Oculus and Facebook requirement

[Bostonten]

my 12 year old wants an oculus with her birthday money this year. I have just seen you need a fb account. Is this true? My DC isn’t old enough to have one and even though turning 13 I am loath to let her have one as she is SEN and very vulnerable. Social media is a no no for the foreseeable future. I hate fb as does my partner and the whole thing stinks if it is true. Can anyone advise? She also doesn’t have a gaming pc / laptop, does this matter? Thanks

You need an account but you don't need to actually use Facebook to use the oculus. It's basically just a log in for the app. I have used my Facebook account for our oculus app. It means my children have to ask me if they want a new game but it's all connected to my bank details so they'd need to ask anyway.

Thanks for replying. Does that mean she can’t post on this Facebook account? She is so vulnerable that I can’t take any risks really. Slightly different gaming as she is anonymous but still continuous monitoring of messages etc incase she gives out personal information.

Just create a fb account using your email address and use that (you could even give it a fake name if you don't want it in your actual name). I agree it's rubbish you need to have an account though!

We've just bought one of these for my autistic 9 year old and had similar concerns. I had to put the app on my phone and then use my FB account to authorise it. Games have to be bought through the phone app (unless you set it up differently). So DS cannot buy games through the headset, although he can view them and add them to a wish list. On the app games give an age rating but more importantly they are clear that some are for solo play and some allow connecting with others. DS is only allowed solo play games.

Yes you need a Facebook account. I just created a new one that only I can access, with no friends on the fb account. My DD can play on the oculus but doesn't have access to the FB account.

I've just tested it and you can install free apps through the headset and that includes Facebook.

Yes you do need Facebook to use the Oculus headset, but you simply just need an account to be set up, it doesn't need to be used.

What I would recommend OP, based on your comments, is that you set up a new gmail account (free and easy to do) where only you know the password. Use that email to set up a brand new Facebook account (where only you know the password) give it random details and a fake name, then use that to set up the Oculus. Your daughter doesn't need to know any of the logins and wont be able to use the Facebook account.

I just bought one of these for my 9 year old and had similar concerns.

I had to put the app on my phone and then use my FB account to authorise it.

Games have to be bought through the phone app (unless you set it up differently).

So DS cannot buy games through the headset, although he can view them and add them to a wish list.

On the video editing app games give an age rating but more importantly they are clear that some are for solo play and some allow connecting with others

Yes, you need FB. When the headset came out, people creating new FB accounts got blocked, but I don't think that has been an issue for a while now.

If you are really worried, don't put the wifi password into the headset. There are plenty of solo games to keep your DD interested without trying any multi-player or social apps. It really is a jungle out there in VR land.

You no longer need a FB account, but you will need to set up a Meta account.

Is there a link to this information? The requirement to have a Facebook account to use a Meta product (and the fact your post says Oculus suggests it is out of date) was scrapped in August last year.

I think the Facebook requirement has gone. Last time my son logged into his he was requested to set up a Meta account instead.

This feels like ChatGPT wrote it...

This thread's become a bit of a magnet for dodgy spam posts so we're closing it. Sorry, OP!