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gaving7095's avatar
gaving7095
Protege
5 months ago
Solved

No new navigator for me, many actual months after it has been announced

I’m on v 78.1027 and still don’t have the new, improved navigator. What is it with Quest updates? This is the only platform on earth where this kind of nonsense happens. Imagine you update your smartphone or computer and still have exactly the same features & functionality as the old build - doesn’t make sense. Either the feature is ready, thus should be available to all, or it’s in development so would only apply to those on test builds. What we have with Meta is a situation where different user accounts on the same device can have different U.I’s 🤦 I’m struggling for words honestly, I think I’ll settle on describing this situation as “despicable”.

  • gaving7095's avatar
    gaving7095
    2 months ago

    I had marked a previous post as the "solution" but being more sensible and fair about it I have this instead.

    You can either:

    A) Wait, or rather, carry on waiting for (hopefully) just a little longer.

    By all accounts v.81 apparently should roll out to all devices this year (2025), once you get it, it should come with the new navigator and home environment.

    B) Enrol in the PTC. Meta seem to have opened up additional places for this. You'll find it in the advanced device settings in the Meta companion / phone app.

    Once enabled, check for a system update on your headset and v.81 (or newer) should be available. Download it, restart and my experience was that the new home environment was then automatically set, but I actually had to restart my updated headset one more time to finally get the new navigator as well.

    Please note  a few things:

    • Being on the PTC will likely mean more frequent device updates, which could be annoying for you.
    • If you wish to leave the PTC, you do it via the phone app but this will cause your headset to be factory reset and downgraded to the last firmware public release version.
    • PTC versions of firmware may contain bugs or have other issues. If you're out of warranty or unable to return or get help with your headset for any reason, you might prefer to just stay off the PTC.

    C) Factory reset your headset, maybe? One helpful soul in this thread says they almost randomly got the new navigatior (on v.78 IIRC) having simply factory reset their headset.

    The potential benefit is that this is therefore something which could work for you if you really don't want to wait any longer and there are no PTC slots available (or you don't want to join the PTC). Plus my own experience of factory resetting Quest headsets has generally been smooth and reliable.

    Most saved games seem to automatically back up to cloud, you might want to double-check this however if you're going to be too upset with potentially losing any particular saved game data.

    Good luck!

    Thanks for reading, and an extra thanks to everybody who has contributed here so far.

25 Replies

  • Kranky_Pantz's avatar
    Kranky_Pantz
    Protege
    5 months ago

    Funny how all of these sabotaged firmware upgrades seemed to happen not long after they had bent the knee and kissed the ring of their God Emperor.

    They need to own up to this, Boz, Zuck, someone has dropped the ball again and again with these past few software & firmware "Updates".

    Been with Oculus since the DK2 days...and they are seriously going downhill since the launch of the Quest 3/3S.

    We've known for a long time that they want to kill off PCVR, but do they also want to sabotage their Quest lineup as well?

     

    • gaving7095's avatar
      gaving7095
      Protege
      5 months ago

      I think Quest updates have always been janky, you’re lucky if you haven’t experienced it too much so far. Way back on v 55 app sharing got broken. Features come and go. Basic functionality such as being able to mute system sounds or use a virtual environment but NOT have its constant background noise playing are missing. Key U.I. updates or differences can vary between users on the same device, and there’s nothing in settings to select or control any of this. Across a 30-year career in tech & tech support, take it from me - this is not how operating systems work. The thought that other VR systems may want to license or use Horizon OS 😂🤣 Yeah I seriously doubt it.

      • Kranky_Pantz's avatar
        Kranky_Pantz
        Protege
        5 months ago

        Yeah, it's almost as if they don't know what they're doing anymore.

        Actually, that is the case now.

        Things were MUCH better back when they were Oculus.

  • gaving7095's avatar
    gaving7095
    Protege
    5 months ago

    Thanks a lot for adding to the conversation 😊 I think most people don’t bother posting when we’re talking about relatively minor annoyances or issues, which is a shame. Gosh I hadn’t even considered the safety aspect! 😂 You’re right. I think we probably already have more than enough with smartphones. It’s still an exciting future, and having competition is good. Good old VR gaming is far from done yet 👍

  • Kranky_Pantz's avatar
    Kranky_Pantz
    Protege
    5 months ago

    Yes, let's hope that VR gaming isn't done just yet.

    If so, then I'll be done with VR, as I'm far more into actual interactive VR gaming than passive "experiences".

    If I wanted that, then I'd just watch TV.

