Meta’s new Quest Pro headset includes Touch Pro controllers which come with a bevy upgrades, and they’ll work with Quest 2 as well.

Meta says that Quest Pro and Quest 2 will co-exist as high-end and entry-level headset lines, and there’s perhaps no clearer evidence of this than that the company has taken the time to make its new Touch Pro controllers compatible with both headsets.

Key Quest Pro Coverage:

Quest Pro Revealed – Full Specs, Price, & Release Date

Quest Pro Hands-on – The Dawn of the Mixed Reality Headset Era

Quest Pro Technical Analysis – What’s Promising & What’s Not

Touch Pro Controllers Revealed – Also Compatible with Quest 2

Touch Pro controllers do away with the tracking ring that’s been present on every Touch controller to date. This time around they use three on-board cameras to perform their own inside-out tracking.

Not only does this make the controllers more compact, it also means they don’t need to have line-of-sight to the headset in order to maintain tracking. That means they should work great even when your hands are above your head, at your side, or behind you. And I’m sure someone will try attaching them to their feet.

Touch Pro controllers also include two new capabilities not seen in those prior: a pressure sensor for pinching and a pressure sensitive stylus tip.

The pinch sensor is on the controller’s thumb rest, allowing users to squeeze the controller between their index finger and thumb for a natural pinching gesture. Thanks to its pressure sensitivity this makes for a somewhat more nuanced input compared to the controller’s buttons and triggers.

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The stylus tip, which is included with the controllers but can be freely detached, allows the controller to be used like a bulbous white-board marker with pressure sensitivity so it can understand how hard you’re pushing as you draw against physical surfaces.

Photo by Road to VR

Touch Pro also includes improved haptics with more powerful and precise haptic engines inside, and they’re rechargeable.

Image courtesy Meta

But Quest 2 users should fear not… all of the Touch Pro improvements are within reach. Meta says Touch Pro controllers are fully compatible with Quest 2 and the company plans to sell them as a standalone accessory priced at $300 for a pair. A firm release date for Touch Pro controllers hasn’t been set yet, but the company says they’ll be available for standalone purchase “later this year.”

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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."

  • $300 for the controllers standalone. :-o

    • Torsten Balle Koefoed

      It’s twice the price of a pair of Quest 2 controllers. I think it’s fair. If reviews show them to work great it’s a no-brainer upgrade/addition to my Quest 2. The limited tracking of the current controllers is by far the most annoying aspect of the package.

    • Andrew Jakobs

      It’s just a tad more expensive as the valve index controllers, and those need expensive external tracking of almost the same price if you don’t already have the base stations.

    • ViRGiN

      same-ish as valve index controllers, which are only useful as replacement when valve denies you a warranty repair. what’s the big deal here?

    • Tembrock

      I think the main point is they are not a quest 2 accessory really. They are a Quest Pro (included) accessory that they made backwards compatible. Definitely see where it’s perceived as expensive compared to the the Quest 2 headset but you have to look at the additional tech packed into them.

  • That’s insanely expensive for just the controllers…. but I’m definitely gonna buy them, no occlusion on Quest 2 will ROCK

    • Sofian

      If we assume that they will work with the Quest 3 and that Meta will sell the headset alone then it’s not a bad investment.

  • Andrey

    Wow, wasn’t really expecting that… 300$ is a little bit pricy (if it was 200$ – an intstant pre-order), but for an ability to get rid from those tracking rings and be able to move controllers wherever I want without being afraid to loose tracking is very, very temptating. Looking forward to an actual release and reviews from people who wil ltry using it with Quest 2.

    • Stephan Jeffery

      I box using SUPERNATURAL VR daily and the increased haptic motors would mean a lot to me. If they will verify if when the Quest 3 comes out that I will be able to buy just the headset and use the Quest pro controllers i will buy 100%

      • Todd Kelch

        Ive been using my pro this week for my supernatural workouts.they have just a touch more weight than the Q2 controllers. perfect Id say. the vibration feedback doesnt feel very much more than my Q2s with new batteries, but my Q2s always felt awesome to me. the lack of a ring and the weight are super awesome. So is the fact that they are always fully charged! ppl asking about the stylus, the straps twist 45 degrees and pull out then the stylis slips in. (havent tried it yet though)

  • Foreign Devil

    No pictures of the stylus attachment? Wouldn’t some surface like that rough concrete wall damage it? As an artist I’m most interested in the improved pressure sensitivity for VR sculpting and the stylus attachment. Not too much info on those though.

    • Ben Lang

      https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/69839afdedba0ecf33d7ddd244c7ac0f5c0f0ef4947926f66ecf82d9368cc4e1.jpg

      The wall is actually fabric not concrete. It wasn’t a great writing surface.

