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Ryanality
Honored Contributor
July 20, 2023

Meta Quest build v56 release notes

These features and enhancements will become available starting the week of July 24, 2023 and will be pushed to Meta Quest Pro and Meta Quest 2 headsets. 

 

Livestream to Facebook

If you have your Facebook account in the same Accounts Center as your Meta account, you can now livestream from VR to Facebook by selecting Start Livestream from  Camera on the universal menu.

 

  • This feature is launching as an experiment and may not be available to everyone.

 

Closed captions

We’re adding system level closed captioning for audio from 2D apps, videos, and other media. You can turn closed captions on by going to Accessibility in Settings and selecting Hearing, then Live Captions.

Note: At this time, closed captioning on Quest does not capture speech from other players.

 

Customize controller button mapping

You can now customize the button mapping on your Touch controllers to any layout you prefer by going to Accessibility in Settings and selecting Mobility, then Re-map Controllers.

Note: Some apps may still refer to the default button mapping.

 

Automatically power headset to update

To make it easier to get into the action when you put on your headset, we’re adding the ability to keep your headset software and apps updated when your headset is powered off and charging. Your headset will briefly power on to apply available app updates and power off when updates are complete. You may hear your headset’s fans during this process.

Your microphone and cameras will always remain off until you put your headset on and press the power button. You can control this feature from Software Updates in System Settings.

  • This will be rolling out gradually.

 

Invite to apps

You can now invite people to join you in an app from your followers list in People as well as from chats and groups. 

 

 

Default microphone behavior when recording

You can now select a default option for whether or not you want your microphone audio to be included when recording a video by going to Camera in System Settings and selecting the toggle next to Include Mic Audio.

 

Swipe typing on virtual keyboard

We’re adding the ability to swipe to type using the virtual keyboard. You can enable this feature from Experimental in Settings.

Notification improvements

We’ve made a number of changes to notifications allowing you to better control your VR experience.

  • You can now complete more actions from notifications by selecting
  • Multiple notifications from the same source will now be grouped together for easier management 

 

Low battery warning

Having your headset run out of battery in the middle of a session is no fun at all. That’s why we’re making it easier for you to know when your battery is running low while you’re in an immersive experience with a new and improved low battery warning notification. 

 

Battery level on power off screen

You’ll now see your battery level on the power off screen with a reminder to charge your headset so that it’s ready to go for your next session in VR.  

 

Local Dimming  (Meta Quest Pro only)

We’re adding the ability to enable Local Dimming across all apps on Meta Quest Pro to reduce screen brightness. You can enable this feature from Experimental in Settings.

 

Hand tracking 2.2

Hand Tracking 2.2 includes a number of enhancements, including:

  • Up to 40% latency reduction in typical usage and up to 75% during fast movement resulting in more responsive Hands experiences.
  • Fast Motion Mode (FMM) provides improved tracking of fast hand movements common in fitness and rhythm apps. 

For more details, check out our Meta Quest v56 blog post.

55 replies

Honored Contributor
August 18, 2023

Well my headset finally updated to v56 even though the phone and PC app updated 15-20 days ago.  Usually there is only a 3-4 day between each of app and headset updates.

Much to my dismay I notice the filter button is missing once again from the App Library main window and if you close the App Library the filter window always defaults to All sorted by A-Z. Gone are also the App Library default settings in the Personalization settings panel.

Before updating to v56 a recent update to v55 on my headset restored the filter button/icon and the filter options would stay set until I changed them either in the filter window or in the Personalization settings.

Now if I want to launch something that I sideloaded I have to

  1. Open the App Library
  2. Click on the search bar
  3. click on category drop-down and pick "Unknown Source"
  4. And if I have a lot of unknown sourced items and it is something I use often Click on the sort drop-down and pick "Recent"
  5. And if I should close the App Library: Rinse and Repeat the steps above.

Why continue to make changes or updates to a version when there is a newer superseding release version being rolled out? And why not incorporate those changes into the higher version? If they are meant to be discarded in the latest version why even bother rolling them out in the first place?

I guess I should check to see if I can still upload larger than 7 GB mp4 files to my headset. Maybe that is broken for me as well, it wasn't before.

