Bug v38: "Multiple Devices Can't Access This App at the Same Time" popup

[Beeman_Dev]

A few days ago my two Oculus Quest 2 devices updated to v38. We are now unable to play the same game at the same time which previously worked fine for over a year. Both headsets use the same admin account with the second player using a different sub-account. Below is a screenshot from Gorilla Tag which is seperately purchased for both accounts (free applab game). The same issue happens on "After The Fall" but not on "Onward". I stopped testiing after that.

Please can you repackage v37 as v39 and provide it to allow us to manually downgrade our headsets. There used to be a way via phone app to disable future updates being auto-installed, can this be reinstated. You need to stop forcing out updates that are not fully tested, I was aware a buggy update was incoming via YouTube videos, but was powerless to stop it.

[14252]

Same here. It's been a week. 

[Beeman_Dev]

Every time I have contacted Oculus support over the years I have got inane responses both on chat and email, and never had any resolution to problems, so after a month I have always just given up. I paste here a transcript of my latest chat with what may have just been an A.I. as he failed to even comprehend what the problem is:-

Me: A few days ago my two Oculus Quest 2 devices updated to v38. We are now unable to play the same game at the same time which previously worked fine for over a year. Both headsets use the same admin account with the second player using a different sub-account.

Gerald: Hi Me, I'm Gerald. Thanks for chatting with Oculus Support and I hope you're doing good!

I understand that unable to access the same game you want after updating your headset. I appreciate you for providing the picture of the error message. No worries, I'm here to sort things out for you.

First off, just in case we got disconnected in this conversation, please note your ticket reference number to this chat is xxxxxx.

To start, may I know which games are you trying to app share with?

Me: It occurs with Gorilla Tag, which is seperately (free) purchase on both accounts + "After the Fall" and presumably most other apps. This was never a problem prior to v38 (*Have since clarified it occurs on all apps)

Gerald: Thank you for confirming that, Me. May I ask if you tried any troubleshooting steps so far?

Me: Well there's nothing to trouble shoot, v38 has broken them

It takes about 10 mins after user2 logs off a game for the messages that continually appear on user1 headset to stop

It fails on a game that IS purchased on both accounts, like Gorilla Tag and one that is App Shared, like After the Fall

I need to know how to down grade back to v37 and prevent future auto-updates

Gerald: I see. Thank you for that, Me. I will keep it noted. May you please allow me 3-5 minutes to pull up my resources for you?

Me: I am not the only one to have this issue as I see on your support forums

Gerald: I truly appreciate the effort, Me for looking up our forums about this. May you please allow me 3-5 minutes to check on this? Will that be alright?

Me: My two teenage children use the headsets to play together and are now no longer able to and are very upset Despite having purchased a lot of games, all they seem to play is Gorilla Tag, which is free, so why this message? The App HAS been purchased separately

Gerald: I truly understand what you're coming from, Me. As a parent as well, I would rather feel the same. For me to look into this further for you and provide you workarounds on your end, may you please allow me 3-5 minutes to check and review this for you. Will that be okay with you, Me?

Me: y

Gerald: I truly appreciate that. Be right back shortly.

Thank you for patiently waiting, Me. May I ask if the app sharing is enabled on both devices?

Me: No it isn't. As I said it has worked fine for ages, v38 is only change.

AFAIK it is not possible to enable app sharing on both devices at once, even if you tried

Gerald: Alright. Thank you for clarifying that, Me.

Please provide the following details on both of your accounts for me to authenticate and check if app sharing on my end is disabled.

Full name as it appears on your Oculus account

Current alias/username

Email address linked to the account

Me: Main account= Username Me

Email Address = me@gmail.com

Username = Me2

Email Address = me2@gmail.com

Gerald: Thank you for your time and patience with this matter Me and thank you for providing those details and I have successfully configure the app sharing on your accounts.

Now, may you please try to reboot your headset and try to enable the app sharing on your end.

Please let me know if your son's able to app share the games, Me.

Please take your time.

Me: OK doing that, but app sharing wasnt the problem as such, it was the continual popping up of the message I attached in screen shot

Gerald: Alright. I will keep it noted, Me.

Please let me know if the issue the popping message still occur after performing the given workaround.

Me: Went through that, turned app sharing back on, both running gorilla tag and headset with main account gets message continually popping up, every 30 seconds

It is unplayable

You need to provide an update with that check disabled, until you fix it to work properly.

Am I able to downgrade to v37

Gerald: Just to confirm, Me. Does the popping message occur only the game gorilla tag?

Me: No it occurs on After The fall (*as already stated)

Gerald: To answer your query, I'm afraid that we don't able to downgrade an software update as for now.

