Oculus Quest build 25.0 patch notes roll out App Lab for developer ease of access

Published February 2, 2021 12:11 PM, by TJ Denzer

With Oculus Quest 2 having gotten past its maiden voyage and much more development on the new standalone VR device underway, Facebook and Oculus VR are taking aim at helping to make the development community on the Quest ecosystem more open and available. Recently, they launched Oculus build 25.0, bringing App Lab to the system, which will allow developers to distribute apps for Oculus Quest without sideloading. This and other features were collected in a set of patch notes which you can find here.

Oculus Quest build 25.0 patch notes

Oculus VR revealed Quest build 25.0 in a blog post and dropped accompanying Oculus Quest build 25.0 patch notes on the support site on February 2, 2021. The major highlights include the rollout of App Lab for the Quest developer ecosystem, which will allow developers to roll out Quest and Quest 2 apps more easily and safely without the necessity of sideloading. Moreover, Messenger has officially come to Quest, allowing users to easily use Messenger via their Facebook account through the Quest headsets.

You can find the full list of patch notes just below.

App Lab

Today we are introducing App Lab, a new way for developers to share their creations safely and securely with Quest owners without Store approval. App Lab doesn’t require sideloading or any special setup. You just click on a link, go directly to the app, and download it. You can start exploring App Lab by checking out a few of the experiences that launched today, including:

• Ancient Dungeon Beta by ErThu
• Baby Hands by Chicken Waffle
• Crisis VRigade and Crisis VRigade 2 by Sumalab
• Deism by Myron Software
• Descent Alps - Demo by Sutur
• Gym Class by IRL Studios Inc
• MarineVerse Cup by MarineVerse
• Puzzling Places - Beta by realities.io Inc
• Spark AR Player by Facebook
• Smash Drums Demo by PotamWorks
• Zoe by apelab

Messenger

• We’re starting to roll out Messenger on Oculus to people who have logged into Quest and Quest 2 using their Facebook account.
• With this update, you can choose to chat with your Facebook friends anywhere they have Messenger, even if they’re not in VR. You can:
  • Chat with friends anywhere they have Messenger, without taking off the headset.
  • Invite friends to join you in a game or experience.
  • Jump into games together by sending a party invite.
• Please note this will continue to roll out in the coming weeks, so you may not see the update right away -- stay tuned as it continues to be released.

Guardian and Passthrough

Stationary Guardian 2.0

• We’ve improved Stationary Guardian with the following updates:
  • Updated Stationary Guardian visuals to remove the grid.
  • Adjusted Stationary Guardian to be responsive when you move your headset, no controllers needed.
  • Added a new in-VR tutorial explaining how to use Guardian.

Passthrough Shortcut

• We’re moving our Passthrough Shortcut from the experiments panel to general availability. This feature allows you to activate your Passthrough view by double-tapping the side of your Quest or Quest 2 headset. Double-tap again to switch back to your view in-VR.

VR Profiles

• We’ve updated the look, feel, and functionality of in-VR profiles and info. Some of the specific changes you’ll see include:
  • Having profile cards show up directly from your menu bar, so you can look up your friend or check out their new avatar without leaving your current app or experience.
  • We’ve made it so that people who use Facebook to log into Oculus can display Facebook friends and more easily communicate.
  • Keep in mind, you can change or update your privacy settings at any time.

Universal Menu

• You can now access the Universal Menu across any apps, games or experiences you're currently in.
  • To enable this feature, put on your headset and select Settings > Experimental Features > Universal Menu Overlay.
• We’ve also made updates and improvements to the the design and function of the Universal Menu. These include:
  • A sleeker toolbar design with easier to select menu items.
  • When you’re in a Party, you can now view Party details and leave the Party directly from the Universal Menu.
  • Improved tablet behavior when launching apps, switching panels, or resuming headset use.

Menu Navigation Tutorial

• We’ve added a new tutorial to walk you through how to navigate the various menus and panels from your Quest home environment. The in-VR lesson plan includes:
  • How to use the Universal Menu.
  • How to navigate between the different menu options and panels.
  • Understanding how the different panels and menu bar work together.

Oculus Browser

• You can now resize windows horizontally when using Oculus Browser. To do this:
  • Open Browser and hover over the left or right edge of any window. Use either your grip or trigger buttons to grab the handle and resize the window.
  • You can open up to three Browser windows at a time and adjust each panel separately.

Bluetooth Mouse

• You can now use a Bluetooth mouse while you’re in-VR. To do this:
  • Ensure that your Bluetooth mouse in is pairing mode, then go to Settings > Experimental Features > Bluetooth Pairing
  • Once you select your mouse from the pairing menu, you’ll be able to use it in VR.

Camera roll

• You can now trim the length of your captured videos to share out exactly the right moments by entering the edit mode after opening a captured video.
• To do this: select your captured video from your camera roll, select the pencil icon in the top right portion of window, and drag your clip to the desired length.
• Keep in mind, you can only trim a video if it’s more than 30 seconds in length.

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That covers the patch notes for Oculus Quest build 25.0. App Lab should help in making the ecosystem a better place for developers in the VR space. Want to learn more? Check out our Oculus Quest 2 review and stay tuned for more coverage.