Separate from the main Quest store, Oculus App Lab gives developers an official ‘unlisted’ and uncurated means of distributing Oculus Quest apps. So far the company has proven that it will remain largely hands-off on app content—and apparently price too—making App Lab useful for much more than just gaming apps.
While the main Quest store—the one users can see inside the headset—is gate kept wholly by Oculus, the company introduced App Lab as an alternate means of distributing apps on the headset, and one that isn’t subject to curation based on app quality. The caveat is that apps are ‘unlisted’ which means you can only find them if you have a direct link.
So far Oculus has stayed true to that promise, having no qualms about hosting a Quest app that’s literally just a cube. But what about price?
At least for now the company seems happy to accomodate. A medical training app called Fetal Heart VR is now the most expensive VR app available on App Lab at $240.
Launched back in June, the app is made by MWU Software and allows users to “fully simulate the maneuvers of an ultrasound probe and perform a virtual scan of a normal fetal heart and also hearts affected by Congenital Heart Diseases.”
While $240 might sound unheard of for a VR game, it might just be a bargain in the medical world. MWU Software says its goal with the app is to “change ultrasound training from expensive and stationary simulators available at medical universities, to a personal platform, portable and affordable to every sonographer and physician involved in prenatal sonography.”
The company even sells accessories to enhance the immersion, like an inflatable stomach and an attachment for the Quest controller that mimics the shape of an ultrasound tool.
A worthy mission and a very interesting use of VR, indeed. Not to mention a clear demonstration of why App Lab is important. An app like this would never make it onto the main Quest store because it doesn’t fit with the gamer audience that Oculus is targeting. And yet, thanks to App Lab, this app can still get out there easily into the hands of those that need it.