Frustration instead of fun: unsuccessful update for Meta's VR headsets Quest

Meta had already provided an update for its Quest series VR headsets at the beginning of December. Shortly afterwards, a post appeared on X in which Meta explained that there were problems with some Quest 3S devices. These are the new, small and inexpensive headsets introduced in the fall. Over the Christmas holidays, the complaints on social networks, in the Meta forum and on Reddit have piled up. Apparently, some people wanted to use the free time to play games or were given a Quest 3S as a gift, which automatically pulled the update – and did not work.

In the December post, Meta promised to work on the problem. As long as it has not yet been solved, the linked software update tool should be used. However, this does not always seem to provide a remedy. In response to a post from a mother complaining that the device she gave her son for Christmas is still not working, Meta writes that it has not yet found a solution. "We realize it must be very frustrating, our team is working to solve the problem." Other people are complaining that it has now been more than 20 days and the devices are still not working again. When asked when Meta thinks it will have a solution ready, X has no answer either, but only a delay.

It is now clear that not only the Quest 3S is affected, but also some devices of versions 2 and 3 – as Meta writes on the support page. However, apparently not all devices are affected; according to Meta, most of them are working again. It remains unclear which headsets from the series are still affected and, above all, why. People are writing in forums that they have now even received emails from Meta talking about a free repair, potentially also about replacing the devices.

Failed updates happen again and again. It was only in the fall that Microsoft had problems with a Windows update that caused a series of errors and had to be partially suspended as a result. In the summer, a crowdstrike update paralyzed banks, airports, stores and entire companies. Meta had to deal with a disruption to its various services at the beginning of the year, and not for the first time. However, the outage only lasted a good hour – usually the reasons remain unknown.

(emw)