[ad_1]
Google is ending support for its Expeditions virtual reality app. The app, which offered educational VR tours, will be removed from the iOS and Android app stores on June 30, 2021. “The majority” of its tours will migrate to Google’s separate Arts & Culture app, allowing users to consult them via the Web or the mobile device.
Google published the news in a blog post spotted by 9to5Google, and he framed the decision to make expeditions more accessible to students during the coronavirus pandemic. “We have heard and recognized that immersive experiences with VR headsets are not always accessible to all learners,” writes Jennifer Holland, director of educational program management at Google. “Since Arts & Culture will offer many Expeditions tours, we will no longer support the Expeditions app.”
Google launched Expeditions for its Cardboard VR viewer in 2015, and classrooms could pick up boxes of Cardboard headsets for “virtual excursions”. His tours included 360-degree panoramas capturing museums, festivals, and distant wonders of the world. But Google has since withdrawn from virtual reality. The company ditched its Daydream VR platform and made Cardboard an open source community project last year.
Expeditions are doing better than Daydream, as they are integrated with the larger Arts & Culture app, which has various new features like a Van Gogh photo filter and a tool to match your selfie to famous works of art. You can even display Arts & Culture content in Cardboard. But that’s not a prominent option.
Google is also ending support for the Tour Creator feature, which allows users to make their own tours in Expeditions. Tour Creator won’t be available after June 30 next year, but Google will allow users to export items from their existing tours in the coming months. More details are available on the Expeditions website.
Update 4:30 p.m. ET: Added additional details on exporting tours before shutdown.
[ad_2]
Source link