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How to charge Meta Quest 3 controllers

A hand holding a controller for the Meta Quest 3.
Fionna Agomuoh / Digital Trends

VR has come a long way, and the Meta Quest 3 continues to move the needle in the right direction for the platform. But while using the Meta Quest 3 is a wireless affair, you’ll still need wires to keep the headset charged up.

As such, you may be wondering why you don’t have an option to plug in your controllers. Here’s what you need to know about keeping your Meta Quest 3 controllers powered up.

How to charge Meta Quest 3 controllers

Meta Quest 3 Charging Dock
Meta / Meta

The Meta Quest 3 controllers come out of the box using AA batteries for power, which means that you won’t be able to charge them in their original state. If they run out of power, you’ll simply need to swap out the old AA batteries for some new ones to continue playing games. Of course, you can opt for rechargeable batteries, which is the most sustainable and affordable method.

But if you’re absolutely positive you’d like to charge your Meta Quest 3 controllers rather than swap out AA batteries, you can invest in a charging station from Meta. This official Meta Quest 3 Charging Dock provides a tidy place to dock the headset itself, as well as the controllers.

The charging dock doesn’t get you around batteries themselves, of course — it simply provides a way to swap the original AA batteries with the rechargeable batteries included with the Charging Dock. These batteries are “genuine Meta batteries” that the company claims will last “hundreds of charging cycles” and even allow you to view the battery level of the controller.

If you don’t want to shell out the $130 required to purchase the official Meta Quest 3 Charging Dock, you can find off-brand charging docks for much less money.

So, while there’s no way to directly charge the controllers, there are a few different options for keeping your Quest 3 controllers powered up when you need them.

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Billy Givens
Billy Givens is a freelance writer with over a decade of experience writing gaming, film, and tech content. His work can be…
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