Oculus Disables Gear VR Support For Galaxy Note 7 Amid Second Recall, Says ‘Customer Safety Is Top Priority’

Since the Galaxy Note 7 is proven to be at risk of exploding despite Samsung’s global recall and replacement program, Oculus has decided to stop its support for the phablet on the Gear VR app. The decision comes after it was confirmed that the South Korea tech giant is recalling and scrapping the Note 5 successor for good.

According to GSM Arena, while Samsung is busy identifying the root cause of the fiery woes of its latest phablet, the Menlo Park, California-based virtual reality company has deactivated its Gear VR support for the Note 7. The phone-centric website also said that this would mean that Note 7 owners who have yet to return their handsets will be denied GR VR service.

Explaining why it has decided to disable the service for the controversial device, Oculus wrote: “Customer safety is Oculus’ top priority. Oculus is removing support for all Note 7 devices on the Oculus platform.” The company added, “Until further notice, Note 7 devices will not be compatible with the Gear VR. For more information regarding the Note 7, please contact Samsung directly.”

To remove support for Samsung’s Galaxy Note 7, Oculus issued a forced update to its Gear VR mobile app. Once this update is installed, when Note 7 owners try to use their smartphone with the Gear VR headset, Oculus’ quoted statement is displayed right before their eyes.

Android Central reports though the forced update may have irked Galaxy Note 7 owners, Oculus did the right thing to prevent accidents that could have led to facial burns among users of the faulty handset.

The software update reportedly affects the Galaxy Note 7 only, Hence, Other supported Galaxy handsets, namely: the Galaxy S7, S7 Edge, S6, S6 Edge and the Galaxy Note 5, are not affected because they are not at risk of exploding, as per Engadget.