‘Pillow’ Mixed Reality App Wants You to Relax in Bed (and even play with a friend)

By
Scott Hayden
-
14

Pillow is a new mixed reality app for Quest that aims to help you relax right before bedtime, letting you do more than just count sheep.

Created by YouTuber and self-described Mad Scientist Lucas Rizzotto, Pillow comes with four unique experiences to help you unwind before nodding off—all of which are designed to be used laying down in bed. Experiences include:

  • Sky Fishing – fish for user-created voice messages from your ceiling in ponds that change every day
  • Bedtime Stories – craft immersive choose-your-own-adventure stories and play them
  • Stargazing – transform your ceiling into an interactive night sky, allowing you to interact with the stars and learn about them as constellations present interactive soundbaths
  • Meditations – rhythm-based breath-tracked meditations that let users transform their reality as they create worlds with their breath
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Pillow also packs in a multiplayer mode that connects two players vertically, which sounds particularly useful for long-distance relationships, or anyone looking to hang out with someone in a new and interesting way.

You may remember Rizzotto from a number of crazy XR projects over the years, including a working marauder’s map from Harry Potter, a futuristic MR portal that connected to his friend during quarantine, and a sort of virtual memory palace that works like a real-life time machine.

You can find Pillow now available on Quest 2 and Quest 3, priced at $10.

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Scott Hayden
Well before the first modern XR products hit the market, Scott recognized the potential of the technology and set out to understand and document its growth. He has been professionally reporting on the space for nearly a decade as Editor at Road to VR, authoring more than 4,000 articles on the topic. Scott brings that seasoned insight to his reporting from major industry events across the globe.
  • Me

    Why this?

    Honestly sometimes I wonder what the people who invent these “experiences” are expecting. Are they that alone that they need something on their face even in their very beds?

    This is tragic. As if AR/VR wasn’t already hard to sell because it is isolating.

    Looking at all the people unable to leave their phone screens for even a second, you can’t be realize it already makes for a poor life experience. Then add VR to complete the isolation. OK, let’s say it’s for short periods, like a gaming session. Your family can tolerate that yes ? They’re on their phones anyways. And now add the icing on the cake, and invade even the most personal spaces.

    I don’t know anymore, maybe this generation is OK with that.

    I though VR was supposed to be a fun ride like an afternoon party with friends, or maybe a better movie experience when you don’t have a big TV although it’s sad to watch it alone.
    Now it’s sold as coping mechanism to withstand the dystopian reality we’re living in.

    Dang, my age is starting to show.

    • Tanix Tx3

      Also have trouble to imagine what to use this app for. Maybe time will tell.

      I can tell you about an non isolating use case of vr.
      I had to spend some time in hospital, when i was there I used streaming tv shows to vr headset, while being connected by audio messenger with my wife. Since we own only one vr headset she was watching the same tv show on our home tv. This way we could watch the same show together even if we was separated by some hundred kilometer it felt like meeting in the same room.

      How we use these tools is mostly limited by our imagination.

      • Bob Jenkins

        Great for relaxation, great for accessibility and great for long distance relationships :)

        • silvaring

          TMI lol

    • sfmike

      You’re right, your age is starting to show. There is nothing sad about watching a movie in your own virtual 3D theater if you love films. I will agree though that we are now living in a dystopian political reality but AR/VR did not cause this.

    • Guest

      It is also a physical problem. Any medical doctor of sleep disorders will tell you the blue light from screens should be avoided before bedtime.

      • Bob Jenkins

        Developer here. We’re adding a dark mode that removes all blue light, and the Quest already has a system setting that does that too

      • kool

        Idk I sleep like a baby in a headset if the environment is right.

      • Tanix Tx3

        That’s an issue for all kind of screens. Tv, smart phone, … all these devices have a night mode switch to reduce the blue light, so has my vr device.

    • Bob Jenkins

      Developer here! It’s funny because I’m known for making experiences that make people feel really connected. I don’t think it’s going to be any different with Pillow.

      Our multiplayer mode was pretty much designed to help people in long distance relationships and to foster intimacy. I think you should give Pillow a try!

      • Me

        Long distance relationships are bound to fail, mostly because nothing can replace the intimacy (and I don’t mean anything 18+ here) of being next to each other. Even sleeping in separate beds has an effect, and you can become “touch depraved” (I let you look for this).
        So many people these days are wondering why they fail to build a lasting couple, why their days are so sad and they think that escaping in VR can be a solution.
        You will of course find exceptions to support your point of view, but these are just that, outliers.

        Maybe – and I insist on maybe – the technology will become good enough to blend the frontiers between an IRL and VR relationship, but we are so far from it. Today we’re still in the middle age of this phenomenon.

        That being said, enjoying a a boat trip on a lake or a hike on a glacier or whatever, even if looks a bit gimmicky, is a welcome experience when you’re laying in a bed at hospital wondering if you’ll make it.
        I know it because I lived it. It’s a respiration, but it’s not a lasting solution. On the contrary, when it stops, getting back to reality is often worse.

        If you’re a developer, please work with serious psychologists on this, and it can turn into a decent experience with all the safeguards applied. Don’t be like the whole tech bubble people who think they know better and advertise your product like a panacea… you are often creating more harm than solving problems.

  • I love the crazy original products of Lucas

    • Bob Jenkins

      I try <3

  • Bob Jenkins

    Developer here! Excited to hear your thoughts, Cary!