Can you use wireless headphones with Oculus Quest?

Best answer: Yes, but I wouldn't recommend it. Setting up wireless headphones with the Oculus Quest requires enabling developer mode, sideloading apps, and using the command prompt on a PC. Even then, it doesn't work with all Bluetooth headphones.

• Flexible virtual reality: Oculus Quest ($399 at Amazon)

Not worth the hassle

The Oculus Quest is a revolutionary VR device because it can run popular VR titles without needing any external hardware or wires. Unfortunately, the wireless nature of the Oculus Quest does not extend to headphones. You can plug wired headphones into the headphone jack on the left side of the device, but using wireless headphones requires jumping through hoops and doesn't always work.

The problem with wireless headphones

To enable your Oculus Quest's settings to pair with a pair of Bluetooth headphones, you'll have to enable developer mode, enable sideloading apps, and sideload a settings app onto your device that allows you to change the Android settings of the device. Not only is this inelegant, but it also won't work with all Bluetooth headphones. There are cases where it's worked for users, but it isn't going to work with all headphones. That means you could go through all that trouble and extra work with nothing to show for it. If you want to try to use wireless headphones with your Oculus Quest, you can use our guide.

When asked about Bluetooth headphone support for the Oculus Quest, John Carmack, the CTO of Oculus, stated that added latency was still an issue. The Oculus Quest often relies on spatial audio in games, so latency would be frustrating and make some games less playable.

The Oculus Quest doesn't have native support for Bluetooth headphones, and that might not change in the future. That being said, developers have overcome barriers such as when Genki created the Bluetooth adapter for the Nintendo Switch. There might be some alternatives in the future that allow you to use wireless audio.