Why hasn’t Apple shown up?
Snapchat has Spectacles, Samsung has a custom headset, Apple has… nothing? A recent study showed that 44% of iPhone users are interested in virtual reality.
Although you can download apps that work with iPhone and stick it into a cheap cardboard or plastic holder to experience VR on your iPhone, many people are wondering why Apple hasn’t gotten in on the VR game yet.
Rumors circulating, nothing confirmed
We already know that smartphones show the greatest potential for the anticipated VR boom.
Apple has been branching into new areas with their music streaming services and cloud storage but hasn’t made any foray into VR or AR just yet. A lot of rumors have been circulating and it’s possible they are aiming to explode into the scene with their own virtual reality technology, but information has been scarce.
In a time when critics say Apple isn’t innovating enough, virtual reality offers a chance for them to show that they still want to be the big name in changing how we use technology.
Until then, enjoy a couple apps that WILL work with your iPhone and a generic holder (click the name of the app to access it):
VR Noir & VR Horror
These apps are simple games that give you a taste of what VR games can do. Simply download and stick your phone in a viewer to become a hardboiled detective investigating a mystery or a naive explorer of a derelict hospital.
Jaunt
Jaunt compiles 360 video from around the web and puts it all into a shiny immersive application that lets you browse everything from nature shorts to original VR serial stories the way the robot overlords intended: three dimensionally.
Discovery VR/YouTube/NYT
These apps let you view content in VR mode. Discovery Channel and NYT are creating custom 360 video to amaze their app audience, but if you really need to see Star Wars Kittens in a whole new way, you can actually watch any YouTube video in virtual reality mode through their app.
Sisters
This very, very creepy first-person ghost story was one of the most popular Google Cardboard apps but is now available on iTunes. It’s free and it’s terrifying. Maybe watch this one somewhere that you can scream privately.
Orbulus
Orbulus aggregates 360 photos. Its very simple but their interface presents all of the photos in drop-like hovering spheres. You travel from sphere to sphere simply by looking at them. Perfect for anyone that has ever had Sci-Fi teleportation fantasies. Which I assume is basically everyone.
Enjoy these iOS friendly VR experiences while we wait for Apple to (possibly) wow us with a native device.
