Virtual reality applications allow you to immerse yourself in completely 3D scenarios, incredible 360-degree images. While to have a full experience it would be necessary to have a 3D viewer for PC like Oculus Rift or HTC Vive, you can still enjoy a decent virtual experience using your smartphone and some great, very engaging apps.To use virtual reality on your smartphone (either any Android phone or even iPhone), you have to buy a device that works as a 3D viewer to wear like a pair of glasses, inside which you can insert your smartphone. The effect of VR applications is to immerse yourself in a scenario as if you were in it and then see different things when you turn your head to the right, to the left, up or down.
There are different types of smartphone viewers, from the super-cheap 10 Euro to the most advanced 100 Euro and there are brands from every brand. Among the best known virtual reality viewers for smartphones we can mention:
- Google Cardboard, the 10 Euro cardboard box of which I had already spoken in the past.
- Google Daydream View, the evolution of the Cardboard, which however costs 110 Euros.
- Samsung Gear VR, with different versions, compatible with Samsung Galaxy smartphones and the only one of these types of viewers that is also compatible with apps made for Oculus Rift.
- 3D viewers for smartphones generic, which cost from 10 euros upwards, are great for supporting the apps listed in this article, to have a complete virtual reality experience.
These instead are the best virtual reality app for Android and iPhone smartphones
- Google Cardboard, (for Android and iPhone) is the Google app to try the Cardboard viewer, so you can configure the viewer and try Google Earth 360 degrees or some games and virtual trips.
- Google DayDream, (for Android) is the second official Google VR app, designed as a high-level substitute for the Cardboard experiment. To use this app you will need a smartphone-compatible with Daydream and a Daydream View. The Daydream app acts as a portal for other VR content supported such as VR videos and other apps.
- Google Arts and Culture, for Android and iPhone, allows you to immerse yourself in art and virtually visit museums around the world with virtual tours that really seem to be in it. The app can be used with Google’s Cardboard or other VR devices to explore galleries around the world or to visit famous places of interest through the 360-degree viewer.
- Within VR (for Android and iPhone) is a 3D video app that allows you to watch music videos, concerts and documentaries shot at 360 degrees (so if you turn your head you see different scenes) as you really were in the place where they were shot. Within VR can also be tried without a viewer and on its website https://www.with.in so you can get an idea of how this incredible free virtual reality movie app works.
- YouTube VR is the official app (Only for Android) to view Youtube videos in 3D with Cardboard, DayDream and any other supported viewer.
- Netflix VR, for Android, allows subscribers to watch movies through VR viewers like Oculus, Daydream, and Cardboard. There are two viewing modes with this app, from the living room or inside the film by moving the image to match the movement of the eyes.
- FullDive VR is an app for Android and iPhone that includes many virtual reality applications and tools. You can then watch Youtube videos in 3D, you can browse through 360-degree photos and even browse the internet from the 3D viewer.
- Veer VR, for Android and iPhone, is another application to view exclusive 360-degree videos with virtual reality viewers for smartphones.
- The Google Street View app for Android and iPhone it was updated not long ago to support VR content and view the various roads of the world at 360 degrees as if it were really there.
- VR GirlFriend (for Android) an experimental game where you can treat the relationship with a virtual girlfriend. You can also play on the smartphone screen, even if the experience is much more engaging and true with a viewer.
- Sites in VR, for Android and for iPhone is an app to explore various 360-degree scenarios, including space and some monuments around the world.
- Facebook 360 is the application that Mark Zuckerberg used during his lecture to demonstrate the potential of Facebook as a virtual world. The app is only available for Oculus Rift and Samsung VR viewers and allows users to explore videos and photos at 360 degrees.
- AAA VR Cinema, for Android, is a VR video player and a cinema application for Cardboard.
- VR Video Player of VaR is a 3D video player that supports almost all popular formats.
- Google scans for Android and for iPhone it is an educational tool that ranks among the best VR apps, which allows you to participate or conduct virtual trips around the world. You can explore historical monuments, dive underwater with sharks or immerse yourself in exotic nature. There are over 200 shipments, each curated with VR images and integrated descriptions.
- Titans of Space for Android is one of the best virtual reality apps with a tour of the solar system to explore the planets in 3D virtual reality.
- Virtual Speech for Android and for iPhone it allows you to simulate a speech in public, in front of an audience of people.
- Cardboard camera, for Android and for iPhone it serves to transform photos into panoramic photos at 360 degrees.
- Coastality for Android and for iPhone offers rollercoaster recordings and other attractions of the playground that make it seem to be really at the center of the action.
- Trinus VR for Android and for iPhone it connects the Android phone to the PC to play in virtual reality the favorite games like GTA, Elite Dangerous and Minecraft.
- InCell VR for Android and for iPhone is an educational game for children who want to learn the human body. The player takes on the role of a fighter who has shrunk to enter the human body, travel inland and fight against the flu virus. You can play even without VR.
- Minos Starfighter VR for Android and for iPhone it is a visual show that turns us into space fighter pilots, fighting alien enemies in different space environments in virtual reality. The quality of the graphics and sound make it one of the best immersive VR Cardboard apps on the Play Store today.
- VR Thrills: Roller Coaster 360 for Android and iPhone are roller coasters, which seen in virtual reality with a viewer like the Cardboard, are scary as in real reality. This is one of the most popular VR games in the Play Store, with over 10 million installations.
Finally, you can still try many virtual reality applications for 3D viewers looking for the word VR in the Google Play Store or in the iTunes store.