  • gaving7095's avatar
    gaving7095
    Protege
    5 months ago

    So today I get an email from Meta, “Did you get the answer you needed?”. Well, no - I mean you’d only need to look at the actual headline topic of the thread and ask yourselves (Meta), “Have we rolled out the new navigator yet?”. That would immediately answer that question. Also, has anybody from Meta even acknowledged this thread, yet alone provided anything close to an answer re: when we can expect to see the new navigator? Also no. So this is what they consider to be technical support. It would be hilarious if it wasn’t so pathetically sad.

    • Choleni's avatar
      Choleni
      MVP
      5 months ago

      So... I understand everyone who's annoyed about the many bugs pushed by updates on their headsets.🙄

      But I don't understand why people are upset just because it's July and they don't have Navigator.

      It was specifically announced that the Navigator rollout would take months.

      The rollout details even state: ...is expected to be rolled out gradually to all users...

      I know, my English isn't that good, but to me this sounds like: it could happen... or not😂

      • Maccyb123's avatar
        Maccyb123
        Expert Trustee
        5 months ago

        You are right, but the confusion and frustration is warranted. I'm only on v78.0, I'm in Türkiye, I have Navigator, friends of mine, also here in Türkiye don't have Navigator and some of them are on higher versions of v79.xxxx . Thinking logically, they should have had Navigator before me! Also keep getting emails and push notifications about Horizon Worlds but there's no HW in Türkiye yet ! It's basically chaos theory in operation or Murphy's Law. Anything that can happen, will happen. 

  • FellisUzumaki's avatar
    FellisUzumaki
    Honored Guest
    2 months ago

    I haven't gotten no update at all and it's been months. No new navigator, no new meta home. I understood about the slow rollouts but why am I waiting all most a year for something that was supposed to be available for all. All these YouTube VR update vids are just full of hot air, cause whose getting these updates?! Not me, the consumer, that's for sure. It's utterly disgusting that meta is promising all this stuff and I've yet to see anything different. Every time I go to my settings... " You're all up to date!" Is a complete lie, nothing has changes from the software to the meta home or horizons...Sometime makes me just want to throw the whole thing away.  Where is my update? Iiiii needed itttt!!!!! Stop gas lighting us fr.

    • gaving7095's avatar
      gaving7095
      Protege
      2 months ago

      Amen brother. I am still in the exact same position as well. The most recent "available update" offered the exact same build and version number as it said was installed. After several days I installed it anyway, it went through the motions and guess what? I was left with the exact same build, version number and even install date that I originally had 🤦‍♂️ Pathetic.

      Their most recent event was a joke, with the embarrassingly rubbish "AI glasses" repeatedly failing at the simplest tasks. You know what they won't fail at? Lightening your wallet and harvesting your data. The net gain for humanity is waaaaaay into the red. Hateful.

      Let me close by describing what I had to go through just to get logged in here today to post this reply, using my phone.

      • Click the link to this forum in my email
      • TRY to sign in on my default browser - it emailed me a code because using a stored password is too mainstream and convininet
      • Having accepted the emailed code, next it claimed it needed to text me another code for security reasons
      • Code didn't arrive by text so I visited meta.com in a different browser on my phone and asked to sign in.
      • This time I had to deliberately specify use password and then deliberately specify use a code from an authenticator app. How these options cant just be the simple defaults, I'll never know. Or just stay the f signed in man I never signed out IDK 🤦‍♂️
      • Copy & paste the link to this forum from my email into the signed in browser. It sits for like a minute with the loading bar filling & emptying. Eventually cookie consent pops up and I can see this page.
      • But somehow after that, I'm STILL not signed in because to like and reply this post guess what? I NEED TO SIGN IN AGAIN!

      This is what we're dealing with. Meanwhile the fanboys will say everything's great and this is definitely how software and electronic systems are supposed to work, LOL.

    • Maccyb123's avatar
      Maccyb123
      Expert Trustee
      2 months ago

      It's like a lottery. I had an update failure on V78.1026 multiple times. I ended up factory resetting to v78.0 ......and Navigator arrived with it. I'm on v79.1034 and waiting for v81. They have the strangest update policy for sure. To be honest, as long as it works and I can play my games and run my apps, it doesn't bother me. The other stuff is only cosmetics. But that's just me. I totally understand you being frustrated! I was too, but, it's just a headset and life is too short to be stressed about something you can do nothing about. 🙂

  • gaving7095's avatar
    gaving7095
    Protege
    2 months ago

    Interesting. I do agree - good points, well-made. We have 2 headsets & my son's has had the new navigator and more recently new home environment, for months now. It changes nothing about how the headset performs or how he uses it.

