Google confirms it will no longer support its Daydream VR app, which may not work properly on some devices running Android 11 or later
You probably barely remember what Daydream is, or rather was, and no-one will blame you for that. Google launched its VR platform back in 2016 …
Android PoliceHagop Kavafian
Context & Ripple Effects
Daydream's end has been a slow fade rather than a single announcement: Google first signaled trouble when the Pixel 3a shipped without support in May 2019, then confirmed the platform was being phased out when the Pixel 4 also skipped it while the Daydream View headset was pulled from sale. Weeks later Google kept only a skeleton of the effort alive by open sourcing Cardboard's phone-based VR software.
What changes now is that the software remnant is gone too: the Daydream app will no longer be supported and may misbehave on devices running Android 11 or later, closing out the platform Google launched in 2016 — and, per The Verge's earlier assessment, phone-based VR is all but dead, with Samsung's Gear VR failing alongside it.
First-order effects
Users who still launch the Daydream app on phones running Android 11 or later face degraded or broken functionality, since Google will no longer maintain it.
Any remaining Daydream-certified phone owners lose the last supported piece of the platform after the headset was already discontinued.
Second-order effects
With Google's phone-based runtime gone and only open-source Cardboard remaining, headset makers and VR content developers have no vendor-backed smartphone VR path left to target, pushing them toward dedicated hardware instead.
Third-order effects
If the pattern holds, consumer VR consolidates around purpose-built headsets, with smartphones reduced to passive accessories like the Cardboard viewer rather than serving as the compute and display layer for VR.
The trend: Smartphone-based VR is being fully retired by its original champion, Google, marking the industry's shift from phone-tethered viewers to standalone headsets.
“Google's Daydream is over — the VR platform is dead” https://www.androidpolice.com/ ... This is not surprising to hear. @phhusson told me last month that building the VR components of AOSP prevents booting. So REALLY dead.
@mikecane the mass market appeal is with AR — it's the iPhone of virtual experiences, always with you, apps anywhere and everywhere. VR is the gaming PC, or cinema experience — sit in a chair, or stand in a dedicated room for VR, and use a controller
Google has officially dropped support for Daydream VR. Another VR platform (and another Google service) dead: https://www.theverge.com/... https://twitter.com/...
The hype around VR was driven by the success of smart phones, and desperation to be the first to find the “next platform”. Facebook missed smartphones entirely and paid a ransom for Oculus in likely their worst acquisition ever. https://www.androidpolice.com/ ...
Some headlines, I just see that throaway gag from the Futurama Star Trek episode “He's dead, Jim.” *throws a screaming trekkie in the volcano* “He's dead, Jim.” *throws another* “He's dead, Jim.” That's how Google's gaming strategies feels half the time https://www.androidcentral…