v1.8.0

See http://github.com/googlevr/cardboard for full release notes.

Cardboard SDK v1.8.0 (2021-09-10)

Breaking & behavioral changes

• Changed the iOS minimum version to 12.0 from 11.4.

New APIs and capabilities

• Added new properties IsTriggerHeldPressed, MinTriggerHeldPressedTime to the Unity API. These properties detect long holds of the Cardboard trigger and customize the long hold time.

Deprecations

None.

Other changes

• UpdateScreenParams in the Unity API now detects screen orientation changes when autorotation is enabled.
• Added recenter functionality to the Unity sample when holding the Cardboard trigger for three seconds.

Bug fixes

• Fixed #282 via #21: Set descriptive names for Display and Input XR Subsystems.

Known issues

None.

v1.7.0

See http://github.com/googlevr/cardboard for full release notes.

Cardboard SDK v1.7.0 (2021-07-27)

Breaking & behavioral changes

None.

New APIs and capabilities

• Merged #250: Added multiple orientation support via new parameter to CardboardHeadTracker_getPose (C). In Unity this is automatically used.

Deprecations

None.

Other changes

• URLs with HTTP schemes can now be passed to CardboardQrCode_saveDeviceParams (C), Api.SaveDeviceParams (Unity) since they are internally modified to use HTTPS instead.
• The iOS SDK was modified to perform only HTTPS requests when trying to get the device parameters from a certain URI.

Bug fixes

• Fixed bug in the Unity sample scene which causes the availability of collectable geodesic spheres to be inconsistent.
• Fixed Unity bug #1329845: Metal support now works on Unity 2019.4.27f1 onwards.
• Fixed #253: Fixed eye textures and widgets location when the app is launched on devices with a notch.

Known issues

• #257 and Unity bug #1346978: When importing the Cardboard XR Plugin package and building an Xcode project, the Unity meta files aren't deleted from the bundle directory. This could cause issues when trying to sign the iOS app binary and can be avoided by manually removing the aforementioned meta files from the generated Xcode project.

v1.6.0

Cardboard SDK v1.6.0 (2021-06-08)

See http://github.com/googlevr/cardboard for full release notes.

Breaking & behavioral changes

• Changed Unity minimum version to 2019.4.25f1 from 2019.3.15f1.

New APIs and capabilities

• Fixed #198 via #224: Added new API CardboardQrCode_saveDeviceParams (C), Google.XR.Cardboard.Api.SaveDeviceParams (Unity) to set Cardboard params directly from a URI without scanning a QR code.
• Fixed #63 via #242: Added new API CardboardHeadTracker_recenter (C), Google.XR.Cardboard.Api.Recenter (Unity) to recenter the head.
• Fixed #131 via #92: The SDK now uses AndroidX instead of the Android Support Library. Applications that are not ready to use AndroidX yet should stick to Cardboard v1.5.0.

Deprecations

None.

Other changes

• Added single line namespace declaration when using nested namespaces.

Bug fixes

• Fixed #259: Fixed stereoscopic issue when using Metal on Unity.
• Fixed #251: Fixed a warning on Unity 2021.1 with Unity XR Management 4.0.1 when importing the Cardboard XR Plugin.

Known issues

None.

v1.5.0

Cardboard SDK v1.5.0 (2021-04-30)

See http://github.com/googlevr/cardboard for full release notes.

Breaking & behavioral changes

None.

New APIs and capabilities

• Updated third_party/unity_plugin_api to the version from Unity 2020.2.5f1.
• Fixed #11: Metal is supported on iOS. On Unity, this only works on 2020.1 and above, see known issue below.

Deprecations

None.

Other changes

• Upgraded Protobuf Gradle plugin version to 0.8.15 and Protobuf dependency to 3.8.0. This is expected to fix #237.
• Added iOS framework dependencies in cardboard_api.a.meta to avoid linking errors when building a Unity app.

Bug fixes

• Fixed #164 and #193: Bad head tracking due to using incorrect clock base.
• Fixed #182: Rendering broken after scanning improper QR codes. Now in these cases we will return Cardboard Viewer v1 device parameters.
• Fixed #207 via #211: No stereo rendering in Unity.
• Fixed #246: This release was not yet out.
• Fixed #249: Build errors on Unity 2020.2 or later with iOS.

Known issues

• #245: When using Unity on Android devices, Optimized Frame Pacing option is not supported. Note that in Unity 2020.1 and above Optimized Frame Pacing is enabled by default so developers must turn off the option.
• #251: When using XR Management package 3.2.14 or greater, a warning is logged when importing Cardboard XR Plugin. This warning refers to a bad project configuration in the Cardboard XR Plugin. It can be safely ignored and will be fixed in a future release. This was observed in Unity 2021.1 which defaults to XR Management 4.0.1.
• #252: When scanning a QR code in Unity, an incorrect camera orientation will be seen. This issue takes place only on Pixel 3 XL, when the app is launched in portrait mode, and there are no saved device parameters causing the QR code scanner to be launched at startup.
• #253: When in VR mode in Unity, the eyes may be rendered in the wrong location when the app is launched for the first time. Minimizing the app and maximizing it again fixes the issue.
• Unity bug #1329845: Metal support does not work on Unity 2019.3 or 2019.4.
• Workaround for Unity bug #1329846: Added IOSurface iOS framework dependency directly to the library meta file.
• Workaround for Unity bug #1329853: When using Metal, a fullscreen black texture is rendered on each draw call.
• Unity issue #1291276: When importing the Cardboard XR Plugin sample project in Unity 2020.3 or later, a warning is logged related to the AssetDatabase path and the scene. This warning can be safely ignored.

v1.4.1

Cardboard SDK v1.4.1 (2020-12-11)

See http://github.com/googlevr/cardboard for full release notes.

