The top 3 Android VR apps for watching virtual reality videos and viewing photos
Virtual reality (VR) on smartphones didn’t really make a huge impact since its peak around 2015, but even to this day, there are those who enjoy watching 3D movies and YouTube videos immersively. Especially now that most people don’t have the option of going to the cinema, smartphone virtual reality is a viable, close-enough experience.And if you’re not one of those people, you may want to consider it, as all you need is one of the many cheap Google Cardboard-compatible headsets sold most everywhere, your smartphone to place in one, and one of the following 3 apps.
Android VR apps on this list:
- YouTube VR / YouTube
- iPhotoVR SBS VR Photo Viewer Cardboard / Slideshow
- VaR’s VR Video Player
YouTube VR / YouTube
Supports: VR YouTube video viewing | Download on Google PlayAs YouTube VR isn’t available on all phones, we’ll start with the stock YouTube app, which supports simple and easy virtual reality viewing.
First you need to find a VR video on YouTube, the easiest way being by searching for the keyword “180vr”, for example: “180vr roller coaster”. Simply play the video, and you’ll notice that you can move the camera position by tilting your smartphone. You’ll also find a Google Cardboard icon on the bottom right of the video, which you can tap to enter virtual reality viewing mode.
As for the separate YouTube VR app, it’s available on Google Daydream-ready smartphones, and it’s arguably one of the best and most polished Android VR experiences, offering a fully immersive interface.
VaR’s VR Video Player
Supports: VR and non-VR video and photo viewing | Download on Google Play
VaR’s VR Video Player is the jack of all trades of Android VR players. It can play any videos, in 360° or 180° VR, or non-VR, and more. In fact, it pretty much supports all VR formats, on top of having an impressive amount of customization for things such as lens distortion, eye distance, and zoom.
It’s image viewing is a bit buggy and awkward, however, which is why we have the next app on this list, which specializes in photo viewing in VR.
iPhotoVR SBS VR Photo Viewer Cardboard / Slideshow
Supports: VR and non-VR photo viewing | Download on Google Play
iPhotoVR is a super lightweight, ad-free app that lets you view both “normal” (2D) and 3D photos in virtual reality. It has a very handy feature for navigating through photos via your smartphone’s volume buttons, which means no additional controllers or fumbling with the headset are required in order to go trough photos.
It can display any photos in both side-by-side 3D mode, and normal 2D. It’s main downside is the lack of customization of how the photos appear, as different headsets may require adjusting the position, scale, and distortion of the images on-screen. This app features no options for that, except a very underdeveloped photo scaling.
When was the last time you used a virtual reality headset with your smartphone? Do you feel like mobile VR will make a comeback, or is it on its way out for good?