Samsung Gear VR update brings WebVR support to the Headset

By Ajay Kadkol - 05 Apr '16 15:55PM

Samsung are now expanding to wearable devices' coverage by adding an experimental support for WebVR, a progressing standard for virtual reality devices to access VR content on browsers. This comes as a part of Samsung Internet for Gear VR 1.0 update, which until now was in beta.

The Gear VR would now let users view immersive content published in WebVR. The WebVR platform is still in its experimental phase and is only available for beta versions of Firefox and experimental builds of Chrome. Samsung has said that the browser for now supports the deprecated API, which means WebVR will go out of support at some point of time. However, the company hopes to "update it soon to the latest WebVR draft."

"We at Samsung are actively working on and committed to support WebVR. The WebVR support is currently on "experimental" status as the specification is still evolving. The current release is using the deprecated API set, and we hope to update it soon to the latest WebVR draft," says Samsung.To experience WebVR right away, Samsung Gear VR users would need to enable WebVR within the Internet for Gear VR browser. The update will automatically show up the webpage you are browsing on the Samsung Internet browser for Android when users attach their smartphones to the headset. The same can also be updated through the Oculus Store Android app.Last month, Oculus VR announced an update to its software that enables Samsung Gear VR users to create a social profile while also leveraging several other features.

Samsung when they first announced Gear VR, did so alongside the Galaxy Note 4 and Galaxy Note Edge as an Innovator Edition. Since then, it's a fully-fledged consumer end virtual reality product in the $99 Gear VR and now works with the Galaxy S6, Galaxy S6 Edge, Galaxy S6 Edge+, Galaxy Note 5 and of course the newly-launched Galaxy S7 and Galaxy S7 Edge.Samsung have now begun partnering with the firm behind the Oculus Rift and more recently bundling their hardware for free with the Galaxy S7 and Galaxy S7 Edge.