Quest 3S Life Hacks & Crucial Tips You NEED To Know

I’ve been pushing the Quest 3S to its limits, going through every setting, trick and tweak I could find, with the experience I’ve built up from using Quest headsets for years. These are my Quest 3S tips: shortcuts, comfort hacks, time savers and a few under-the-radar settings that help you get the most out of the headset.

Best Buy sponsored part of this video. That pays for our time, not for the opinions. When we made it in November 2024, Best Buy had a Quest 3S bundle with Batman: Arkham Shadow (which I’d already played, and it’s seriously good) and a 3-month trial of Meta Quest+, plus $20 off the Elite Strap with the headset. That offer ran through 11 January.

Graphics and performance boosters

• SideQuest is free and gives you control over resolution and other settings, if you’re like me and can’t resist a little tweaking.
• Quest Games Optimizer is the plug-and-play option. It’s a paid app with profiles preset per game by the developer and its community, so you install it, load the game and get better graphics and performance in seconds without fiddling.
• Custom home environments. Also through SideQuest. A cozy cabin or a sleek futuristic city makes launching into VR feel like stepping into your own space, and it’s worth doing.

Comfort tips

A free knuckle strap

Loop the controller lanyard around your hand and tighten the lanyard lock to make a knuckle grip. Now you can let go of the controllers, and it costs nothing. Be gentle with it, though: it isn’t as sturdy as the grip covers you can buy.

A floor mat

This one saved my sanity and my furniture. A mat keeps you centered and stops you punching walls, which I know about all too well. No mat? Cut up an old yoga mat, or surround yourself with pillows as a soft boundary, so you can feel with your feet where you are.

A better strap

The soft strap in the box is fine for lying down and lounging, but not for long sessions standing up. I’d look at the BoboVR S3 Pro or the Kiwi Design Elite battery strap. Both give sturdier support and extra battery life, which helps because the battery limit of about 2 hours can get in the way of a good session. My Quest 3S accessories video has all my recommendations.

Settings that save time

• Travel mode. It stops the screens drifting on a plane, car, bus or train. Train support arrived with software version 71. Switch it on in Quick Settings.
• Volume mixer. Also new in v71, and one of my favorites. You set the volume for calls, apps and media separately, so you can listen to Spotify while you game or chat with friends. I multitask a lot while playing, so I love this one.
• The action button. The new button at the bottom of the Quest 3S switches to passthrough with one click. Double tapping the side of the headset still works, but the button is quicker.
• Remote installs. See a game you want while you’re out? Install it from the Horizon app on your phone, and it’s waiting when you put the headset on. Make sure the headset is powered on, or the game might not install.
• Voice commands and Meta AI. The built-in voice commands are gradually being replaced by the Meta AI assistant, which you might already have in the US or Canada. It can change the volume, open your camera roll or just chat.

Social and multiplayer tips

Casting shows what you see in VR on a TV, a computer or a Google Chromecast. It’s great for livestreaming, for giving friends a tour, or for watching what they’re doing so you can help them. Go to Quick Settings, then Cast.

Shared co-location is the truly next-level one. If you and a friend both have a Quest, you can see the same game elements anchored in your real room. In Demeo you set the game board on a table and walk around it together while you plan your moves. For action, try Laser Dance, where you duck and dodge lasers behind your actual furniture. (I called it Laser Limbo in the video. Wrong name.)

Multiple profiles with app sharing are a must if you share the headset with family or friends. Everyone can play the same games without buying them twice or messing up your progress. I have a full walkthrough on this in a separate video.

Gifting games is an easy win for the holidays. In the Quest Horizon app, open an app and select Gift.

Games and entertainment

• Xbox Cloud Gaming. Play games like Valorant or Halo Infinite with a Bluetooth controller, on a screen you can resize to cinema size. Good for days you want a plain 2D game.
• CitraVR plays Nintendo 3DS games in full 3D with upscaled resolution, and the 3D effect in a headset beats most other 3D solutions. Try Zelda: Ocarina of Time, one of my all-time favorites. It has never looked this good.
• Steam Link is the official app in the Quest store for streaming your flat Steam games from a gaming PC, from the comfort of your bed.
• PC VR streaming. Meta Quest Link is free and works well. Virtual Desktop is a great paid alternative if you want more control and optimizations.
• Night mode. In Quick Settings you can lower the brightness or turn on night mode so the headset doesn’t keep you awake.

Productivity and multitasking

The Quest has been turning into a productivity machine and an affordable alternative to the Apple Vision Pro. Immersed gives you several virtual monitors streaming whatever is on your PC, a full workspace that travels with you.

You can also put windows on either side of the Quest menu, for example the built-in browser, and some native apps can be placed anywhere you like. It keeps things organized. It’s still a little basic, and I’m looking forward to Meta building it out.

Storing your Quest 3S

My last tip. The Quest 3S box makes a surprisingly good, nice-looking stand to store the headset on. Keep the lenses out of sunlight, because that can burn them, and maybe put a bit of foam over the lenses to keep out dust and insects. Nobody wants a spider living in their VR headset.

Which Quest 3S tips to try first

My personal favorites from this list: the volume mixer, because I multitask so much while I play; travel mode, because I use the headset on the go; co-location, which still feels next-level; and Zelda in CitraVR. The rest are small things, but together they made my Quest 3S experience better, and I hope they do the same for you. If you have tips of your own, tell us in the comments.