Virtual reality lenses give you the ability to travel all over the world in your living room. You can experience a world you never imagined existed. However, while Oculus Quest and Oculus Rift lenses are fun to use and designed to handle intense movements, they’re still delicate.
They need to be cared for properly in order to maintain your lenses, prolong their life, and keep them hygienic.
Key Takeaways
- Clean VR lenses with compressed air and a dry microfiber cloth, avoiding liquids and alcohol wipes.
- Ideally, clean VR lenses before and after each use, or at least once a month.
- To prevent scratches, use screen protectors cut to fit VR lenses and replace when needed.
- Prevent lens fogging by warming up lenses, adjusting fit, using a cloth on the nose bridge, and keeping cool during use.
How Often Should I Clean My VR Lenses?
VR lenses need to be cleaned regularly. Ideally, you should clean your VR lenses before and after each time you use them. They pick up dust while they’re in storage, and you’ll put some oil smudges on the lenses while you’re using them.
Even if you don’t use them often, you will still need to clean the lenses at least once a month. This will prevent dust, grease, and dander from building up on the lenses.
How to Clean Oculus Lenses
When you’re cleaning Oculus Lenses, be sure not to use a liquid cleaner, including alcohol, lens cleaner, and disinfectant wipes, on the lenses. These can damage and scratch them. You can however use disinfectant wipes on external surfaces and accessories.
- Time: 5 minutes
- Difficulty: Beginner
What You’ll Need
- Microfiber cloth
- Compressed air canister
- Skin-safe disinfectant wipes
1. Read Manufacturer’s Instructions
Before you use or clean your Oculus lenses, read the manufacturer’s instructions for any particulars as to how you should care for your lenses.
2. Remove Dust
The first step to cleaning is to remove all the dust from your lenses, cushions, and headphones. Use the compressed air to blow the dust away from the lenses. Also blow air over the cushions and headphones as well, although be sure to aim the air away from the lenses to prevent dust from blowing onto them.
3. Wipe Lens
Use a clean and dry microfiber cloth to wipe your lenses. Be sure to use a gentle circular motion moving from the center of the lenses towards the outside.
Remember that you should never use liquid on your lenses. The liquid can scratch your lenses or damage electronic components.
Wipe your lenses 2 or 3 times if needed.
4. Wipe Cushions & Headphones
Now use a skin-safe disinfectant wipe to wipe down your cushions and headphones. Avoid anything with alcohol as it may damage them.
5. Dry
Give your cushions and headphones time to thoroughly dry before putting your Oculus lenses away.
How to Clean VR Lenses Without Microfiber Cloth
If you don’t have a microfiber cloth, you can pick up a Lenspen to clean your VR lenses.
First, you will need to use the brush on the Lenspen to remove all the dust from your lenses. Then remove the cap. You will see a carbon cleaning tip.
Use the tip to remove smudges, dirt, and any other gunk from your glasses.
Taking Care of Your VR Lenses
Here are a few maintenance tips you can follow to help take care of your VR lenses.
Wash Hands
Always wash your hands before using your VR lenses. This will help to keep you from accidentally smearing dirt, oil, and grease on your VR lenses.
Wash Your Face
Wash your face before using your VR lenses or wipe your face with a facial wipe. This will help to remove any oils on your skin that will get onto the lenses during use.
Clean Surfaces Regularly
Clean all the surfaces of your VR lenses regularly, even if you have them in storage. Dust will build up on the surfaces which will make it harder to clean your VR lenses when you want to use them.
Screen Protectors
Use screen protectors to protect your VR lenses. You can purchase cell phone screen protectors, then cut them into the shape of your VR lenses. Put the screen protectors on your lenses to help keep them from getting scratched or damaged during use.
When the screen protectors become dirty, you can change them for a new set of screen protectors.
Use a Fan or Air Conditioning
People often get hot while using VR lenses, so one tip is to have a fan or air conditioning on while you’re playing. This will reduce the amount of sweat you produce and help to prevent the sweat from getting on your lenses.
How to Store VR Headset Correctly
Always store your VR headset and all its gear in a drawer or cloth bag to prevent dust from accumulating on your VR lenses. You can also use a foam protector for your VR headset.
How to Stop VR Lenses From Fogging
VR lenses can fog up while you’re using them. The reason is that the lenses are usually cool and you’re warm. So condensation happens when the warm moisture from your breath or skin touches the cool lenses.
There are a couple of tricks you can use to help prevent your VR lenses from fogging up.
Warm Up the Lenses
You can warm up the lenses before use by placing them on your forehead for 5-10 minutes before playing. You won’t be producing any sweat, so the lenses get a chance to warm up to your body temperature. No condensation.
If you’d like to start using your lenses more quickly, you can also use a hairdryer to heat up your glasses. Be careful not to use too hot of a temperature, and to not let any odd hairs blow from the hairdryer onto your glasses.
Adjust Fit
Sometimes your VR lenses are fogging up because you have too tight of a fit. Too tight of a fit doesn’t allow any airflow. So make sure there’s a gap between your lenses and your nose.
Cloth On Bridge of Nose
Place a cloth on the bridge of your nose. This will help to prevent the glasses from fogging up while you’re wearing them.
Keep Your Body Cool
Keep your body cool while using your VR lenses. You can do this by running the air conditioning while playing, or you can have a fan blowing over you. Either method will help to keep your body cool.
FAQs
Cleaning VR Lenses
When you’re cleaning your virtual reality lenses it doesn’t matter if they’re PSVR, Valve Index, or Vive lenses. Do not use a lens cleaner on the lenses. Instead, you will need to use compressed air to blow dust from the lenses before carefully wiping them down with a microfiber cloth.