Me: Walkabut Mini Golf = Same problem

Gerald: For this one, may you please try to turn off the app sharing and then reboot the headset again.

Will that be alright?

Hello Me, are you still connected to us?

Me: yes

ForeVR Darts is also broken

So it's safe to assume that no apps work properly any more since v38

I have disabled app sharing (need to revert to main account to do this) and rebooted

Gerald: Thank you so much for the effort, Me. As well as letting me know the games that doesn't work on your end.

Me: None of the multiplayer games work

Gerald Just to confirm, Me. Are you using the both headset with one account and play the game at the same time?

Me: yes

but using different shared accounts

the way app sharing is supposed to and always has worked

Gerald: Thank you for confirming that, Me.

Me: If I disable app sharing then the problem has gone from gorilla tag, but then apps are no longer shared

Gerald: With being said, you can still log in to multiple devices at the same time. However, you will not be able to use the same account to run the same app across multiple devices simultaneously. Different accounts can concurrently access a shared app on multiple headsets, keeping in mind that you can only enable App Sharing on a single device at the moment.

Me: Yes i know that

Recall I have been using app sharing for a year without problems

I am not using the same account, headset1 = main account, headset2 = sub account

the way app sharing has always worked

Similar to how it works on XBox

Gerald: Just to confirm, Me. Since you tried to disable app sharing then the problem has gone, have you tried rebooting it after you disabled it on your end?

Me: Well the problem has gone from gorilla tag, but then no apps are shared with second account on headset2 so I would not be able to co-Play After the Fall or any of the other games I purchased while this worked

Gerald: Are you still receive the same error message on that application as well?

Me: I cant run it can I as app sharing is now disabled

As soon as app sharing is enabled on again on headset2 you get the message popping up again on headset1

hello

Gerald: Thanks for the, Me. May you please allow me 3-5 minutes to review this again for you?

Me: I presume you have implemented a check for this in v38 but it has not been coded properly so needs to be reverted

Gerald: No worries, Me. I will take a look for this for you. Please allow me again 3-5 minutes to check on this.

Me: ok

Gerald: Thank you for patiently waiting, Me.

Please advised that the app sharing would work, Me only the one headset login with admin account and the secondary account as well. It would not work from one headset to another.

As playing the same application at the same time.

Me: It has worked for the last year

Headset1 = Admin Account

Headset2 = Secondary account

Both headsets using same Admin account

hello

Gerald: I truly understand what you're coming from, Me. However, since you mentioned that you are using the same account at the same time by the two user. It will not work since it doesn't apply on the app sharing features.

Me: I am not using the same account I gave you the 2 accounts earlier

Gerald: I truly understand, Me. As you have mentioned earlier, that the both headsets using same Admin account. With that being said, it will not push through as you using the admin account on the both headset at the same time.

Me: What are you talking about, IT HAS WORKED for the last year

Me: What is the UK telephone number for Oculus support

Me: Hello

Gerald: Alright. So we can move forward regarding this concern. And for us to start investigating the issue you are having. We will need to move this chat to email. From there, once we are all done identifying the root cause of issue then we will let you know how we will resolve it.

In the meantime, is there anything else I can be of help?

Me: You haven't helped me with this yet

Are you being serious?

I have been on this chat for over an hour!

[Beeman_Dev]

I tried contacting support via chat and whatsapp but it may as well be an AI. You get the same canned responses, they are all absolutely hopeless. There is effectively no real technical support available. It's been the same whenever I've tried to contact support. Now the support phone number has disappeared too. Facebook buying Oculus was the worst thing to happen to VR.

[Duncan-Idaho]

I’ll add mine to the pile. 

https://forums.oculusvr.com/t5/Support/Multiple-devices-can-t-access-this-app-at-the-same-time/td-p/...

[Beeman_Dev]

Just keep contacting support via chat. Yes they are absolutely hopeless, but maybe if everyone just keeps nagging them all day, they will eventually listen. Facebook has never been a customer first brand, unlike Amazon, but having subsumed and monopolised low end VR, they totally disregard the end users. Like many, as soon as PSVR2 lands (with a wireless option) I'm outta here for good. Stopped using Facebook a few years ago, zero interest in any of their products.

[gjaydon]

+1 To someone else having this issue. One headset is on v38 and the other hasn't upgraded yet.

Thanks for getting this thread started @Beeman_Dev. I have been trying to figure out what's been going on the past week.

About a week ago my son noticed the same "Multiple Devices Can't Access This App at the Same Time" when both him and I were playing Rec Room.  He was using one headset logged in under the admin profile, and I was on the other headset logged in as another non-admin profile.