      • Foreign Devil

        Thanks for the photo. OK so looks like the pressure stylus is that nub at the base. Look forward to more indepth performance reviews after official release.

    • Jistuce

      My (admittedly unfounded) assumption is that the stylus attachments are removable because they are designed to be consumable, and replacements will be available for a reasonable price.

      It makes logical sense to me. If you’re dragging them across any surface, they’ll wear down a lot faster than if they’re just free-floating.
      …
      And they NEED to be a soft-wearing plastic, because no one wants to explain that their nice wooden table is full of dings, scratches, and gouges because they were using virtual crayons on it.

  • Andrew Jakobs

    Hmm, it’s not like the original vive wand controllers or valve index controllers were much cheaper. These controllers don’t rely on any external tracking, so it certainly the way forward.

  • ViRGiN

    Wtf are you playing to require these controllers for quest 2?
    You seem to be disappointed by Pro, but still willing to purchase those with no real coverage of any benefits when paired with Quest 2 lol.

    • Torsten Balle Koefoed

      Currently, I’m playing Lone Echo II and the very limited tracking range of the Quest 2 controllers is a constant annoyance. It’s so natural to hold on to something with one hand and look in the opposite direction while pushing yourself off in the direction you’re looking. That would be solved 100% with the new controllers if they work as advertised.

      Also in archery games like Skyrim I often run into minor tracking problems with the rear hand and have to do some tricks to work around the problem. Quite annoying.

  • Till Eulenspiegel

    Stylus add-on? Maybe 3rd party will make a dildo add-on, a vibrating sex toy controller will be innovative.

    • dk

      something tells me those exist independently from the controllers …and have Bluetooth to be sincked with a pc or whatever xD

    • Stephan Jeffery

      Now that is the future!

      • Stephan Jeffery

        TELEDILDONICS, look it up!

  • Dispenser

    well time to get a job now

    • dk

      NEVER! :P

    • Jistuce

      Please, not that! Anything but that! I can’t go back, I won’t!

  • Torsten Balle Koefoed

    Just looked up the price of the Valve Index controllers: €300. They may have finger tracking but in the few days I had the opportunity to play with them, I found the build quality to be very unimpressive and the ergonomics to be problematic – at least for my hands. I had to twist the controllers each time to reach the lower buttons (A and Menu).

    If the build quality and general function of the Touch Pro controllers is good I think the price is quite fair in comparison.

  • Tommy

    Glad they’re rechargeable but what is the battery life on them? I can’t imagine they would be very good with the more powerful haptic engines and the added cameras to power.

    • Will Cho

      3 to 5 hours at least. Up to 8.

      • Tommy

        That’s actually not too bad.

  • Alexander Sears

    This tech may inspire an full body tracking solution that doesn’t require external tracking. Now since the technical part is more or less ironed out, we may one day find out if FBT is something people are willing to invest in, either physically or monetarily. Even if this technology were perfectly accessible in terms of price, it remains to be seen if the critical synthesis of software and technology can convince people to use their bodies after a long day of work. Flat screens and a comfy chair are tough to beat in terms of how little investment is required to begin and end the experience.

    • Tembrock

      Totally agree…the thing that is starting to make sense for me with Quest Pro is how they are making it very business tool/productivity friendly. Just the charging stand alone is huge (can’t tell you how many times I’d schedule a demo with co-workers and one or more of them would say “I forgot to charge my headset, sorry!”). The more they make input easier, allowing you to keep keyboard/mouse, pass through desktop experience to headset and “extend” that experience, the more I see it’s utility in a more day-to-day workflow. I’ve still NEVER seen a good brainstorming situation where something as simple as putting a post it on a board wasn’t tedious in VR because of how you’d be forced to input text. The stylus along with handwriting recognition could be huge there.

      I liken this to what a coworker said about replacing all the whiteboards in our conference rooms with digital boards (at the suggestion of a manager). He said “If they make it harder to use than a real whiteboard then NO, we don’t want them and won’t use them”. To that end, Google Jamboard was the only digital whiteboard I liked at all and that was for the single reason that they figured out stylus input vs. finger erasing (so you NEVER had to go back to a menu to keep toggling between Pen / Eraser / Pen / Eraser). You write with a stylus and you erase with anything else (finger, full hand, etc)

  • Andrea

    Niice.

  • Tembrock

    I see that point but really they are perhaps better thought of as the $300 controllers from a $1500 headset that are backwards compatible with the older/cheaper headset as well. That tracks for me (inside-out pun unintentional)

  • Ryan Blazek

    Meta store has the touch controllers on pre-order now. If you add to the cart they show estimated delivery Wed. Dec 7th.