Oculus Quest headsets can display iOS push notifications now

VR is futuristic, cool, and just plain fun, but it leaves you blind to the environment around you. The latest Oculus Quest software update just made that way less of a problem for iOS users.

In the latest roundup of new Oculus features on the company blog, the VR headset maker announced that iPhone users can route push notifications from their phones to their Quest or Quest 2 headsets. Oculus said the update is rolling out gradually, so it may not be available for download right away, but rest assured it will be soon.

To turn it on, simply go to the Quest settings menu, head to the “Notifications” tab, and set the “Phone Notifications in VR” toggle to on. You’ll also have to enable notifications in the Oculus iOS app, and you need an iPhone 7 or newer. From there, you’ll be able to tell the Quest whether or not you want to see notifications when apps are open or just in the home area, and even make that choice for individual apps like Instagram and WhatsApp. 

If a phone notification shows up at the top of the display, you can point and click on it with the Oculus controller to check it out in greater detail in the system menu. Yes, for the moment, this feature is only available for iOS users. Don’t fret, though, because Oculus said Android users will get the same feature “soon.”

There are a handful of other cool features rolling out to Quest headsets with this update too, like multi-user support coming to Quest after it came to Quest 2 earlier this year. Users can also use the built-in microphone to record their voices when streaming or recording video, which probably should’ve been implemented a while ago. But hey, better late than never. 

At the very least, you don’t need to awkwardly lift up the Quest headset to check on that text message anymore.