Screen reader on Meta Quest
Meta Quest includes screen reader functionality. The screen reader can help people with limited vision by reading out the text of buttons, describing images and assisting with audio-cued navigation. Find out more about Accessibility on Meta Quest.
Turning on screen reader
Screen reader is currently an experimental feature. To access the screen reader, you must first opt-in to using it.
To opt-in to the experimental screen reader:
- Press
Meta button or
Oculus button on your right controller to open the universal menu.
- On the left, select
Quick controls.
- Select
Settings in the top right, then select
Advanced.
- Find Experimental features.
- Next to Screen reader, select the toggle to turn screen reader on or off.
Once you opt-in, to turn on screen reader:
- Press
- On the left, select
- Select
Accessibility.
- Select
Vision.
- Under Screen reader, select the toggle to turn screen reader on or off.
Navigating with a screen reader requires you to be using Touch controllers. If you are using hand tracking or a game pad, you’ll be prompted to pick up your Touch controllers when turning on the screen reader.
If this is your first time using the screen reader, it may still need to be downloaded to your device. Select download if prompted to do so.
Screen reader settings
Screen reader Verbosity, how descriptive you would like the screen reader to be, can be changed in your headset’s accessibility settings:
- Press
- On the left, select
- Select
- Select
- Under Screen reader, select a new verbosity level from the dropdown.
Using the screen reader
Turning on the screen reader will change what the buttons on your controllers do. When you first turn on the screen reader, a tutorial will launch to teach you how to use it to navigate Horizon OS. This tutorial can be relaunched at any time from vision accessibility settings.
To help you get started, here’s an overview of the basics:
- The screen reader doesn’t read out everything at once. Instead, it describes what you are currently focused on. You can adjust your focus in and out to describe an entire window, a group of objects or a single thing, like a toggle or button.
- Pressing the A or X button (the bottom raised buttons on your left and right controller) moves your focus in. If you are focused on a window, this will move your focus to the content of the window and allow you to browse using the thumbstick.
- Some content will be grouped inside a window. For example, a set of navigation buttons or title cards. With the group focused, press the A or X button to focus in and start browsing items in the group. The first item in the group will be described aloud. Use your thumbstick to move between different items.
- Once you have found the item you would like to interact with, press the trigger to select it.
- To move your focus back a level, use the B or Y buttons (the top raised buttons on your left and right controller). To quickly bring your focus all the way back to the window level, push in either the left or right thumbstick. From there, you can move your focus between windows.
Text-to-speech
If you do not need the full navigational assistance of a screen reader but would still like to have highlighted labels read aloud, use text-to-speech.