App works with the Oculus Rift Dev Kit 2 and lets users enjoy macOS in virtual reality. By Owen Hughes. Updated February 14, 2017 17:05 GMT. A new app is offering Apple users a way to experience. Download Oculus Runtime for OS X 0.5.0.1-beta The Oculus Rift runtime for OS X is intended primarily for mobile developers who wish to develop for Gear VR on a Mac, and who would like to be able to run applications on the Mac for development reference. To download and install the Oculus app on your computer: Go to www.oculus.com/setupand click Download Oculus Rift Software. Open the Oculus app and click Install Now. Follow the on-screen instructions to create an Oculus account and set up your Rift S or Rift.
The Oculus Rift was one of the first successful VR headsets to hit the market but it still does not support Macs. Oculus (now owned by Facebook) officially states that:
The Oculus Rift S and Rift are currently optimised to work with Windows PCs.
Oculus founder Palmer Luckey stated way back in 2016 that Oculus would only support Macs “if Apple ever releases a good computer”.
Luckey told Shacknews at the time:
It just boils down to the fact that Apple doesn’t prioritize high-end GPUs. You can buy a $6,000 Mac Pro with the top of the line AMD FirePro D700, and it still doesn’t match our recommended specs. So if they prioritize higher-end GPUs like they used to for a while back in the day, we’d love to support Mac. But right now, there’s just not a single machine out there that supports it.
Even now in 2020, despite the release of the Oculus Quest, there are no Oculus products that support Macs.
However, the situation in 2020 has changed significantly since that statement was made.
Amazing VR headsets like the HTC Vive Pro now support Macs and the technology is now there for the Oculus Rift and Oculus Quest to work on macOS too.
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Oculus App For Mac
The latest iMac Pros certainly have the specifications to run Oculus Rift headsets without any external hardware or upgrades such as en External Graphics Processing Unit.
And even older iMacs and MacBook Pros can theoretically now support an Oculus Rift with an eGPU connected to your Mac.
Currently, the recommended and minimum Oculus Rift technical requirements are:
Oculus Rift App For Pc
Despite Apple’s efforts to make macOS support eGPUs since High Sierra and the development of the Mac Pro and eGPU market, Oculus still hasn’t changed its position and will focus on PCs for the near future.
Oculus Rift Mac CompatibleWill The Oculus Rift Work On Mac With Boot Camp?
We don’t recommend trying to setup an Oculus Rift to run on Mac with Boot Camp.
There’s really no point installing Windows on a Mac to run any kind of VR hardware now that the latest version of macOS Catalina supports eGPUs natively.
eGPUs often don’t play well with Windows Boot Camp setups anyway and you’ll find yourself trying to fix more problems than using it with macOS.
That’s not to mention you’d need a USB-C Hub with a lot of ports in order to plug everything in needed to connect an Oculus Rift to your Mac. And even then, it probably wouldn’t work well anyway.
The best alternative to the Oculus Rift on Mac is easily the HTC Vive Pro which is by far the best VR headset for Mac users on the market right now.
It’s officially compatible with both Macs and macOS and arguably, the VR experience is even better with the HTC Vive Pro than the Oculus Rift anyway, especially with the complete HTC Vive Pro System.
Will Facebook Release a VR Headset For Macs?
Since Oculus is owned by Facebook, it’s natural to assume that Facebook is working on its own VR headset.
In fact it’s rumored that Facebook is already working on a replacement for the Oculus Quest which will be a lighter more powerful version.
However, there’s no word on whether it will support Windows only or work with Macs as well.
With VR software and hardware having come a long way on Macs nowadays, there is much better chance that Facebook’s VR headset will work on macOS too.
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