This is a bugfix only release to address OpenGL ES 3.0 errors some Exynos devices.

Bug fixes

• Fixed #171 by updating #version lines for OpenGL ES 3.0.

v1.4.0

Cardboard SDK v1.4.0 (2020-12-04)

See http://github.com/googlevr/cardboard for full release notes.

Breaking & behavioral changes

• Changed Android minimum SDK version to 18 from 16 in Android SDK, sample app, and Unity SDK. If you want to maintain minimum SDK version 16 for your app, you must remove OpenGL ES 3.0 support by making the following changes. All the locations can be found by searching for "#gles3":
  • Set minSdkVersion to 16 in build.gradle.
  • Change glEsVersion to 0x00020000 in AndroidManifest.xml.
  • Remove GLESv3-lib occurrences from CMakeLists.txt.
  • Remove the contents of opengl_es3_distortion_renderer.cc.
  • (Unity only) Remove the call to CardboardOpenGlEs3DistortionRenderer_create in cardboard_xr_unity.cc.

New APIs and capabilities

• Closed #40: Added OpenGL ES 3.0 support.
• Closed #144: Added support for 2020 iPhones (iPhone 12, iPhone 12 Mini, iPhone 12 Pro, and iPhone 12 Pro Max).
• Added new UpdateScreenParams method to the Unity API. This method should be called every frame while VR is enabled as a workaround for Unity bug #1288515. Once the bug is fixed by Unity, this method will be removed.
• Added support for ProGuard on Android.
• Closed #53: Added sample showing how to enable and disable Cardboard in Unity at runtime.
• Added support for iPod touch 7th generation.

Deprecations

None.

Other changes

• Added more detailed logging of QR code scanning state changes on Android.
• Improves logging of the Java code for QR code scanning.

Bug fixes

• Fixed #100: Widgets are rendered in the proper location.
• Fixed incorrect log stating that device parameters were saved to external storage when it was the opposite.

v1.3.0

Cardboard SDK v1.3.0 (2020-10-20)

See http://github.com/googlevr/cardboard for full release notes.

Breaking & behavioral changes

None.

New APIs and capabilities

• Added validation for pointers passed in to each API function before dereferencing them. Invalid parameters get logged to the debug console.
• Added validation that Cardboard_initializeAndroid() has been called before any other API function is. Invalid calls get logged to the debug console.
• Updated iOS sample app to work with iOS 14.
• Changed Android minimum SDK version to 16 from 19 in Android SDK.
• Changed Android target API version to 30 from 28 in Android SDK and sample app.

Other changes

• Improved Android API compatibility to get screen pixel density.
• Added a toast explaining when barcode detection libraries are not available and a WiFi update of Google Play Services is required.

Bug fixes

• Fixed #33: Unity XR plugin no longer requires both iOS and Android Unity modules to be installed.
• Fixed #34: On Android, Unity projects entering XR mode won't crash anymore if Cardboard XR Plugin is not enabled in Player Settings > XR Plug-in Management.
• Fixed #50: Unity XR plugin displays gear and close textures after loading a new scene.
• Fixed #55, merged #2: Unity XR plugin no longer throws an error when building for platforms other than Android or iOS.
• Fixed #59 and #98: Unity XR plugin can be turned on and off at runtime.

v1.2.0

Cardboard SDK v1.2.0 (2020-08-31)

See http://github.com/googlevr/cardboard for full release notes.

Breaking & behavioral changes

None.

New APIs and capabilities

• Closed #32: CardboardXrProvider is now open source and buildable for Android and iOS.

Deprecations

None.

Other changes

• Update C# style for non-public variables. For example, private float m_Foo is now private float _foo.

Bug fixes

• Fixed #35: "Show Splash Screen" must be unchecked. This is no longer needed on Unity 2019.3.15f1 or later. However, see known issue related to Screen.safeArea() below.

Known issues

• #100: On iOS the widgets are rendered in the wrong location on devices with a notch. This only affects when the app is built with Unity 2019.3.14f1 and later.
  • This is due to Screen.safeArea() not taking the notch into account on iPhone XS, iPhone XR, and iPhone 11.

v1.1.0

Google Cardboard XR Plugin for Unity v1.1.0 (2020-05-18)

Initial release of Google Cardboard XR Plugin for Unity.

See http://github.com/googlevr/cardboard for full release notes.

Known issues

• Unity XR plugin libraries libCardboardXrProvider.so for Android and CardboardXrProvider.a for iOS are still unable to be open sourced. We hope to do it in a future update.
• Unity XR plugin will have build errors unless iOS and Android support are both installed in Unity.
• On Android, Unity projects entering XR mode will crash if Cardboard XR Plugin is not enabled in Player Settings > XR Plug-in Management.
• Head tracking latency is significantly higher on Qualcomm based Samsung S10 and Samsung S10+ devices.
• QR code scanning on Android may fail without error message while Google Play services is being updated or internet connection is unreliable.
• On some versions of Unity 2019.3, XR mode will not be entered unless Project Settings > Player > Splash Image > Show Splash Screen is unchecked. Note: this option is available in Unity Plus and Unity Pro.