Oculus Quest 2 and Portal add 'Hey Facebook' as a wake word: Here's why

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Oculus Quest 2 and Portal add 'Hey Facebook' as a wake word

Oculus Quest 2
(Image credit: Facebook)

It seems these days that every major piece of tech we own now comes with an AI-powered virtual assistant, so why would Facebook not join the party? There have been rumors of Facebook working on one for a while now, and it now appears the social network's efforts have come to fruition. 

In the vein of starting its push into the virtual assistant realm, Facebook adds the phrase "Hey Facebook" to both the Oculus Quest 2 and Portal, the company's video conferencing device, to wake both from sleep. The new trigger phrase should be rolling out on devices immediately. 

Facebook has been working on different forms of an AI assistant for a while now, including the M assistant on Facebook's popular messenger app. Voice commands are not new for the Oculus Quest; the headset has had it for some time and could be triggered via physical actions. 

Now Facebook has stepped up its attempts to move into a more hands-free operation by adding the phrase "Hey Facebook" as the folks at the company start to push the FB platform into Oculus VR. 

In an announcement, Facebook clarifies that the wake-up phrase's use is purely optional and up to the user to enable as it is disabled natively.

It's not shocking that Facebook would add a Facebook wake phrase for the Oculus as they push more into the virtual assistant ecosystem dominated by Apple's Siri, Amazon Alexa, and the Google Assistant. 

Mark Anthony Ramirez
Mark Anthony Ramirez

Mark has spent 20 years headlining comedy shows around the country and made appearances on ABC, MTV, Comedy Central, Howard Stern, Food Network, and Sirius XM Radio. He has written about every topic imaginable, from dating, family, politics, social issues, and tech. He wrote his first tech articles for the now-defunct Dads On Tech 10 years ago, and his passion for combining humor and tech has grown under the tutelage of the Laptop Mag team. His penchant for tearing things down and rebuilding them did not make Mark popular at home, however, when he got his hands on the legendary Commodore 64, his passion for all things tech deepened. These days, when he is not filming, editing footage, tinkering with cameras and laptops, or on stage, he can be found at his desk snacking, writing about everything tech, new jokes, or scripts he dreams of filming.