Meta wants to make sure you're old enough to use your Meta Quest in the way you want to. The company announced in a blog post Tuesday that all Meta Quest 2 and Meta Quest 3 users will have to verify their age on their Meta Account within 30 days of being prompted.
The company says it is doing this to help developers better understand the ages of the users downloading their apps, and to protect younger users from inappropriate content. The company has its own User Age Group API, which is how it can share the age group of a user to the developer of an app. In theory, a developer can curate different experiences of an app for different age groups, and when you log in, you receive the experience tailored to your age.
There are three age groups considered with a Meta Account:
Adults (18+): These users can choose whether to make their profile and activity public or private.
Teens (13-17): These accounts are mostly set to private by default, including profiles and active statuses. Teens must approve followers rather than allow them by default, and parents can take advantage of supervision tools to control the experience.
Preteens (10-12): These accounts are entirely managed by a parent. Parents must set up the account for the child, and all settings are set to private. Parents have the final say in whether a child can download an app, and can block apps as well.
If you haven't already, you'll soon receive a prompt to verify your age on your Meta Quest. Once you do, you'll have 30 days to log into your Meta Account and enter your birthdate. It should be a straightforward process for most users. However, if you enter your birthday incorrectly, Meta says you can change it if you verify your identity with an ID or a credit card.
Once your birthdate is confirmed, Meta will show you which account type is right for your age. For example, if the selected account type is Teens, but the user says they're 11, Meta will prompt them to change the account type to Preteen, or ask to confirm that the user is at least 13.
