Hi everyone!
I am looking for VR/AR/MR standalone headsets, and there is not that much competition out there.
There are headsets like the Meta Quest 3, the Pico 4 Ultra, glasses like the XReal One…
Do you know if there are privacy friendly headsets or alternatives out there?
No unfortunately. Your best bet is a Valve Index + SteamVR on Linux (or Windows with O&O ShutUp10 and/or winutil if you really wanna go that route). and stuff like that so. which is expensive plus PCVR Only but in general yeah. We’ll see if Valve will shake things up.
I think HTC Is fine but I’ll have to review their privacy policy I guess.
Edit: I cant figure it out about HTC as they redirect the privacy policy outside of their vive to the normal parent company, I would be cautious but it’s likey better than meta and pico. and as I said for Pimax, eh iirc Pimax is headquartered in china so take what you will with it.
So again valve is like this only hope here and maybe HTC but still I would trust Valve personally above all when it comes to that.
I don’t think this will ever be a product category that will ever have privacy in in mind with its development and as a product.
Every company making and providing such a product/service will need the data they need to keep improving their products for all with every new version/iteration.
Not exactly true, there is the degree that it is being used or collected.
eg. In terms of privacy, I wouldnt use Pico or Meta, period. HTC and Pimax maybe, but Pimax iirc is headquartered in china so it’s that and HTC While a US company i cant exactly find their privacy policy for their vive lineup so it may be private? Idk that I trust HTC Considering clicking their privacy policy leads to the normal htc site privacy policy.
Valve may be the only hope for standalone VR but in general as I said to OP, best bet is a PCVR Headset especially valve index + SteamVR Linux (or Windows with O&O ShutUp10 and/or winutil if you really wanna go that route).
I am thinking more long term and trying to ensure my comment will stand the test of time. Sure, people here can disagree with me and I commented knowing you all would.
But given the inherent nature of the product that is a AR/VR headset, I see no future where there will be a product like this good enough with an equally good enough privacy and security policy.
What you are mentioning and others will mention are the small details with jurisdiction and specific companies doing specific things. It doesn’t account for the how it will end up being a decade or two later.
If there is not a product that meets the stands of PG or Techlore from a privacy and security POV that is of the equivalent quality of an Apple Vision Pro with all that it is capable of - then there will never be such a tool. Because it’s not like we lack the tech for it. We just lack the frame.work or GOS or similar type of a company making such a tool. That’s only possible when the tech is open sourced for people to build on it.
Agree to disagree then.
The problem is that As much as I love AR/VR, the market is not as lucrative as it is and with only very few known players, it does become a problem which yes it means we dont have GrapheneOS equivalent of Standalone VR but clearly there isn’t losing hope which is why the best I can do is recommend closest to the criteria that exists.
But I hope I am genuinely and completely wrong in this regard - hopefully we do get something that’s a fantastic privacy and secure product like AR/VR headset.
But seeing how the world can’t even make a usable/quality equivalent of iPhoen or Pixel like mass produced Linux/Android smartphone - I find the reality I am hoping for hard to fathom.
All my comments may sound crazy or wrong but I am jaded by the fact that we can’t produce tech on equaivalent quality as Apple does for example that’s also open source supporting open source tech seeing how few OEM manufacturers and suppliers are able to supply the tools and raw materials for it given big tech’s hold over almost all of the demand for what they want.
These are just related comments on the matter and not entirely related to the OP’s post.
Tbh when it comes to open source and DIY while not a thriving has probably been the best things for the VR Industry to move forward to more what we have here:
but then again your next best option is: Wait for deckard, or get a PCVR Headset plus what I already mentioned about OS or an HTC if your threat model so befits to them.
But from my POV, I’ll believe it when I see a usable quality product that I can buy. And I am talking about Apple quality with how it feels with AR/VR. It’s a high standard. But it needs to be for AR/VR. Its the whole setting point.
Until then - I don’t think my comments are invalid.
Standalone headsets? No. There are no privacy focused standalone headsets as of now that I am aware of. At most, maybe I’ve heard of a way to bypass the Facebook account requirement for the Quest. Maybe you could use that to make a Quest offline only.
An alternative method I use, is to just use a headset (that requires a PC) directly with SteamVR, that is specifically:
HTC Vive
HTC Vive Pro
Valve Index
Those 3 require no software to run aside from SteamVR, but it does require you to trust Valve.