Viewing and Using Virtual Reality Exeriences
Viewing and using VR experiences requires wearing a VR headset. Some VR experiences also require hand controllers to interact more with those experiences. These experiences are sometimes referred to as VR apps. These might be virtual tours or exhibits, games, films, educational apps, etc.
Accessing Virtual Reality Experiences for Specific Headset Platforms
General Experiences
The following mobile apps provide general virtual reality experiences that can be used on a Google Cardboard type platform.
- Within VR (Apple Store)"Within immerses you inside of award-winning stories and documentaries that will transport you to places never before possible. The Within app supports all major headsets and smartphones, including Oculus (Rift, Quest, Go), HTC, Sony PlayStation® VR, iPhone, iPad and Android."
- Google Cardboard (Apple Store)"Cardboard puts virtual reality on your iPhone. The Google Cardboard app helps you set up a Cardboard viewer and includes a few experiences to get you started."
Android Experiences
- Within VR (Google Play Store):"The Within app is the premier destination for cinematic virtual reality. Within immerses you inside of award-winning stories and documentaries that will transport you to places never before possible. The Within app supports all major headsets and smartphones, including Oculus (Rift, Quest, Go), HTC, Sony PlayStation® VR, iPhone, iPad and Android." (source: Within)
- Cardboard (Google Play Store)"Cardboard puts virtual reality on your smartphone. The Cardboard app helps you launch your favorite VR experiences, discover new apps, and set up a viewer."
- YouTube VR (Google Play Store)"The YouTube VR app turns every video on the platform into your own virtual reality experience and reimagines YouTube as a 3D world you can explore from the inside." Available only for Android.
- VR Apps Category (Google Play Store)Virtual reality apps that can be viewed on an Android phone, using Google Cardboard device or a similar knock-off device.
Museum & Exhibit-Specific Experiences
The following mobile apps provide museum and exhibition-related virtual reality experiences that can be used on a Google Cardboard type platform.
From Google Arts & Culture
First you need to download and install the free Google Arts & Culture app for your smartphone operating system.
- Apple Store: Google Arts & Culture (FREE)"Google Arts & Culture puts the treasures, stories and knowledge of over 2,000 cultural institutions from 80 countries at your fingertips."
- Google Play Store: Google Arts & Culture (FREE)"Google Arts & Culture puts the treasures, stories and knowledge of over 2,000 cultural institutions from 80 countries at your fingertips."
Suggested Google Arts & Culture Experiences
Access these on your smartphone app, and then view them using a Google Cardboard headset.
- Google Arts & Culture: National Museum of Asian Art (FREE)"The Freer Gallery of Art and Arthur M. Sackler Gallery, the Smithsonian’s National Museum of Asian Art, are located on the National Mall in Washington, DC. Committed to preserving, exhibiting, and interpreting exemplary works of art, the Freer and Sackler house exceptional collections of Asian art, with more than 42,000 objects dating from the Neolithic period to today."
- Google Arts & Culture: Sagamore Hill National Historic Site, National Park Service"Sagamore Hill was the home of Theodore Roosevelt, 26th President of the United States, from 1885 until his death in 1919. During Roosevelt's time in office, his "Summer White House" was the focus of international attention."
To find other VR tours on Google Arts & Culture:
- Open the app on your smartphone
- Use the Explore icon on the main menu
- Scroll down to Collections, and click on the "View All" link for more Collections
- View the museum page for an institution of interest
- Look for a "virtual reality tours" section on the museum page
- Select a VR tour
- Place your smartphone in the Cardboard headset
Museum & Exhibit-Specific Experiences
The following mobile apps provide museum and exhibition-related virtual reality experiences that can be used on the Meta/Oculus Quest 2 platform.
- Meta Quest Store: Anne Frank House VR (FREE)" Experience the world-famous Secret Annex in a never before seen way. Travel back to the years of the Second World War and wander through the rooms of the Annex that housed the group of 8 Jewish people as they hid from the Nazis. Immerse yourself in Anne’s thoughts as you traverse each faithfully recreated room, thanks to the power of VR, and find out what happened to the Annex’ brave inhabitants."
Other Cultural Heritage VR Experiences
The following mobile apps provide related cultural heritage virtual reality experiences that can be used on a Google Cardboard type platform.
- Meta Quest Store: Traveling While Black (FREE)"Traveling While Black is a cinematic VR experience that immerses the viewer in the long history of restriction of movement for black Americans and the creation of safe spaces in our communities."
Following is a list of history-related 360 videos that can be viewed and interacted with on a VR headset.
- Meta Quest Store: YouTube VR (FREE)"he YouTube VR app turns every video on the platform into your own virtual reality experience and reimagines YouTube as a 3D world you can explore from the inside. "
General Experiences
The following locations provide general virtual reality experiences that can be used on an HTC Vive platform.
