You can set up a Meta Quest without always relying on a phone, but the initial setup usually requires the Meta app on a mobile device to link your account. After that, most features can be managed directly on the headset.
So, in other words, there is literally no official way to avoid all the phone crap as a matter of default. It's great we mostly don't have to use the app after we've already had to install it, create accounts, give them some of out details, tie it to the headset just to be able to make it actually useable, etc. But that's largely missing the point of the problem, at least as I'm looking at it. I want to be able to simply turn on and use my bought and paid for Meta Quest headset out the box, and everything else external to that should be optional. It's not a consumer friendly setup at all right now, and I'm not going to remotely defend Meta on this one.