The message showed up on the headset he was using, but it didn't show up on the headset I was using. However, I do believe it was attempting to show up on the headset I was using, it just didn't have the proper focus. The reason being is there was a white slider bar in the middle of the screen and as I moved the controller around in game I could hear the sound that's played when buttons are highlighted in the home environment - just couldn't see it. In addition, it also was showing an overlay of the Quest 2 controllers as if I was setting up the guardian, even while I still had the in game Rec Room hands.

Today we were attempting to run Virtual Desktop on each separate profile to play a PCVR game together, and the same "Multiple Devices Can't Access This App at the Same Time" popped up on the headset he was using (logged in as the admin profile), while on the other headset I was using the message didn't show up. However, just like when playing Rec Room I had two controller overlays in VD, and there were two lines painted onto the screen with a few degrees offset - very annoying.

Thinking the logic wouldn't be triggered if the non-admin profile wasn't obtaining access to Virtual Desktop through App Sharing, I went ahead and just bought it again on the other profile. No problem since I don't mind supporting an awesome app. However, even after an uninstall and reinstall of Virtual Desktop and a reboot of the headset, the same "Multiple Devices Can't Access This App at the Same Time" message appears on the other headset.

This logic shouldn't be triggered since we are logged into two separate profiles on both headsets and the app has been purchased on both profiles as well. It should work now; it does not.

As you mentioned as well, there is obviously a bug somewhere as it shouldn't be popping up when running a Free app or Paid app that has been purchased on each profile (ie two separate licenses).

Thanks again.

[MATTY007GB]

I think when Oculus first brought out app sharing it was only meant to be used for users that log in on the same device as the admin. Like sharing the headset with a family member and being able to have different saves and progress in games.

I think they didn't intend for people to buy multiple headsets and log in the same device with the same account then let multiple people play the same content to save money. 

I completely think they need to revert this part of the update... but think you could buy 10 Quest 2 devices log them all in with one account and only have to pay for a game once. Seeing as they have now removed oculus for buisness I'm guessing this is what they were facing which of cause will loose them money on content and that's how they mainly make their money.

They for sure need to introduce something for those who want to have let's say 3 family devices so create some sort of family discount for content but it's probably unlikely.

Oculus support is useless and you will get different answers from different agents. I would say this is no bug but a fix for what they originally intended to do. They also were suppose to be removing the requirement for a Facebook login but are yet to deliver also no compatibility for air link with windows 11 yet. 

However in my veiw these Quest 2 headsets are by far then best value for money, even if you have to buy the same game for each family member on a separate account. I have gone through many different headsets and the hardware of the Quest 2 and software features is by far superior compared to other manufacturers. It's really just their customer support and priorities for updated that are lacking.

Let's hope they release a statement to clarify on this issue, but it's unlikely as they don't like to give a straight answer to anything. 

[gjaydon]

Hey @MATTY007GB 

According to the "Here's the fine print" section of their blog post on Feb 18, 2021 entitled Gather Your Party: Introducing Multi-User and App Sharing on Oculus Quest, their original intention of the feature reasonably appears to allow such a situation where two users have two headsets running the same application concurrently. The scenario is supported via App Sharing as long as it's enabled on the second device by the user that "owns" the app, and said admin user is not logged into the second device when running the app on another device (ie getting around the # of devices limitation of App Sharing).

Bullet point # 5 under "Here's the fine print" mentions the following:

You can still log in to multiple devices at the same time. However, you will not be able to use the same account to run the same app across multiple devices simultaneously. Different accounts can concurrently access a shared app on multiple headsets, keeping in mind that you can only enable App Sharing on a single device at the moment.

Note: The underlining of the last sentence in the bullet was performed by myself.

Using the above bullet as a guide, the user (User A) that has an app in their library (App A) can't be logged into multiple devices (Device A and B) at the same time and run the same app (App A). However, access to the application (App A) can be extended to another user (User B) on a separate headset (Device B) and they can run it at the same time as the original user (User A). To do so, App Sharing has to be enabled on the other device (Device B) that the second user (User B) is using, allowing User A and B to run App A concurrently on Device A and Device B.

Regarding your statement about "best value for money", I would have to agree. I wouldn't have easily been able to have had two headsets the family could play together without the Quest 2. It's nice to be able to play PCVR games on one of our PCs that is beefy enough (eg Half-Life Alyx), while still being able to play standalone games on the other when in use, or both in standalone playing together (once this is fixed). I agree as well, that if their customer service was a bit better, it would make for an even larger win for them.

Thanks.

[SlasherZA]

Let me add my story here too. I've been handed off to multiple people at Oculus, each of which seem to not read the history or truly understand the issue. My last response from Oculus Support was that this is the way it will be with v38 and there is no bug. 😡