    Personally, I'm wouldn't say I was stressed about it. For sure I am very disappointed with many aspects of Meta's "support", systems and software.

    I like things which work sensibly and reliably. When it comes to tech we only have other companies to compare Meta to.

    So for example, if you look at how updates work on Windows or Mac, iOS or Android, Metas version is a total nonsense. It is hard - as a user - to not feel frustrated at times by that.

    When you also factor in things like my experience with simply accessing their forum as described above, trying for weeks (and utterly failing) to get any support for an issue which has unfairly deprived me of over $1,000 in promised referral credit and even how rubbish their mobile app is, you get someone who's pretty done with it all and is looking forward to newer alternatives such as the forthcoming Valve Deckard.

  • gaving7095's avatar
    gaving7095
    Protege
    2 months ago

    I had marked a previous post as the "solution" but being more sensible and fair about it I have this instead.

    You can either:

    A) Wait, or rather, carry on waiting for (hopefully) just a little longer.

    By all accounts v.81 apparently should roll out to all devices this year (2025), once you get it, it should come with the new navigator and home environment.

    B) Enrol in the PTC. Meta seem to have opened up additional places for this. You'll find it in the advanced device settings in the Meta companion / phone app.

    Once enabled, check for a system update on your headset and v.81 (or newer) should be available. Download it, restart and my experience was that the new home environment was then automatically set, but I actually had to restart my updated headset one more time to finally get the new navigator as well.

    Please note  a few things:

    • Being on the PTC will likely mean more frequent device updates, which could be annoying for you.
    • If you wish to leave the PTC, you do it via the phone app but this will cause your headset to be factory reset and downgraded to the last firmware public release version.
    • PTC versions of firmware may contain bugs or have other issues. If you're out of warranty or unable to return or get help with your headset for any reason, you might prefer to just stay off the PTC.

    C) Factory reset your headset, maybe? One helpful soul in this thread says they almost randomly got the new navigatior (on v.78 IIRC) having simply factory reset their headset.

    The potential benefit is that this is therefore something which could work for you if you really don't want to wait any longer and there are no PTC slots available (or you don't want to join the PTC). Plus my own experience of factory resetting Quest headsets has generally been smooth and reliable.

    Most saved games seem to automatically back up to cloud, you might want to double-check this however if you're going to be too upset with potentially losing any particular saved game data.

    Good luck!

    Thanks for reading, and an extra thanks to everybody who has contributed here so far.

    • Maccyb123's avatar
      Maccyb123
      Expert Trustee
      2 months ago

      A huge amount of excellent advice there. Thanks for putting all the effort into this. It will be very helpful for a lot of people. On the PTC issue, because I bought my headset in Germany and live in Istanbul, Türkiye, an unsupported country, I stay away from it, as though rare, bricking has happened to headsets, v76 being the last one if I remember correctly, caused major issues. I don't want to have to fly back to Germany to send it back to Meta! I think also, if you're outside of the warranty period you should consider the potential risk of untested updates. However if I lived in a supported country I'd probably risk ptc too. 😁 You might have been referring to me who got navigator with v78 after the factory reset! Your advice should be pinned somewhere so every user can see it. Kudos to you gaving7095

       

      • gaving7095's avatar
        gaving7095
        Protege
        2 months ago

        Hi! Yes, I was referring to you 😊 Thanks a lot for more valuable input. I've edited my post to just make a clearer point of caution re: using PTC.

        For what are essentially cosmetic updates I don't think any risk of bricking is worth it. Now that you mention the v.76 issue I do remember something. Hopefully headsets were recoverable but nobody wants to go through that.

        I assume by setting updates to NOT install automatically I may be able to enjoy the PTC but have time to check for issues before potentially falling foul of a known major problem - time will tell!

        I've found the whole "update & shut down" thing to be frankly more annoying than useful so have switched that off long ago, and just check manually.

        Same with switching headset on automatically to update. All that ever seemed to do for me was mean that I'd occasionally find my headset with a dead battery when I came to use it.

    • steve_40's avatar
      steve_40
      Consultant
      2 months ago

      By all accounts v.81 apparently should roll out to all devices this year (2025), once you get it, it should come with the new navigator and home environment.

      Well, I just got v81.1034 today. I got the new home environment. I got the new Horizon Central. I got the Hyperscape Capture app. But still no Navigator 😭!