If your child is into VR (virtual reality), odds are they’ve asked you about an Oculus — or you may have already gotten them one! If so, you’ve probably scoured the internet looking for info on Oculus parental controls. Unfortunately, there are none! You read that right — Facebook has provided no in-device settings for parents to help protect their kids apart from an unlock code. Worry not, however. We’ve got one solution that can help you out.
What Exactly Is Oculus?
Oculus is Facebook’s virtual reality headset line, consisting of:
- Oculus Rift
- Oculus Rift S
- Oculus Go
- Oculus Quest
- Oculus Meta Quest 2 (current flagship)
The device fits snugly over your head and projects images that create the illusion of 3-D immersion in video games. It comes with hand-held controls that allow you to maneuver and navigate through the virtual world.
The idea of VR can be intimidating, but think of the headset kind of like an external screen that just sits very close to your eyes. You can play games in VR, of course, but you can also just view regular 2-D images, like movies and websites on the headset, as well.
Oculus’ Main Danger? It Has a Web Browser
When your kid isn’t playing immersive video games, Oculus also allows them to browse the internet and scroll social media on the headset. This means all of the usual dangers of social media and web browsing are now on the table — from p*rn websites and explicit videos on YouTube to cyberbullying and DMs from strangers on Instagram.
Oculus Parental Controls
Basic requirements:
- The Oculus mobile app downloaded to your phone. It’s available for Android and iOS.
- A Facebook account. You’ll use your Facebook credentials to log in to the Oculus mobile app in order to use parental supervision.
- An invite from your teen. Parents must be invited by a teen before parental controls can be set.
Additional requirements/rules:
- Teens can stop parental supervision at anytime.
- Teens can only have one parent connected to their account.
- Parents can supervise up to 5 teen accounts.
- Parents must be 18+ years old.
- Teens and parents can’t use parental supervision if one account has blocked the other.
- Teens and parents must have Facebook accounts.
- Parent and Teen Facebook accounts must not be disabled, deactivated, or deleted.
How to set up parental supervision
- Ask your child to send you a supervision request from their account. You’ll receive an alert with a link to begin setup.
- Tap the link to set up parental supervision.
- Open up your Oculus app on your phone and tap Menu.
- Tap Parental Supervision. This takes you to the parental supervision account screen.
- Next, tap on your teen’s account. Here you can see your teen’s activity and adjust your parental supervision settings.
How to review and allow app access requests
- Tap the notification from your teen that has requested access to a blocked app.
- This will open your Oculus app. From the top of your dashboard, tap the notification for the blocked app, and then tap the three dots to see details about the app.
- If you want to grant access to this app, tap Allow. If you don’t tap Allow, the app will remain blocked.
How to block individual apps in the Meta Quest Store
- Open your Oculus mobile app.
- Tap Menu.
- Tap Parental Supervision.
- Find and tap on your teen’s account.
- Tap Apps.
- Tap the magnifying glass to search for an app or app category.
- Tap the app you want to block, then tap Block.
How to block an app that your teen has already downloaded
- Open your Oculus mobile app.
- Tap Menu.
- Tap Parental Supervision.
- Find and tap on your teen’s account.
- Tap Apps, then tap the specific app you want to block.
- Tap Block.
