[Help]Unity Play Mode Not Streaming to Oculus Quest 3s, But APK Works Fine

[sophiaaa.242153]

Unity Version: 2022.3.16f1
Device: Meta Quest 3s
XR Plugin: Oculus (Enabled in XR Plug-in Management)

Issue Description
I’m developing a VR application for the Oculus Quest 3s, but I’m facing an issue where Unity Play Mode does not stream to the headset, while the built APK works fine.

Here’s what I’ve confirmed so far:

1. Oculus Link is working correctly – the headset is detected and connected to the PC, and Link mode is enabled.
2. In Unity, under Edit > Project Settings > XR Plug-in Management, I have enabled Oculus and checked Initialize XR on Startup.
3. When I enter Play Mode in Unity, the scene does not appear in the headset, but a built APK runs without any issues.
4. Developer Mode is enabled on the Quest 3s, and Passthrough is allowed via Link.
5. I have tried restarting Unity and reconnecting Oculus Link, but the issue persists.

Attempts to Fix

• Restarted the Oculus headset and reconnected Oculus Link
• Deleted the Library folder in Unity and recompiled the project
• Verified that the latest Meta Quest Developer Hub and Oculus drivers are installed on the PC
• Checked the settings under Edit > Preferences > XR Plugin Management

Questions

• Are there any additional settings I need to adjust to make Unity Play Mode stream correctly to the headset?
• Are there specific logs or debugging steps I can check to diagnose the issue?
• Could this be related to the Meta XR SDK version?

I would really appreciate any help or advice from experienced developers! Thank you! 

[dev.x.sandra · Accepted solution]

Hi sophiaaa.242153, problems with the Link connection can be quite annoying. Can you describe a bit more what is actually happening inside the headset when you press play in the Unity Editor? Do you just remain in the Link environment? Does the screen turn black?
I have recently had some problems where the view in the headset jusst turned black once play had been pressed. For me there were actually two aspects that helped. Resetting the layout of the Unity Editor to default fixed the main problem for me. Another aspect of this is that the screens in the headset go black again once I switch to scene view while in play mode, and return to normal once I click back into the game view window.
Maybe this helps.

[sophiaaa.242153]

Hi  dev.x.sandra, glad for your response. I'm here to give more details here. After clicking Play in Unity, the Game View turns completely black, and nothing is visible. Meanwhile, there is no change in the headset. When I start Link, it takes me to a white space（like the picture）, where I can see my PC desktop (which, in a way, means streaming is working). However, the frustrating part is that it does not respond to Unity at all.

[sophiaaa.242153]

🤣I think I accidentally marked the issue as solved, and I can't undo it in the post. In fact, we might need more help from fellow developers. Hope the system doesn't stop pushing the post……

[runningpixel]

Did it work before you installed the latest window11 update [KB5052093]?

Maybe we have the same issue