NicoEng
Up and Coming
August 18, 2023

My quest 2 just upgraded to v56 so far I noticed little change only the home menu screen is right up in my face. Yes I can move it back but each time it defaults to very close to my face, is there a way to permanently move it back?

I have tried clearing the guardian and setting up again. As well as rebooting several times.

If I turn on multi window from the quick setup the home menu appears at a much more comfortable distance.

Participant
August 19, 2023

Ryanality Thanks mate... I belong to the "rest"... that's always good know and it feels... bad.
Yes, I've got the v56 now - hurray?

TomCgcmfc I've got Firmware 56.0.0.171.656 (retail) you got 56.0.0.165.656 (ptc).
So now we're sure, with PTC you've got NOT THE SAME Firmware as retail, so please stop posting in the false thread. Don't misunderstand me... I've pleased to read your posts, but don't mix up experiences with different firmwares - that's maximum confusing.

And yes, maybe Ryanality can help out for PTC-User.

Participant
August 20, 2023

Buetigame I'm on PTC and yesterday my quest 2 was updated to 56.0.0.171.656, i.e. all the same, PTC users, when the firmware is released to retail, receive an update to the final firmware

Participant
August 22, 2023

BOLNICHKA39 I've adressed an other person who's posted PTC firmware "things" in this (release-)thread. If a PTC User ist sure, to use the final version (which is 56.0.0.171 not 56.0.0.165 at time he was posting), he/she is free to post in the release thread without confusing others.

Honored Contributor
August 22, 2023

Why is there all the open space on the UD menu between the search button and the Explore Icon? I can't pin more apps in the space so why is it there?

Honored Contributor
August 23, 2023

Buetigame  My v56ptc updated almost a week ago to what looks to be the latest v56 Final.  I never posted this because this always seems to confuse you, lol! 

There is no way for ptc users to know whether or not what they have is the same version as the final version.  Thanks to your previous thoughtful post that listed your version # details (56.0.0.171.656) we are finally able to properly compare notes.  It would also be useful for you to post your Oculus Desktop app version details (settings/general tab/scroll down to bottom).  Thanks in advance mate.

I always use the oculus desktop app public beta when using the Quest headset ptc.  As I mentioned in my previous post my current public beta version is 56.0.0.109.155.  Again, as myself and others have said, it would be very useful for any posters on these threads to list the version #'s for both the headset and oculus desktop app. 

My Quest Pro using Air Link continues to work very well with all my standalone, Rift, Steam, and VivePort stores apps.  I do seem to occasionally lose controller tracking and/or controller visuals when going back and forth from standalone to PCVR.  If it happens when in PCVR I need to go back to standalone, then startup Link again.  If it happens in standalone I need to restart the headset.  I have filed a bug report on this.

Once v57ptc comes out (rumor is within the next week) I'll unsubscribe from this thread and only post in the v57ptc, at least until v57 final is released.  I hope that this is all ok with you mate.

i9 13900K water cooled, RTX4090, Z790 MB w/wifi6e, 64Gb 6400 ram, 2x2TB SSD, 1000W PSU, Win 11, QPro, Q3, w/Link and Air Link, Vive Pro1 with 2x2.0 base stations, Etsy lens mod and Index Controllers
Participant
August 25, 2023

TomCgcmfc Everything is fine... if you're understandung our problem with confusing posts 😉

Desktop App: 56.0.0.109.155
Firmware Q2:
- System: 50600670051800150
- Version: 56,0,0,171,656,505989878
- Runtime: 56,0,0,171,656,505990200
- OS Vers: sq3a,220605,009,a1

New Participant
September 3, 2023

NicoEng Did you managed to fix the issue?

For me, the ui is now too low and angled:

If seated, my leg prevent from using the touch keyboard.

When trying navigate the ui with touch control, controller constantly flicker between the "touch" and "aim/point" mode.

We used to be able to adjust the position of the ui and the headset will save our adjustement....

NOT ANYMORE!

Reset the view and ui go back to their awful position.

NicoEng
Up and Coming
September 3, 2023

Hi Raistin_Kane, I got it sorted sort of. I clicked the multi window icon in quick settings, that moves the UI but I did get another version of the firmware that moved the UI again. So I am not sure if I fixed it or a firmware update fixed it.

 

I am on 56.0.0.171.656 now