Other Cultural Heritage VR Experiences
The following mobile apps provide related cultural heritage virtual reality experiences available for the HTC Vive headset.
- (Steam Store) Remembering Pearl Harbor"This original immersive virtual-reality project is told through the voice of Lt. James Downing, who at 103 is the second-oldest living American veteran to have witnessed that day, and is geared towards audiences of all ages."
Tips for Finding VR Apps & Experiences
The Meta Quest Store provides a categorized and searchable library of both free and paid apps that can be downloaded and installed on a Quest 2 headset. These can all be used via Wifi.
Free vs. Paid Apps
The Meta Quest Store does not provide a way to access just free apps. These tips will help you identify which apps are free versus which require a payment. You do not need to be logged in with a Meta or Facebook account to search and review Quest apps.
App Product Pages
When viewing the product page for a Quest app, FREE apps will display a blue "GET" button to click on to add to your Quest profile and headset.
When viewing the product page for a Quest app, PAID apps will display a blue button with the app price to click on to add to your Quest profile and headset.
App Search Results
When conducting a search in the Meta Quest Store, the search results view immediately tell you if each app is free or paid. Look for the blue "GET" button or the blue button with a price to quickly determine if an app is free or not.
Finding Museum & Exhibit-Related Quest 2 Apps
The app categories on the Meta Quest store do not always make it easy to identify apps related to a particular topic, such as museums and exhibitions. Use the Search feature in the store for your topics of interest. Be creative with your topic words, and spend time clicking on and reviewing each app product page, just like when searching on Google.
The following example shows Quest 2 apps from conducting a search for "museum."
Other suggested search topics for Quest 2 apps related to museums and exhibits, as well as other types of cultural heritage topics, include: "education," "art," "history," and "travel."
Previewing Quest Apps
The Quest Store lets you watch a video preview of an app before deciding if you want to install and purchase it. You can watch these video previews on a regular computer or mobile browser, and also on your smartphone's Quest app. You do not need to be logged in with a Meta or Facebook account to preview these.
To watch the video preview for an app, hover over the app header image on the app product page. Then click on the video play button that appears.
Accessing Virtual Reality Experiences for Specific Headset Platforms
This section focuses on the Meta (formerly Oculus) Quest 2 VR headset since that is the device used in the CSUF Pollak Library Makerspace and the CSUF Digital History Lab. The Quest 2 headset includes hand tracking technology, for a more tactile interactive experience. It can be used in a standalone environment with just WiFi, or it can be tethered to a high end gaming PC.
Following are Meta Quest 2 VR experiences available for free that I have reviewed or used and recommend for disciplines or courses in which I have provided digital literacy instruction.
General Experiences
- Meta Quest StoreA categorized and searchable library of both free and paid apps that can be downloaded and installed on a Quest 2 headset. These can all be used via Wifi.
- The Steam StoreA categorized and searchable library of both free and paid apps that can be downloaded, installed, and used on a Quest 2 or HTC Vive headset, as well as other VR platform headsets . To use these on a Quest 2 headset, the headset needs to be tethered to a high end gaming PC, or have the Quest AirLink app installed to wirelessly use Steam apps.
Ethnic Studies Themed VR Experiences
- (Meta Store) MLK: Now is the Time - FREE"“MLK: Now is the Time” is an immersive journey that explores key themes of Dr. King's speech and highlights systemic inequities that persist in our society. Through first-person stories and interactions, “MLK: Now is the Time” drops you into a thoroughly modern interpretation of a contemporary March on Washington that will inform and inspire a new generation of activists." Published by TIME Immersive.
- (Meta Store) Traveling While Black - FREE"Traveling While Black is a cinematic VR experience that immerses the viewer in the long history of restriction of movement for black Americans and the creation of safe spaces in our communities." Published by Felix & Paul Studios.
History Themed VR Experiences
- (Meta Store) MLK: Now is the Time - FREE"“MLK: Now is the Time” is an immersive journey that explores key themes of Dr. King's speech and highlights systemic inequities that persist in our society. Through first-person stories and interactions, “MLK: Now is the Time” drops you into a thoroughly modern interpretation of a contemporary March on Washington that will inform and inspire a new generation of activists." Published by TIME Immersive.
- (Meta Store) Anne Frank House VR - FREE"Experience the world-famous Secret Annex in a never before seen way. Travel back to the years of the Second World War and wander through the rooms of the Annex that housed the group of 8 Jewish people as they hid from the Nazis. Immerse yourself in Anne’s thoughts as you traverse each faithfully recreated room, thanks to the power of VR, and find out what happened to the Annex’ brave inhabitants." Published by Oculus Studios.
