Facebook is continuing to make it easier to use the Oculus Quest platform without the need for controllers. The hand tracking is improving in the menu and can even be used in more apps, whilst voice commands off quick access to a variety of features. Now, that latter option is being taken a step further with the “Hey Facebook” wake word.
Instead of having to activate Voice Commands from the home menu or by double-pressing the Oculus controller button, users simply say “Hey Facebook” followed by whatever command the like. Whether that’s “Hey Facebook, take a screenshot” or “Hey Facebook, open Beat Saber,” it’s another way to make the Oculus Quest platform more accessible.
The option is beginning its roll out under the ‘experimental features’ section, just for Oculus Quest 2 owners at the moment. So they can choose whether to continually say “Hey Facebook…” to use their device. An Oculus Blog post does note: “that Quest doesn’t listen for the “Hey Facebook” wake word when the microphone is turned off, or when the headset is asleep or powered down.” In time the feature will be rolled out to Oculus Quest owners as well.
As you’re probably aware Facebook loves to collect data and does so with voice commands to improve the service. To help protect your privacy: “You can easily view, hear, and delete your voice commands activity at any time or even turn off voice storage in your Settings, while still taking advantage of the Voice Commands feature.”
Being able to say “Hey Facebook” might sound like an awesome feature you want to try straight away. However, not only is it seeing a gradual roll out but it’s likely only available in the US. This is because the normal Voice Command is only available stateside with English selected as the default language. As yet there’s no update on further territory implementation. If that happens VRFocus will update this article.
Oculus Quest does have plenty of other options to play with like being able to highlight your sofa or being able to set up Multi-User Accounts and App Sharing. As further updates are released, VRFocus will let you know.
Source: https://www.vrfocus.com/2021/02/hey-facebook-voice-commands-rolling-out-to-oculus-quest-2/