Today Google is taking the wraps off of a new certification program for VR smartphone adapters. 'Works with Google Cardboard' will allow Cardboard VR apps to adjust specifically for a given VR smartphone adapter and help users see which adapters are certified for use with those apps. Google Cardboard is literally a cardboard holder which turns a smartphone into a rudimentary but very inexpensive VR headset. When the company announced the project back in 2014, it put the plans to create the device out in the open and encouraged third-party companies and DIYers to manufacture viewers based on the design. Having launched Cardboard less than a year ago, the idea has gained quite a bit of momentum with multiple third-party companies—like DODOcase and I AM Cardboard—selling variations of the device. However, with different characteristics among each headset, like the focal distance or the distance between the lenses, Cardboard apps may not offer the ideal experience because the on-screen rendering doesn't match those characteristics. Google's new 'Works with Google Cardboard' program is designed to fix this issue. Makers of Cardboard variants (or those not event based on the design) will be able to define the essential characteristics of their VR smartphone adapter using a Cardboard profiler tool, and Google will spit out a QR code to be displayed on the device. Users will be able to use the official Cardboard app to scan the code, loading the settings and allowing apps built with the Cardboard SDK to automatically adapt to that specific headset. See Also: Google’s ‘Cardboard’ VR App Exceeds 1 Million Downloads As part of the Works with Google Cardboard program, headset manufacturers will be given access to branding assets that indicate to buyers that the device is compatible with Cardboard apps in this way. Speaking with Road to VR, Andrew Nartker, Product Manager of Google Cardboard, said that all existing VR smartphone adapters are "100% compatible" with the Works with Google Cardboard program. "A lot of the early partners are stepping up and being bigger and bigger players with the program" he said. Google currently lists official Cardboard partners on the 'Get Cardboard' page, and we expect to see the list continue to grow as companies sign up with the program. Interestingly, Nartker told me that one requirement for joining the Works with Google Cardboard program was that eligible smartphone adapters can't have a headstrap. This decision was made to reduce the impact of the greater than desired latency on Cardboard devices. The idea is that users will move more slowly when holding Cardboard up to their head because they must rotate their entire torso, whereas a headstrap would allow them to rotate just their head which tends to be done with a greater rotational velocity, according to Nartker. Fortunately, he confirmed that the Cardboard profiler tool (which will generate the QR code that allows apps to adapt to a specific headset) can be used by anyone, while presumably only those that are officially part of the program can market their product using the Works with Google Cardboard badge. Continue Reading on Page 2: Design Guidelines and SDK Update with Improved Headtracking, VR for Everyone, and Performance Challenges Design Guidelines and SDK Update with Improved Headtracking Along with the new certification program, Google is launching a series of design guidelines for VR app developers. As a nascent category, you'll find varying methods of input and inconsistent user experience paradigms across Android VR apps. Google wants to help developers understand best practices and encourage consistency in interaction design across apps. The new design guidelines focus on "overall usability, as well as common VR pitfalls," the company says. Furthermore, the Google is launching the latest round of updates to the Cardboard SDKs for Android and Unity which will come with improved headtracking (now with a neck-model) and better drift correction. VR for Everyone The goal of Cardboard is not to be the end-all-be-all of VR, but instead to make it easy for people to try the technology. "Ultimately at the heart of the Cardboard project is something that works and works extremely well to give people their first taste of VR,” said Nartker. Part of giving people an introduction to VR will be making Cardboard apps discoverable in Android's Play Store. Having already created a specific section of the store for virtual reality apps, Google is going to further detail those apps with additional categories like Music & Video, Games, and Experiences. "We want to make sure that any android developer can easily become a VR developer," Nartker told me. To date there are some 250 VR apps in the Play Store. The Works with Google Cardboard initiative also includes a badge that developers can place on the icon of their app to indicate that it's a VR app that abides by the Works with Google Cardboard program once a user scans their headset's QR code. Performance Challenges Although we're seeing lots of progress from Google and Cardboard apps, one of the ecosystem's major challenges is head tracking accuracy and latency. The issue is partly due to sensors that weren't designed for headtracking in today's phones, and to the Android pipeline which is better suited to use that data to decide if the phone is held in portrait or landscape, rather than high performance low-latency headtracking. To tackle these challenges on Gear VR, Samsung added a high performance headtracking sensor to the headset itself (which is used in place of the phone's own sensor) and also specifically modified the software of compatible phones to further reduce latency. I asked Nartker if there were any optimization to be done to Android itself when it comes to Cardboard. While he wouldn't talk specifics, he did say that the team is "definitely looking into Android-based improvements." When I asked if we'd soon see phone manufacturers including improved sensors in their phones specifically designed for headtracking, he told me he saw it as a possibility, so long as the demand is there. "If users and content devs start building things that really start pushing the form factor and hardware forward, we see it as something that the industry will start to support."