Samsung Galaxy S10 models no longer support Gear VR after Android 12 upgrade

Support for the Gear VR headset will expire with the upcoming Android 12 upgrade for the Galaxy S10 smartphones. Users who want to use their headset with those phones are therefore advised not to install the upgrade.

The Samsung Galaxy S10, S10+, S10e and S10 5G will receive the Android 12 upgrade from December. After installing that update, the Gear VR headset will no longer be supported, Oculus writes. No further explanation is given in the post about removing Gear VR support from Android 12.

The Galaxy S10 phones are the most recent smartphones that still support Samsung’s Gear VR headset. The headset was released in 2015 and allows users to plug their smartphone into the headset, using the phone’s screen and SOC to show the VR images.

Oculus announced in April last year that it would discontinue support for the headset. Certain apps have stopped working since last year, and developers are also unable to add new Gear VR applications to the Oculus Store. Programs that were already installed could still be used.