Google’s new VR view lets you easily add 360 degree images to websites and apps

Google just made it a whole lot easier to show off VR photos on just about everything.

Anyone who has successfully taken a 360 degree photo with Google’s Cardboard Camera app or any of the 360 degree cameras that are available to purchase today know that the act of capturing these photos and video is a lot of fun. Where the fun seems to stop is when you want to share those photos. The recipient either needs the app installed that can view the photo, or you have to pass your phone over so the photo can be fully appreciated. To address this sharing problem, Google has implemented multiple methods for sharing 360 degree photos both in apps and all modern browsers.

Starting very soon, sharing VR photos is going to be something just about everyone can appreciate.

Google’s calling this new photo option VR View, and as the name suggests it lets you click a button in your browser or tap a photo in an app and be taken to a photo that is happening all around you. The combination of an update to the Google Cardboard SDK and an open-source JavaScript solution for browsers means VR view can be implemented with relative ease on just about anything.

Out of the box, VR View supports photos taken with Cardboard Camera and Ricoh Theta cameras natively. Anything else is going to require some adjustment on behalf of the developers responsible for those cameras. Since the JavaScript embed option is open sourced, any manufacturer can adopt this software to suit the images taken by their cameras.