Quest doesn’t have AirPlay, but it surely’s not for the dearth of making an attempt. In a submit on X, Meta CTO Andrew ‘Boz’ Bosworth says the corporate is joyful to do the “heavy lifting” on bringing Apple’s media streaming to Quest—if Apple will enable it.
John Carmack, legendary programmer and former CTO of Oculus, posted on X just lately that whereas at Meta he “all the time needed to get Apple AirPlay help on Meta Quest.” Nonetheless he maintained Apple apparently “wouldn’t cooperate” with bringing its wi-fi streaming protocol, which permits streaming audio, video, and different media content material from one system to a different.
I all the time needed to get Apple AirPlay help on Meta Quest, but it surely was mentioned that Apple wouldn’t cooperate.
I’m positive there have been “screw Meta” factions, however absolutely there are additionally factions that need AirPlay to be a ubiquitous normal on each show, and would see the worth of…
— John Carmack (@ID_AA_Carmack) August 21, 2024
In response, Bosworth mentioned this: “We’re very happy to do no matter heavy lifting is required to help it!”
That’s an enormous “if”. Whereas AirPlay isn’t unique to Apple gadgets, as many Google TV and Android TV customers can attest, it does require Meta to basically enter right into a partnership with Apple, which may very well be a primary. Apple could also be reluctant to ‘give away’ certainly one of its huge ecosystem advantages, particularly whereas Meta has been ostensibly following Imaginative and prescient Professional’s lead by integrating a number of Vision Pro-style features on Quest, comparable to bringing native help for the spatial MV-HVEC video codec.
Such a partnership would sometimes embrace a licensing settlement, entry to AirPlay SDK and documentation, and a submission process for testing and validation. Moreover, Apple normally requires producers to recurrently replace the firmware on their gadgets to remain suitable with new variations of iOS, macOS, and tvOS, and to include any updates to the AirPlay protocol.
It stays to be seen to what extent Apple would enable AirPlay help. On Imaginative and prescient Professional, customers cannot solely forged media from their iOS and Mac gadgets to the headset, but additionally cast game sessions to AirPlay supported TVs so onlookers can observe together with the motion—much less probably since AirPlay periods require Apple {hardware} to provoke. Nonetheless, that performance is actually lined by Meta’s personal casting characteristic.
Within the meantime, there are some unofficial workarounds on Quest proper now that embrace fundamental AirPlay help. The Skybox VR Video Participant has an experimental characteristic for AirPlay, though casting and display screen mirroring has combined outcomes.
Right here’s a video, courtesy of YouTuber ‘The Assemble’ that takes you thru the ropes of getting AirPlay to work utilizing the paid app on Quest.