Museum Studies Themed Experiences
- (Meta Store) Anne Frank House VR - FREE"Experience the world-famous Secret Annex in a never before seen way. Travel back to the years of the Second World War and wander through the rooms of the Annex that housed the group of 8 Jewish people as they hid from the Nazis. Immerse yourself in Anne’s thoughts as you traverse each faithfully recreated room, thanks to the power of VR, and find out what happened to the Annex’ brave inhabitants." Published by Oculus Studios.
- Steam StoreA categorized and searchable library of both free and paid apps that can be downloaded, installed, and used on a Quest 2 or HTC Vive headset, as well as other VR platform headsets . To use these on a Quest 2 headset, the headset needs to be tethered to a high end gaming PC, or have the Quest AirLink app installed to wirelessly use Steam apps.
Following are VR experiences available for free that I have reviewed or used and recommend for disciplines or courses in which I have provided digital literacy instruction. These work on an HTC Vive headset.
Ethnic Studies Themed VR Experiences
- (Steam Store) The Book of Distance - FREE"In 1935, Yonezo Okita left his home in Hiroshima, Japan, and began a new life in Canada. Then war and state-sanctioned racism changed everything—he became the enemy. Three generations later, his grandson, artist Randall Okita, leads us on an interactive virtual pilgrimage through an emotional geography of immigration and family to recover what was lost." Published by the National Film Board of Canada.
History Themed VR Experiences
- (Steam Store) Remembering Pearl Harbor - FREE"Told in three acts, the story is told through the point of view of Lt. James Downing, who at 103 is the second-oldest living American veteran to have witnessed that day. As postmaster of the USS West Virginia, Downing gave himself the task of writing letters to the families of men who died or were injured during the attack; those letters form an arc that the user follows through Downing’s experience of Dec. 7, 1941." Published by TIME and LIFE VR.
- (Steam Store) Vintage VR - FREE"In the 19th century, when people had no HTC Vives to play with, they resorted to using primitive stereoscopes to see stereoscopic images in 3D! This free VR experience allows you to view a collection of over 700 such images from that era and enjoy them as people saw them over a century ago." Published by the Museum Syndicate.
- (Steam Store) The Book of Distance - FREE"In 1935, Yonezo Okita left his home in Hiroshima, Japan, and began a new life in Canada. Then war and state-sanctioned racism changed everything—he became the enemy. Three generations later, his grandson, artist Randall Okita, leads us on an interactive virtual pilgrimage through an emotional geography of immigration and family to recover what was lost." Published by the National Film Board of Canada.
Museum Studies Themed Experiences
- (Steam Store) Vintage VR - FREE"In the 19th century, when people had no HTC Vives to play with, they resorted to using primitive stereoscopes to see stereoscopic images in 3D! This free VR experience allows you to view a collection of over 700 such images from that era and enjoy them as people saw them over a century ago." Published by the Museum Syndicate.
Following are smartphone VR experiences available for free that I have reviewed or used and recommend for disciplines or courses in which I have provided digital literacy instruction. These work on cardboard style and other smartphone VR headsets.
General Experiences
iOS Apps
- Apple Store: Google Arts & Culture (FREE)"Google Arts & Culture puts the treasures, stories and knowledge of over 2,000 cultural institutions from 80 countries at your fingertips."
- App Store (iPhone): Within VR app"Within immerses you inside of award-winning stories and documentaries that will transport you to places never before possible. The Within app supports all major headsets and smartphones, including Oculus (Rift, Quest, Go), HTC, Sony PlayStation® VR, iPhone, iPad and Android."
- Google Cardboard (Apple Store)"Cardboard puts virtual reality on your iPhone. The Google Cardboard app helps you set up a Cardboard viewer and includes a few experiences to get you started."
Android Apps
- Google Play Store: Google Arts & Culture (FREE)"Google Arts & Culture puts the treasures, stories and knowledge of over 2,000 cultural institutions from 80 countries at your fingertips."
- Within VR (Google Play Store):"The Within app is the premier destination for cinematic virtual reality. Within immerses you inside of award-winning stories and documentaries that will transport you to places never before possible. The Within app supports all major headsets and smartphones, including Oculus (Rift, Quest, Go), HTC, Sony PlayStation® VR, iPhone, iPad and Android." (source: Within)
- Cardboard (Google Play Store)"Cardboard puts virtual reality on your smartphone. The Cardboard app helps you launch your favorite VR experiences, discover new apps, and set up a viewer."
- YouTube VR (Google Play Store)"The YouTube VR app turns every video on the platform into your own virtual reality experience and reimagines YouTube as a 3D world you can explore from the inside." Available only for Android.
Learning More
- YouTube Help: Get started with YouTube VRThe YouTube VR app allows you to easily find and watch 360 videos and virtual reality content with certain headsets and devices.
- Google AR & VR: Google Cardboard"Experience virtual reality in a simple, fun, and affordable way."