Meta Stops Requiring Facebook IDs for its VR Headsets

Meta will no longer require customers purchasing its VR headsets to log in with a Facebook account to use them. Today, the company introduced Meta accounts, which will start rolling out in August and become the default login for Meta VR devices.

Starting next month, users who’ve been logging into their VR device with their Facebook account will need to create a Meta account and a Meta Horizon profile, the latter being a new social profile in VR. For users who’ve been using a legacy Oculus account to log into their VR headsets, the switch to Meta accounts will happen in January 2023.

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It will also be possible to add Meta accounts to the company’s Account Center alongside Facebook, Instagram, and Messenger accounts, and unlock connected experiences: This will include playing games with Facebook friends or chatting with Messenger contacts in VR, though all of this will be optional.

Meta previously made headlines when it started requiring Facebook IDs to use its VR devices, a change that didn’t apply to users who already had an Oculus account. Considering Facebook’s not-so-great reputation these days, dropping the Facebook ID requirement was the right thing to do to make Meta VR devices more attractive to people with privacy concerns.

“In the future, we’ll extend Meta account functionality so you can use it to log into other Meta devices,” the company said today. In addition to VR headsets, Meta is also still selling its Portal smart displays which can also be used in an enterprise setting.

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Conversation 8 comments

  • SvenJ

    07 July, 2022 - 4:26 pm

    <p>How different is a Meta account as opposed to a Facebook account. Just another account with the ‘same’ company, isn’t it?</p>

    • trparky

      07 July, 2022 - 5:08 pm

      <p>Exactly. I don’t trust Fakebook as far as I can throw them.</p>

    • Cosmocronos

      07 July, 2022 - 5:23 pm

      <p>It is not different at all, but I am sure that a staggering number of people will miss it and jump on the wagon. </p>

    • unkinected

      08 July, 2022 - 12:59 pm

      <p>I suppose it means that I can at least kill my FB account/profile and still play my Oculus. </p>

      • wolters

        Premium Member
        09 July, 2022 - 7:56 am

        <p>This…you won’t need a "Profile" page on FB anymore…</p>

    • bobpaul

      09 July, 2022 - 7:56 am

      <p>The Facebook terms of service says that your Facebook account has to use your real name, you can’t have more than one, etc. When Facebook started using facebook accounts for Oculus, people started making second Facebook accounts just for Oculus, to keep their real identity separate from their gaming identity. This resulted in bans of both accounts.</p><p><br></p><p>If a meta account doesn’t have the same restriction and doesn’t require linking to a Facebook identity, then it’s already better. If people are allowed to have 2 meta accounts (one they use for vr and one they use for Facebook), then most of the concern people had with Facebook logins goes away.</p>

  • dftf

    07 July, 2022 - 6:49 pm

    <p>I just can’t work-out if VR headsets are ever going to become a mainstream-thing or-not.</p><p><br></p><p>The latest Steam Hardware Survey stats (for last-month) say 1.87% of their users have one. So that means 98.13% don’t — and to help its adoption, do any of the current games-consoles actually bundle a VR headset with them (though <em>Kinect </em>isn’t still a thing thesedays, so even bundling stuff doesn’t always work-out).</p>

  • jimchamplin

    Premium Member
    07 July, 2022 - 9:43 pm

    <p>Meta and their new accounts can… <em>Zuck off. </em>:)</p>

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