Google launches Cardboard Camera for iOS

Google today announced that it has released its Cardboard Camera 3D panorama-making app on iOS. Previously it was only available for Android; now it’s live on the App Store.

This is Google’s latest attempt to enhance image capture on iOS. It builds on Google’s launch of the Motion Stills app for stabilizing Live Photos taken with iOS devices; that functionality was recently folded into the Google Photos app. But Cardboard Camera includes the ability to capture new images, not just process and view them. The hook is, even though you’re taking something in 3D, you don’t need a special camera.

What’s more, Google is making it easier for other people to view the 360-degree panoramas you make. Just choose the images you want to share in order to make a photo album, hit the share button, and get the link, which you can then send to others. They can see your panoramas with Google Cardboard, Cardboard Camera software engineer Carlos Hernandez wrote in a blog post.

Google isn’t the only major technology company attempting to innovate on core image capture on iOS. Microsoft recently released the Pix camera app. But 3D panoramas are not its specialty. If you’re into that, Cardboard Camera may be worth a try.