pull up a chair and sit down with a keyboard and mouse for productivity work. The desk’s location will be saved as its own Guardian boundary, making it easy to return to the desk even if it isn’t in your usual playspace.

Alongside desk tracking, Oculus is also adding keyboard tracking to v28 of the Quest software. This will allow you to see a 3D model of a keyboard in VR, including a representation of your hands so that it’s easier to type while in VR.

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Out of the gate this will only work with a specific keyboard, the Logitech K830 [Amazon], though Oculus says it plans to expand the feature to other keyboards in the future.

Oculus indicates that desk and keyboard tracking will be supported on both Quest and Quest 2.

– – — – –

As with prior updates, v28 will roll out slowly to Quest and Quest 2 users, likely over the course of a week or more, but you can check for an update manually to see if it’s available to you. Here’s how:

How to Update Quest and Quest 2
  1. In your headset, bring up the Quest menu by pressing the Oculus button on your right controller. Find the Settings section (gear icon).
  2. On the left of the Settings section select ‘About’ at the bottom of the list
  3. Look next to the ‘Software Update’ label to see if a new version is available
  4. Check the ‘Version’ label to see which version is currently installed
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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."
  • Till Eulenspiegel

    120 hz is only useful when using the the PC to run the games. Facebook should use ML to create high quality interpolation for 120fps in future headsets.

    • Adrian Meredith

      120hz is best for watching videos because it lines up nicely with 24fps, 30fps and 60fps

      • gothicvillas

        Oh i didnt know that

      • Przemo-c

        And for high speed games that are not that graphically complex. Like Eleven Table tennis.

        • Adrian Meredith

          Racket Fury has update to 120 as well as Cubism. Two games already!

    • Geoff

      Lots of good reasons for higher refresh rates. Music apps where gfx latency is very important, e.g. hitting drums and tracking fast moving hands. Then pure drawing and painting apps would feel so much nicer at 120Hz just the same benefits of slowly moving a mouse on a high refresh monitor, the smoothness helps a lot.

  • Keyboard tracking – Awesome!
    Logitech Keyboard supported- Awesome!
    The K830 – …. Eeeeh…. not so good.

    Might actually be one of the worst keyboards the company makes. Shallow keys, crumby Touchpad, doesn’t use easy-to-replace alkalines so you have to keep charging it. I know their thought it, “It’s like a laptop keyboard!”. But when is that EVER a good thing? Laptop keyboards are children of comprise and space restrictions. Why would you purposely make those sacrifices if you didn’t have to??

    As for the “AirLink”, as every Virtual Desktop users thinks, it’s about @#$%ing time! Looks like Virtual Desktop though is still the superior software for compatibility with Quest 1, compression features, frame rate options, and likely sheer performance.

    • Kraeuterbutter

      “Immersed” has also a feature so you can track your keyboard inside VR

      Immersed is similar to VirtualDesktop

      you can use any “normal” keyboard with immersed..
      you calibrate die position of 3 keys on the keyboard, thats it..

      its not super-accurate for all keys… but when you can use 10finger blind it helps a lot in finding the “f” and the “j” key to start typing

      immersed is free as demo, but than can only use one or 2 virtual monitors
      nevertheless worth trying und playing around with it

    • Andrew Jakobs

      Well, in reality, AirLink should be able to outperform VD due to it having native access to the hardware.

    • dk

      the keyboard calibration works with putting your hands on it like that ….so eventually any keyboard or at least the popular ones can work …at least u don’t have to buy a dedicated keyboard with ir lights for tracking

      • Warp

        This should be a publicly submit-able option, they would soon build up a massive database I’m sure.

    • David

      It’s not really a “laptop” keyboard per se, it’s a HTPC keyboard. It’s been advertised by Logitech as a “TV” keyboard or a “living room” keyboard. And it’s actually not terrible for its intended purpose, which is to offer a quick way to input short bits of text. It’s not really intended to be used for productivity or playing games. The example they show (where they’re using a keyboard to enter a search query in the browser) is the ideal use case for it.

  • Jesusaves

    I have a 8kx,got it used and slightly damaged at a fair price. But I do have a quest 2. It cost a sliver of what Pimax charges. It does much and has always received terrific updates. Look forward to this upcoming update. Virtual desktop does work well on a 5G network.

  • Greyl

    Brings more of the Quest audience over to PCVR, so that’s great. Seen a lot of them lament the limitations of VR Chat on Quest, and are eager to jump over to PCVR.

  • Will

    At this rate Quest 3 should crack mainstream VR. Took a while but seems close now. Eye and face tracking with a bit wider field of view and a halo/visor strap option and it will see Wii-like consumer uptake. Being able to connect to a PC wirelessly is icing on the cake for more advanced users. Along with the arrival of PSVR 2 I think we’ll see a tidal shift in VR use.

  • Lhorkan

    These are all pretty great updates – but the real update I’m holding out for is the removal of the Facebook requirement. (I guess I’ll be waiting a long time <_<)

  • Nicholas

    Makes you wonder if they have gotten info about a similar feature of the upcoming htc headset.

    • I think this is very much their own path they’re on. If something else happens to get a similar feature then I honestly think that’s just coincidence. The guys are Facebook Reality Labs have been talking about all of this stuff for quite some time now.

  • OK, those two things are genuinely great news. The Quest 2 really is going from strength to strength.

  • JWrenn

    Now just give us a way to update now instead of waiting forever for the roll out.

  • Warp

    I guess Airlink needs further optimisation for Quest 1! Or it could be a nice tactic to get those Quest 1 hangers-on to finally make that leap ;) It’s certainly the most I’ve thought about it in a month or so.

  • 120Hz and Air Link are fantastic updates we were waiting for a long time! So good to see them coming

  • Rupert Jung

    AirLink – finally. But currently it’s not possible to force Quest 2 to a 5 GHz connection. If both bands are available, it sticks to 2.4 GHz for some reason which cuts off 90% of the possible WLAN bandwidth.

    • dk

      hmm weird so a different password to the 2.4 ghz network

      • FREE HK

        no, a different SSID.
        For example if you have “wifiname” now add another wifi network in your router named “wifiname5” or rename the 2,4 network.

        • dk

          I have heard something about oculus advising something about ssid ….what I meant was u can just never connect it to the 2,4 network if it has a different password

    • David

      I think it’s probably best to give the 5 GHz connection a unique name, like “wifi_5g”. Once you connect to that (and forget the 2.4 GHz connection) there shouldn’t be any way that it would jump over to the 2.4 GHz connection.