For grandparents who can't travel like they used to, a headset and our films can bring the world into the living room. We film real places on location, and the calm ones are shot from a camera that never moves. Sit down, put the headset on, and look around.
A headset is only half the present. The other half is somewhere to go, and someone who has set it up so it just works when the paper comes off.
On a Meta Quest, our films play in the headset's own browser, so there is nothing to install: bookmark explorepov.com/vr and that is the whole manual. On Apple Vision Pro, download our app from the App Store. One subscription works on both when you sign in with the same account. The fiddly part, done before it is wrapped, is further down: buying one for a parent.
A Dolomites lake in the early morning light, with reflections as still as a mirror.
Gondolas of VeniceGondolas bobbing at the shore beneath the setting sun. A minute of Venice with nowhere to be.
Sunset Over Kyoto TempleA Kyoto temple rising above a sea of red maple leaves as the day fades.
Koi of BaliSit beside still water as koi circle beneath palm trees in a quiet Balinese garden.
All four are filmed from a camera that never moves. There are more in the still and calm collection.
Most people meet a headset through a game, and this is not that. Every experience in our library is a real place, filmed on location with a stereoscopic camera at eye height, then played back so that you are standing where the camera stood. Look left and the coast keeps going. Look down and the water has real depth. Turn your head and the whole scene turns with you.
There is nothing to learn and nothing to steer. You do not walk, aim or press anything. You sit down, you look around, and the place is there, with calm sound to go with it. Most experiences run two to five minutes, which is about right for a first sitting and easy to stop at any point.
Our library holds 218 experiences across 22 destinations, and 215 of them play in a headset browser today. They are filmed in up to 16K VR180, which is our way of saying the detail holds up when a place is right in front of your eyes rather than on a television across the room.
If someone has never worn a headset, the kindest first experience is one filmed from a fixed spot. Our still and calm collection gathers every experience shot from a locked camera position, so nothing sways, nothing walks forward, and the horizon stays exactly where it was put. It is the gentlest way in, and for a lot of people it is the whole point rather than a stepping stone.
A braided glacier river running past a gravel bank. The camera never moves, so the only thing going anywhere is the water.
Black Lake SerenityA still mountain lake ringed by pines. Almost nothing happens, which is exactly the point of it.
Reine ViewpointThe red huts and grey peaks of Lofoten, seen from a fixed spot above the water. A postcard that breathes.
Oxararfoss WaterfallThirty seconds long, which makes it a good first look for someone who is not sure yet.
If that goes well, the walking journeys open up: a track beside a glacier river, a lane through a fishing village, a path along a clifftop. If it does not, that is fine too. The headset comes off, nothing is lost, and the still footage is still there tomorrow.
Almost everything about a good first watch comes down to fit and the first two minutes. None of this is complicated, but it is the part people skip.
We make travel films, so we do not offer medical, vision or wellbeing advice, and we make no claims about health outcomes. For anything to do with eyes, balance or age suitability, your headset maker publishes its own guidance and a doctor is a better source than a video company.
A headset makes a lovely gift and a frustrating one, and the difference is almost entirely in the setup. Do the fiddly part yourself, before it is wrapped, and what they open is a thing that already works.
Explore POV runs as a native app on Apple Vision Pro, and in the headset browser on Meta Quest, Pico and Samsung Galaxy XR, where there is nothing to install at all. Our devices page lays out what each one is like to live with.
"My disabled partner can travel places through your eyes and feet. Thank you for this application."
"Exploration is always something that has brought me peace, excitement and part of what makes life worth living"
"This app is the reason I have the Vision Pro. I can truly escape to a cool adventure."
Comfort varies from person to person, and we are a video library rather than a health service, so we do not give medical or wellbeing advice. Every headset maker publishes its own guidance and age recommendations, and that is the right place to check. What we can say practically: watch sitting down, start with footage filmed from a fixed spot, keep the first session to a few minutes, and stop straight away if anything feels off.
No. Every experience in our library can be watched seated. There is no controller to aim, no room to pace out and no game to play. You look around by turning your head, and that is the whole interaction.
Apple Vision Pro is the gentlest to operate because it is driven by looking and pinching, with no controllers to hold, and Explore POV runs there as a native app. Meta Quest is the cheaper way in and runs Explore POV straight in its browser, with nothing to install, though you will meet a controller during setup. Both work fine seated.
Yes, in a limited way. Most headsets can mirror or cast what the wearer is seeing to a phone, tablet or television, so the room can follow the tour. The mirrored picture is flat rather than immersive, so it is good for pointing at things and talking about them, not for the depth.
Stay with the still and calm collection, which gathers every experience we have filmed from a locked camera position. Nothing sways, nothing walks forward and the horizon stays where it was. Plenty of people watch nothing else, and that is a perfectly good way to use the library.
No. You can watch our trailer in a headset browser without signing in, which is enough to see whether the format suits. An account and a subscription unlock the full library, and one subscription works on every supported device you sign in on. See pricing.
Start somewhere quiet, and go further only if you feel like it. Nothing here needs to be finished.