On October 24th, Oculus announced they released in Beta an update enabling casting from the Oculus Go to mobile phones. We’ve tested it out, and it works great with InstaVR created apps!

Below, we walk you through the steps of setting up the casting/mirror, answer FAQs on the new feature, and give you the top use cases for the new feature. 

How do I cast from my Oculus Go to my mobile phone?

1. Open the Oculus phone app you used when setting up your Oculus Go headset. Ensure that it is A.) connected to WiFi and B.) connected to the VR headset you’d like to cast from and C.) both are connected to the same WiFi network.

2. You’ll need your Oculus Go software in-headset to be updated with the Casting functionality. You can see if it already has been by: Going to the Home Screen -> Clicking Sharing -> Looking to the far left for the Cast option

3. If you don’t see the Cast option, you’ll have to update your Oculus Go headset software. There’s no explicit way to do that in-headset. But it has been reported this can be done by restarting your headset or turning off your headset and leaving it plugged into the wall for a few minutes before turning it on again. If you do both of those and your headset still doesn’t add the Cast function, contact Oculus Support via their Oculus Forums.

4. Once Cast appears as an option, you can test the feature out. You’ll click the Cast option in Sharing, and the be prompted if you’d like to start Casting. Press Start.

5. You’ll then get a Notification on your phone. Tap that notification.

6. You’re ready to start Casting! Go to the Library section of your headset and select the app you’ve created using InstaVR that you’d like to mirror/cast. You’ll know you’re successfully casting in-headset if you see a red dot in your visual field.

FAQs

Can I mirror to other phones or tablets not paired with my headset?

Unfortunately, no.

Why did my app stop casting? 

If you take your headset off, casting will be turned off. You’ll then have to re-start the process of initiating casting by going to the Sharing section of your headset again.

Why isn’t the audio mirroring onto my phone also?

That’s a current limitation of this feature by Oculus. Casting is technically in “Beta”, so hopefully this will change in the near future.

My mirroring is either lagging or showing poor video quality. Why? 

The mirroring is dependent on your WiFi. The better the WiFi, the better the mirroring. So if possible, always have the strongest internet connection possible (ie 5Ghz over 2.4 Ghz)

Common Use Cases

VR for Training – It’s so valuable to have the trainer be able to see where you are in the VR experience and guide you. Rather than having pre-inserted voiceover or .mp3s, you can have an actual dialogue between trainer and trainee. Can’t wait to hear all the use cases from our VR for Training clients!

VR for Sales (or Conferences/Expos) – This allows the VR sales presentation to become much more interactive. You can more easily answer questions from the sales prospect as they experience your VR.

VR for Real Estate/Hospitality – What if you could give a guided house tour and answer questions about each room? Now you can! For clients in the headset, it might be hard to know or describe what room they’re in. But with mirroring turned on, the real estate agent can understand where you are in the house to point out features and answer specific questions.

VR for Research – InstaVR has a number of built-in tools for researchers, like heatmaps and Google Analytics integration. But what if the researcher can see exactly where a viewer’s focus is? Or read them questions at certain points in the VR experience based on their actions? Plus, as a researcher, you can easily videotape the mobile device to play back how the subject interacted with a VR experience.