Google’s YouTube team unleashed two new updates for its Android app Thursday, including new virtual reality (VR) features that will enable users to “see and be seen in a whole new way.”
In a post to the YouTube Creator’s Blog, the team behind the updates said support for VR video will add a new sense of depth to the video viewing experience when paired with a Google Cardboard viewfinder.
“If we’ve learned anything in the past 10+ years at YouTube it’s that capturing and sharing videos is a great way to bring people there with you,” the team wrote. “Virtual reality (VR) makes the experience of being there even more awesome and immersive…. Both of today’s updates make it easier to be there. In some cases, really there there.”
Users interested in tapping into the dual-pane binocular display will now be able to simply find a VR video on YouTube – like the like the Hunger Games Experience or TOMS Shoes Giving Trip spots created ahead of the feature’s launch – and drop their phone into the Cardboard viewer.
Similarly, the second update announced Thursday will allow users to view existing YouTube content in a Cardboard-compatible format by tapping the “Cardboard” option on the watch page menu, effectively making the app the “largest VR content library.”
