iOS 14 Google Cardboard view is broken

Question

On all apps that I can find that use Cardboard in iOS 14 (iPhone), the VR view is insanely bugged. The camera swings wildly all over the place.

Here is a video example: https://www.reddit.com/r/youtube/comments/i1nbs0/ios_14_vr_error/

The official Google Cardboard app-store application is broken as soon as you start it. It is also broken on the app I develop for which uses GVR and Unity.

Weirdly, it will temporarily function as expected if you restart your iPhone. The time it takes to break is seemingly random - sometimes it will be broken right away, and sometimes it will work for hours before breaking.

We have tested this on two iPhone 8+, and an iPhone 11.

Things I have tried:

• Updating to beta iOS14.2 does not fix the issue.
• Rebuilding in Xcode 12.2 Beta does not fix the issue
• No errors or warning appear in my local build for our GVR project.

Answer 1

FYI:

I was able to make it work without the need of compiling anything. (I use a DESTEK V5 headset with an iPhone 11 running iOS 14.5 beta)

How I solved it:

• I just updated to 14.5 beta, but also
• I installed "Player360" from Mobfish.

After a restart, it works perfectly. VR cardboard view 1 VR cardboard view 2

Please the experts explain what might be the trick happening here: I don't know if it was the update to 14.5 beta and/or installing the app from Mobfish. (I thought if I installed an app with the Unity plugin update for iOS 14.X embedded, I might be forcing iOS to use the Unity VR version what was on its RAM).

CAVEATS: the issue comes back under the following conditions:

• After switching from one VR app to another
• After using the VR app for a long period (I use Holofit for indoor rowing)

Solution: Restart iOS

UPDATED

Answer 2

I've answered this question on the Official Goggle Cardboard repository, but here's a quick recap for who got here first:

This is a iOS 14 incompatibility with the (now obsolete) Google Cardboard Plugin for Unity. I don't know for sure if there's a workaround to continue using this plugin, but I've tested the new plugin on both iPhone XR and SE and it works exactly as expected.

I've even loaded my app and the test app side by side, having the first one with a completely bugged view as described on the post and the test app, with the new plugin, working normally.

Finally, in order to continue using Cardboard VR with Unity on iOS 14, you should:

• Upgrade to Unity 2019.3.15f1 or later
• Integrate the new Google Cardboard XR Plugin

Answer 3

Turns out GVR is now obsolete for IOS14 (unless someone makes a fix for it.. doubt it). Have to upgrade to Cardboard SDK. https://github.com/googlevr/cardboard/issues/118

Answer 4

The new Cardboard XR plugin fixes this iOS 14 issue however, it was still somewhat buggy for me. My solution to this was to update my app with the Mobfish Google Cardboard package. I highly recommend it. It works with Metal/OpenGLES2/OpenGLES3 and default renderer/URP/HDRP. It also works with unity 2018 and up so no XR subsystem is needed. I published an update to my app using this plugin and it fixed the issue that arose from iOS 14.