The Samsung Gear VR app features 360 photos and videos.
As Facebook continues to emphasis video within the newsfeed, the tech giant has also made a commitment to embracing new formats like 360° photos and video.
Now Facebook is doubling down on the immersive medium with the launch of the Facebook 360 app for Samsung Gear VR. The first dedicated VR app from Facebook, you can download it now to start exploring 360° photos and videos posted to the platform.
With more than 25 million 360° photos and more than 1 million 360° videos posted on Facebook to date, there should be plenty of great content to discover. Hopefully making this app a “one-stop shop for catching up on what you may have missed from your friends and others you follow,” according to Facebook.
For us Gear VR owners, this is actually a feature that can be quite useful. Often times you just want to save a 360° video to view later in your Gear VR or explore new content from other pages. This can help simplify that all.
Even better for brands, Facebook’s latest commitment to a dedicated app that users can engage with content (like, react, share) and discover new pages, should entice more creators to explore the immersive medium. Since this is a Facebook app, we can expect many future updates to come, expanding social features and benefiting both users and brands alike.
To download the Facebook 360 app for Gear VR, open the Oculus app on your Gear VR-compatible Samsung device and search for Facebook 360, or visit the Oculus site to get started.
At launch, Facebook 360 features four feeds:
- Explore: Discover some of the most interesting and popular 360 content on Facebook from media companies, organizations and individual creators.
- Following: Experience 360 content that your friends have posted on Facebook as well as 360 content from Pages and people you follow.
- Saved: Find all the 360 content you’ve saved from News Feed ready for you to enjoy at a more convenient time.
- Timeline: Relive your memories in a new way through your own 360 photo and video uploads.
