16 Meta Quest 3 Tips & Tricks You Haven’t Heard of
In this guide, we’ve compiled 16 invaluable insights and strategies that will unlock the potential of your Meta Quest 3, whether you’re looking to optimize performance, enhance user comfort, or discover hidden functionalities. There are countless features, settings, and shortcuts that can transform your VR experience.
1. Learn to Measure Your IPD Properly
IPD is the distance between the center of your eyes. It makes a world of a difference using the correct IPD, but you’d be surprised how many people don’t know their IPD.
Having an IPD mismatch between the headset and your eyes will cause strain, motion sickness and blur. It’s like wearing glasses with the wrong prescription.
To measure your IPD, all you need is a ruler. Here’s a video demonstrating how to do it:
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You can adjust your Quest 3 IPD from 58 – 70 using the sider at the bottom of the headset. Don’t worry if you’re 1-2 mm off, as it won’t make that big of a difference.
2. Increase Your Quest 3 Resolution
Did you know you can increase your Quest 3’s resolution to make the graphics more beautiful and stunning?
The Meta Quest 3’s panels have a resolution of 2064 x 2208 per eye, however, games are only rendered at 1680 x 1760 resolution. This is like watching a 720p video on a 1080p monitor.
To increase your resolution, you’ll need an app called SideQuest or Quest Games Optimizer. Here’s a step-by-step guide: How to Increase Quest 3 Resolution
3. Invite Friends to Your House in Mixed Reality!
Imagine seeing a virtual avatar of your friend in your own home. Now you can make that a reality, and it’s very easy!
Simply open your friends list, invite your friend, then turn on passthrough mode. With that, you’ve just invited your friend into your living room, and now you can hang out in virtual reality! How cool is that?
4. Make Your Headset More Comfortable (Without an Elite Strap)
You don’t need an Elite Strap – save your money and get this instead.
This mod replaces the facial interface foam with a soft, leather one that feels like cushions on your face. It’s the biggest difference maker in terms of comfort, and I can wear my headset all day thanks to this.
Icing on the cake: it also has nose flaps which prevent light leak into the headset, enhancing immersion.
Here’s where to get it: AMVR Leather Padding
5. Hack to Improve Quest 3’s Passthrough Quality
The Quest 3 passthrough may be very grainy indoors with poor lighting. However, on a sunny day, try going outside into the sunlight with your headset on. Make sure the sunlight never touches the lenses – and be very careful about this!
You’ll see the difference in passthrough quality. It’s a night and day difference.
To improve the passthrough quality indoors, consider getting studio lights.
6. Take Photos & Videos at the Press of a Button
Ever wanted to take a screenshot on the Quest 3? It’s very easy:
- Screenshot: Hold down the home button and press the trigger once.
- Video Recording: Hold down the home button, then hold down the trigger button.
You can end the video recording by doing the same thing.
7. Tips for Extending Quest 3 Battery Life
It’s no secret that the Quest 3 uses a lot of power and drains the battery very fast, but there are 3 ways to significantly increase your battery life:
- Use battery saver mode
- Charge while playing (requires a fast Link Cable)
- Get a battery pack headstrap (for extra comfort too)
8. Trick to Buy Any Quest 3 Game at a Discount
Did you know you can get a 25% discount off any game by using someone’s referral code? That’s right.
We frequently post referral codes for the best Meta Quest games. But you can find referral codes by browsing the Quest Store and looking at the reviews section – many people post them there too.
You can generate your own referral codes too by going to your Meta Quest app on mobile -> Menu -> Scroll Down -> Refer a friend and earn rewards -> App Referrals
9. Mirror Your Desktop
You can do so much more in VR if you mirrored your desktop. Immersed is an app that allows you to mirror your desktop screen in VR, and set up multiple monitors.
It can be used for:
- Playing 2D games in VR
- Watching movies
- Socializing
- Listening to music in one of the many immersive environments
- Improving productivity at work with multiple monitors
In Immersed, there are various environments you can visit, including public lobbies such as cafes, where you can meet other people. You can download the app for free on your Meta Quest headset and PC.
10. Play Thousands of SteamVR Games on Quest 3
Did you know you can play SteamVR games on your Quest 3 without a powerful computer? That’s right – there’s a service called Plutosphere that’ll allow you to do this.
If you’ve already got a compatible PC for the Meta Quest 3, then you can connect your headset directly to your PC using Air Link or Oculus Link.
But if you don’t have a VR-Ready PC, then I suggest using Plutosphere, a cloud gaming service for VR. It’s still in early development, but I’ve tested it out and it works with a few hiccups.
11. Turn on Voice Commands (US Only)
This feature is currently available to North America, but voice commands can greatly improve the convenience of using the headset.
To turn on voice commands, go to Settings -> System -> Voice Commands, then turn on voice commands and voice commands shortcut.
Here’s a full list of things you can say with voice commands. My favorite ones are:
- Shut down
- Restart
- Turn up the volume / lower the volume to 3 (when I’m in the middle of a Beat Saber game)
- Go home
- Open Beat Saber
- Tell me a joke
12. Turn Off Guardian Boundary
Ever find the guardian boundary annoying when moving around? Me too.
I have mine off most of the time. It’s really annoying when you’re playing in passthrough, but can’t open an app because it requires you to be within the boundary range. Here’s how to turn off boundaries on the Quest 3:
- Enable Developer Mode
- Go to Settings -> System -> Developer
- Turn off boundary
Disclaimer: Do this at your own risk.
13. Double Tap to Switch to Passthrough
Did you know you can doubletap the side of your headset to switch between virtual and physical world?
To enable this option, go to settings -> physical space -> passthrough, then enable doubletap for passthrough.
14. Enhance Your House (Mixed Reality)
Figmin XR is an app that allows you to overlay objects and holograms over the real world. You can put anything you want: pet cats around your house, colorful particle effects, or
You can also use it to play games with friends, or learn how to draw:
15. Tip for People with Glasses
If you wear glasses and are afraid of scratching your lenses in VR, I highly suggest looking into custom insertable lenses. VR Wave offers these – you just supply them with your prescription information and they’ll send you some lenses which you can insert into your Quest 3. They not only remove glasses from the equation, but greatly improve comfort.
16. Quest 3 Safety Tip – Avoid Light Bulbs
Check your playspace for anything on the roof that might cause harm. Lightbulbs are a common thing most people don’t pay attention to. When you’re in VR, reaching for something high (e.g. rock climbing), you might accidentally smash your light bulb.
Many people have made this mistake – so learn from them and don’t make this mistake.
I would personally avoid playing in any spaces where I can reach the lighbulb. Even if you’re very careful, it’s easy to forget when you’re in VR.
17. Cast to PC or Phone
You can stream your Quest 3 to your devices to allow friends and family to watch – and it’s very easy to do with no technical set up. Simply press the “Camera” icon on the Quest 3 -> Cast -> Select device you want to cast to -> Visit the URL they supplied on your computer to view the stream.
You can also open the Cast menu by pressing the Home button during any game/app.
Got Any Tips You’d Like to Share?
If you’ve got some cool Meta Quest 3 tips and tricks that we missed, please let us know and you’ll be credited! hello@vrheaven.io
