Best VR Apps in 2024

Most, if not all of us, have at least heard of the mesmerizing experience of using Google Earth. The VR version serves the same experience but is spruced up with the help of a VR headset, which brings distant corners of the world to your living room in surprisingly decent detail. With travel restrictions and the pandemic still running its course, such an experience is as valuable as it’s ever been right now.

From the Matterhorn to the Taj Mahal by way of Australia’s Uluru, Google Earth VR gives users the entire globe to discover and explore, whether that’s flying at breakneck speed across continents, honing in on specific landmarks, or strolling through the busy streets of a teeming megalopolis. Self-guided exploration is one thing, but Google Earth VR also earmarks some must-see landmarks and landscapes you can quickly jump between for a more streamlined experience.

Budding geographers will find their fill here, but Google Earth VR offers enough of a spectacle to draw in anyone with just a modicum of curiosity about the varied topography and climes of our blue planet. And, if you have school-aged little ones running around, it’s a fun way to brush up on their geography knowledge through the novel lens of a VR headset.

Conveniently, Google Earth VR offers broad headset compatibility via Steam or the Oculus Store, including the Valve Index, HTC Vive, Oculus Rift, and Google Rift S. You can even fire it up using a smartphone and Google Cardboard. On top of this, the app is 100% free to download and enjoy.

Quill VR is an app designed to bring creativity to the VR platform by handing users the keys to a suite of powerful paint and animation tools.

With a blank, virtual 3D canvas at their finger types, Quill VR users are only limited by their own creativity. Tools range from watercolors, pencils, oils, layers, puppeteering, keyframes, colorizers, and adjustment tools. You can even add in spatial audio, and export to other graphic software or animation suites such as Maya or Photoshop, and even Unreal Engine.

While this rich tool set is one thing, where Quill VR truly shines is how it mimics the sensation of having a paintbrush or pencil in hand in a VR setting. The experience feels responsive, expressive, and accurate with huge scalability from minute details to large works, which lends itself to everything from doodling and experimentation to fully-fledged final products. Whether you are a seasoned artist or an amateur doodler, Quill VR is the perfect tool to try something a little different from traditional analog and digital art tools.

The proof is in the pudding, with no shortage of incredible works of art and animation experiences constructed with Quill VR. The app also has its own upload/distribution management tool to share your work on the Oculus Media Store. It goes both ways, too, as there’s no shortage of creations to explore from artists from around the world via the add-on app Quill Theater.

Where Quill VR does fall short is compatibility. The app is only available via the Oculus Store and only works when paired with an Oculus Rift or Oculus Rift S headset. However, if you own one of these, you are in luck as Quill VR is available for free.

Borrowing the format of massively multiplayer online games and online virtual worlds like Second Life, Sinespace is best seen as a collection of multiplayer virtual worlds, where players create and design their own 3D avatars to socialize with others while experiencing a rich catalog of 3D content. It has the added benefit of being a free-to-play deal as long as you steer clear of the paid user-generated content.

Virtual social apps are a hit-or-miss affair when it comes to the quality and type of interactions and activities you’ll come across. Fortunately, Sinespace is packed to the rafters with hours of fun, whether that’s conversing with others as your 3D avatar or sampling all the regions, clothing, vehicles, gestures, and other content lovingly made by others.

As a player, you can have your own home to deck out, regions to explore, events to attend, and, of course, plenty of opportunities to interact with friends and other players from all over the world. Much like Roblox, creators can earn money by selling their creations in Sinespace with even private servers and custom viewers for more serious projects.

Alongside, Sinespace boasts an impressive range of games, music-based experiences, live events and interviews, educational tools, and even a smattering of business-geared features such as virtual showrooms.

Although playable on a ‘flat’ PC, Sinespace comes to life with VR, and compatibility extends to the HTC Vive and Oculus Rift headsets. Due to the nature of the experience, mobile users are out of luck for this one, though.

Everyone’s go-to video content platform is available in VR, but before you get excited and expect your favorite music videos and YouTubers to come to life in a glorious VR world where you have free reign to explore every nook and cranny, the reality is a little more modest.

YouTube VR allows you to view every video on the platform as a VR experience, but with varying degrees of immersion. Regular videos remain more or less the same, albeit a tad more immersive through a headset, while the actual VR content – 360-degree and 180-degree video – offers a genuinely thrilling experience. These remain very much videos rather than bonafide crafted VR worlds to explore, though.

Nevertheless, it’s a new way to sample everything from visiting Machu Picchu, catching a performance by Cirque du Soleil, or experiencing what it feels like to surf a towering wave. There’s also great content from respected media outlets such as National Geographic and the BBC and live performances from famous musicians, aerial visits to national parks, music videos, and so much more. It’s as much an entertainment app as a great educational tool that covers everything from science to geography, and the range of content is ever-growing.

YouTube VR does win points for broad compatibility with smartphones, desktop PCs, Google Cardboard, Oculus Quest, Oculus Go, PlayStation VR, Lenovo Mirage Solo, Daydream View, Oculus Rift, HTC Vive, and Gear VR. And, of course, as with the standard version of the platform, YouTube VR is free for anyone to use as long as you have the right gear and don’t mind the occasional advert.

Most of our recommendations center on entertainment and education. Provata VR is a little different: a VR meditation app designed to ease stress, and anxiety and help those struggling with sleep find some much-needed respite. It’s an interesting twist on what we’ve come to expect from VR experiences and one of the more compelling meditation apps out there, whether on a flat screen or in VR.

In Provata VR, you’re transported to various soothing locations, including stunning beaches, colorful coral reefs, coastal ponds, lush forests, and mesmerizing northern lights. These are presented as high-quality 360-degree videos that truly come to life when viewed through a VR headset; the optimal way to experience Provata. Sit back, take in the sights, listen to the sound of waves gently lapping the shoreline, and, hopefully, find some inner peace along the way.

Additionally, Provata VR also tracks your progress through meditation biofeedback by linking the app to wearable devices to track your heart rate to ensure you get the most out of each meditation session. The guided meditation sessions are a great feature that offers a guiding hand to those unaccustomed to meditation techniques while still allowing for plenty of freedom for more seasoned users. These target specific techniques or areas of concern such as a body scan, breathing, anxiety, focus, or general calm.

Provata VR is compatible with Android and iOS smartphones, although you’ll need a headset to house your phone to get the full VR experience. Otherwise, it’s compatible with the Oculus Rift, HTC Vive, and Windows Mixed Reality headsets.