Google to bring Virtual Reality browsing to Chrome for Android

World’s biggest search giant Google is a major player in the Virtual Reality (VR) market, and is now pushing one of its most popular products in the VR arena.

In the latest beta and developer versions of Chrome for Android, Google has included support for the open source WebVR standard, as per reports from Road to VR. There is also mention of a ‘VR Shell’ feature in the latest builds, which would allow smartphone headsets to browse any website in VR mode, regardless of whether it supports WebVR or not.


As of now, the issue lies in the lack of the majority of the web’s support for WebVR, which is a JavaScript API that helps build VR-ready websites. This means that if a user wishes to go from a site that supports WebVR to one that doesn’t, they will have to remove their Virtual Reality headset, and nobody wants to go through all the hassle just to browse a small selection of VR enabled websites.

This is where the VR Shell comes in. Google’s latest addition to the dev version of Chrome for Android aims to make every website VR enabled, with a full 360-degree view. However, this feature is not fully functional at this point, and will possibly be a part of the Daydream platform Google announced at this year’s I/O conference in May.

Daydream is to play a successor to the Google Cardboard platform, and it brings software and hardware together to provide a more advanced VR experience. It takes cues from Oculus Rift’s Home feature, where users will navigate through an outdoor space to use Google’s VR ready apps. Daydream will make use of an all new VR headset.