Apple doesn’t have a direct competitor for Samsung’s Gear VR headset but there are mixed reality apps that work across iPhone and Android platforms. Google Cardboard is an entry-level take on mobile VR, and it lets you strap your existing phone into a cheap, portable viewer and then pop it on your face. While the experience isn’t nearly as immersive as the Oculus Rift and HTC Vive, it can still provide cool, 360-degree multimedia experiences.
Cardboard’s ecosystem isn’t as fully formed on iPhone as it is on its original home OS of Android, but there are still plenty of apps available to try.
How it works
Rather than use a dedicated screen and processor, Cardboard relies on an affordable shell with specialised lenses, using your iPhone to do the heavy lifting. Depending on your viewer of choice, the iPhone will either slide or strap in, and then once you fire up a compatible app or game, the image will be split into two halves on the screen.
Stare into the lenses and the two images are combined into a single 3D image, and most Cardboard apps use your phone’s gyroscope and accelerometer to let you freely look around the virtual world. Cardboard isn’t a hugely interactive platform, so games are simplistic, but it’s a great way to view 360-degree videos and photo spheres, along with other visual experiences.
Cardboard first launched in 2014 exclusively for Android, and as user and developer support grew, so too did Google’s own focus on the platform. In the summer of 2015, the company released the enhanced 2.0 viewer blueprint and added iOS support, launching the official Cardboard app and letting app makers bring their VR experiences to the App Store.
The core Cardboard app isn’t required to use a Cardboard viewer – any VR app designed for Cardboard can launch and work independently without Google’s main app installed. However, it’s a nice introduction to the world of mobile VR and has a handful of neat VR diversions to check out, such as a dazzling kaleidoscope and some 360-degree tours of various locales.
Cardboard has been available for iPhone for a shorter span than Android (and didn’t start on iOS), so it’s not surprising that there are fewer overall apps available. Still, many of the most interesting options are available on the App Store, and nearly everything is free.
For example Proton Pulse is a delightful arcade-style brick-breaking game where you use your gaze to control the paddle – as well as Vanguard V, a dazzling one-level space shooter demo from the same developer.
The official Star Wars (free) app also has some amusing shorts inspired by The Force Awakens, while Sisters is an unsettling, albeit brief horror experience. Besides all of those, we recommend hitting the App Store and downloading anything that catches your eye. Again, most Cardboard apps are free and offer compact experiences, so you might as well sample the buffet of VR options.
And be sure to try Cardboard Camera. Google’s own app lets you easily create immersive 3D photospheres from your own surroundings, complete with audio bits to help recreate the sensation of being there. It’s perfect for creating a snapshot of a great party or event, or recording your last day in an apartment or home before moving out. It’s free, and one of the rare examples of a Cardboard app that actually lets you create something.
More than 10 million Cardboard viewers are out in the world now, which means more and more people are checking it out – and more and more interesting apps and games will hopefully come, too.
IDG News Service
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