Back in February, Oculus launched the App Lab for Quest, which allows developers to distribute their games on the headset without going through the curation process on the part of Oculus. Currently, 501 games and applications are available in the App Lab, which is almost twice the number of applications in the main Quest store.
According to the data tracked by DB App Lab, currently 501 apps are available for Quest via the App Lab. In just six months, the number of apps in the App Lab has almost doubled the number of apps in the main Quest store, which is 298 after more than two years of operation.
The discrepancy shows that more developers would like to work with the main store than Oculus allows. To date, only one application is known that has moved from the App Lab to the main Quest store (we are talking about Warplanes: WW1 Fighters).
App Lab apps are not functionally included in the list (not searchable) in the main Quest store, but get a regular store page that can be accessed directly via the URL and installed with one click after logging in, just like any Quest app in the main store. The difference is that Oculus chooses which apps to include in the main Quest store based on some quality criteria, while App Lab apps do not have to meet any specific bar, except that they are technically reliable.
Since launching on February 3 and reaching 501 apps to date, Oculus has approved an average of 2.7 apps per day for the App Lab, which is slightly more compared to the first four months of the App Lab’s existence. The main Quest store has 298 applications. Considering the time that has passed since the launch of the main Quest store, this is an average of 0.37 applications added to the store per day (not a lot, right?).
For additional context, the number of Oculus applications for PC is about 1800, Go applications are also 1800, and SteamVR applications are about 5000. Although all of these platforms have been around for many years, none of them have been subjected to the kind of control that Oculus has imposed on Quest apps in the main headset store.
Below is a selection of the top 20 App Lab apps by rating and popularity.
The best games with a rating in the App Lab
The rating of each application is a collection of user reviews and a useful way to understand how users perceive each title as a whole.
| Rank | Name | Rating (number of ratings) |
| #1 | X-BOOSTER | 4.9 (56) |
| #2 | HAX Demo | 4.9 (52) |
| #3 | Puzzling Places – Beta | 4.9 (725) |
| #4 | Smash Drums | 4.8 (127) |
| #5 | Ancient Dungeon Beta | 4.8 (720) |
| #6 | Sport Mode | 4.8 (1,764) |
| #7 | Ragnarock | 4.8 (73) |
| #8 | Arcaxer | 4.8 (66) |
| #9 | iB Cricket | 4.8 (60) |
| #10 | Help Yourself | 4.8 (70) |
| #11 | Crazy Kung Fu | 4.8 (138) |
| #12 | MarineVerse Cup | 4.7 (61) |
| #13 | Guardians | 4.7 (136) |
| #14 | TO THE TOP | 4.7 (61) |
| #15 | Smash Drums Demo | 4.7 (185) |
| #16 | Sep’s Diner | 4.7 (50) |
| #17 | Hitstream – Demo Version | 4.7 (58) |
| #18 | Deism | 4.6 (431) |
| #19 | Battle Talent | 4.6 (313) |
| #20 | Gorilla Tag | 4.6 (3,467) |
The most popular games in the App Lab
The number of ratings gives an approximate idea of the relative popularity of each title; a game with a large number of ratings was probably loaded more than a game with a smaller number of ratings, although there is certainly a certain margin of error.
| Name | Number of ratings (rating) | |
| #1 | Gorilla Tag | 3,467 (3.6) |
| #2 | Pavlov Shack Beta | 1,868 (4.5) |
| #3 | Sport Mode | 1,764 (4.8) |
| #5 | Puzzling Places – Beta | 725 (4.9) |
| #4 | Sport Mode | 720 (4.8) |
| #6 | Deisim | 431 (4.6) |
| #7 | Battle Talent | 313 (4.6) |
| #8 | Gun Raiders | 287 (4.6) |
| #9 | Crisis VRigade 2 | 229 (4.6) |
| #10 | V-Speedway Alpha | 201 (4.1) |
| #12 | Gladius | 179 (4.5) |
| #14 | Gym Class | 143 (4) |
| #13 | Crazy Kung Fu | 138 (4.8) |
| #15 | Guardians | 136 (4.7) |
| #11 | Smash Drums | 127 (4.8) |
| #16 | Smash Drums | 127 (4.8) |
| #17 | Aim XR | 127 (4.6) |
| #18 | Crisis VRigade | 114 (4.2) |
| #19 | Painting VR | 112 (4.6) |
| #20 | The Unity Cube | 58 (4.1) |
