The latest Meta Quest update has been bricking headsets

By Patrick Hearn Published December 28, 2024

With the holiday season having just passed, many people find themselves in possession of a new VR headset. Unfortunately, the most recent Meta Quest update — version 72 — is encountering a bug on certain Meta Quest 2, Quest 3, and Quest 3S headsets that essentially turns them into expensive paperweights, but Meta says a fix is on the way.

The v72 update has failed to install, and when it does, users receive a black screen that just says, “Your device is corrupt. It can’t be trusted.” Meta offers a bit of advice: Press and hold the Power button for 45 seconds before booting up. In theory, this should clear the headset and solve any major issues, but a lot of users have said the fix doesn’t work for them, according to Android Central.

The Meta forums are full of discussion about the problem, and Meta itself issued the following statement: “We are currently experiencing a software update issue and are working to resolve it as soon as possible.”

Theories abound as to the cause, but the primary issue seems to stem from updating older headsets that haven’t been used in a while. Updating from v70 to v72, for example, doesn’t appear to cause as many problems. However, updating from significantly older firmware has resulted in more crashes. The problem also seems more likely on a Meta Quest 2 headset than on newer devices.

Though Meta has said its working on a correction, many users report their headsets are completely useless after the update. If the device is already out of warranty, then a $150 refurbished headset is the most affordable replacement option until Meta develops a solution that can serve as a proper fix.

If your headset is currently operational, then it might be wise to hold off on downloading further updates until the problem is corrected. Playing a couple of rounds of Gorilla Tag isn’t worth the risk of breaking your headset.