In context: Months ago, it was revealed that all new Oculus customers would be forced to either set up or link a Facebook account to continue using their VR headsets. Naturally, this news did not go over well with the community, some of which have been banned on the social media platform and were locked out of using the products they paid for entirely.

However, researchers have already found a way to bypass this requirement for the newly-released (and highly successful) Oculus Quest 2.

This information was first revealed over on Ready Hacker One, on a page dedicated to discussing and defending the idea of Right to Repair for XR (cross reality) devices. At the top of the post, the site claims that a researcher from the XR community has somehow managed to, against all the odds, gain "root access" to the Oculus Quest 2.

This access lets the researcher effectively bypass Facebook Login altogether while presumably keeping the rest of the device's functionality intact. Ready Hacker One's XR Safety Initiative (XRSI) validated the researcher's "jailbreak" and claims others have stumbled upon the same method.

Sadly, because of the shaky legality of jailbreaking a device without any consumer-oriented right to repair laws, these researchers are forced to operate in secrecy. As of writing, XRSI is doing its best to "gather assurances to protect" the individuals who have achieved these jailbreaks, though what those assurances might consist of is unknown to us.

It remains to be seen whether or not this cloak-and-dagger root access method will ever be made available to the public, but we will certainly update you if that day comes. In the meantime, we hope frustrated Oculus Quest 2 owners get some small amount of satisfaction from this news.

Masthead credit: Rock Paper Shotgun