Hand tracking is finally available on the Oculus Quest. That’s right, the most popular wireless VR headset can now be controllerless as well. The experimental feature is rolling out with the version 12 update for Oculus Quest, which has been slowly showing up on everyone’s Quests all week. In order to be able to turn on hand tracking, you’ll need the newest update.
How to Turn On Hand Tracking on Oculus Quest
Before you can start tracking your hands in VR, you’ll have to check if your Quest has received the appropriate update. To see if you’ve gotten the version 12 update, put on your Quest and head to Settings > See All > About. If the string of numbers under Version begins with 12, you’re ready to go.
Once your Quest is updated, head to the Experimental Features tab in the Settings. You should see a toggle for hand tracking next to Bluetooth pairing. If you don’t see the option to turn on hand tracking, restart your Quest. If you do see hand tracking in your Quest Settings, then toggle it on and ditch the controllers. A tutorial teaching you how to operate the Quest using your hands should pop up immediately.
How to Control the Quest With Your Hands
Hand tracking takes a short while to adjust to if you’re used to using the Touch controllers to navigate menus. Once you learn how to use your hands, though, the Quest becomes even more intuitive to use. Pinching your thumb and index finger together selects menu items, and doing the same with your palm facing upward brings up the Oculus menu. Pinching and dragging allows you to scroll through your library or the store.
As of right now, the feature is only usable in a select few applications. At the moment, you can only use your hands to navigate Oculus Home, Oculus TV, and Oculus Browser. No third party apps are supported at the time of writing, but more apps and games will become available over the coming months.
Published: Dec 13, 2019 01:36 am