What is virtual reality (VR)?

Virtual reality (VR) is a technology that immerses users in a fully computer-generated world, replacing their physical surroundings with a digital experience. Accessed through headsets and motion controllers, VR enables users to explore, engage with, and interact within rich 3D spaces. Unlike augmented reality (AR), which overlays digital elements onto the real world, VR offers a completely separate environment that users can navigate and control.

Virtual reality combines hardware and software to create engaging digital experiences. While high-end VR systems often rely on dedicated devices, mobile VR is increasingly accessible through standalone headsets or smartphone-based viewers. Here's how it works:

• Hardware setup: Most VR systems use a head-mounted display, such as the Meta Quest, PlayStation VR, or mobile-compatible viewers like Google Cardboard, that presents stereoscopic visuals and often includes headphones for immersive audio. Some also feature hand-held controllers or built-in hand tracking for input.
• Motion sensing and tracking: Built-in accelerometers, gyroscopes, and sometimes external cameras monitor the user's position and movement. Depending on the system, VR supports either 3DoF (rotational movement) or 6DoF (full spatial tracking), enabling users to move, look around, and engage with virtual spaces more naturally.
• Rendering and simulation: Game engines like Unity, Unreal Engine, and browser-based tools like WebXR are used to generate responsive 3D environments. These engines help maintain high frame rates and low latency, which are essential to prevent motion sickness and deliver a smooth experience.
• Multisensory feedback: Visual, directional audio, and optional haptic cues simulate realistic interactions. For example, vibrations in controllers and spatial sound enhance the realism of digital environments.
• Mobile SDKs and accessibility: Developers can build and deploy VR apps using SDKs such as Google Cardboard and Unity XR, enabling interactive experiences on both Android and iOS devices. These tools help make VR development more accessible to mobile-first teams.

VR experiences can be categorized based on the level of immersion and the technology used. 

Here are the main types of VR:

Non-immersive VR

This includes simulations where users interact with virtual environments through a standard screen, such as a desktop or mobile device. While users can navigate and engage using keyboards, mice, or touchscreens, these experiences do not fully immerse the senses. Non-immersive VR is commonly used in virtual tours, training dashboards, and 360° video viewers.

Semi-immersive VR

These experiences offer partial immersion using large screens, wraparound monitors, or projection systems. Often applied in training and architectural visualization, semi-immersive VR creates a greater sense of depth and scale while users remain aware of their physical surroundings—examples include flight simulators and industrial 3D modeling environments.

Fully immersive VR

The most recognized form of VR, this experience places users entirely within a digital environment using a VR headset, spatial audio, and motion tracking. Fully immersive VR enables natural movement and interaction, offering high levels of realism. It is widely used in gaming, simulation-based learning, and fitness apps on devices like Meta Quest, HTC Vive, and PlayStation VR.

• Virtual reality (VR): VR creates a fully immersive digital environment that replaces the user’s physical surroundings. Using headsets and motion tracking, VR offers a 360-degree experience where users can move, look around, and interact with simulated spaces.
• Augmented reality (AR): AR overlays digital elements like text, images, or animations onto the real world. AR is typically experienced through smartphones, tablets, or AR glasses, enhancing real environments without fully replacing them.
• Mixed reality (MR): MR merges real and digital worlds, enabling real-time interaction between physical and virtual elements. MR headsets such as Microsoft HoloLens allow users to manipulate digital content anchored in their real surroundings, making the experience more interactive than AR.
• Extended reality (XR): XR is the umbrella term for all immersive technologies—AR, VR, MR—and any future innovations that blend digital and physical realities. XR is often used to describe the full spectrum of spatial computing and immersive content delivery.

Virtual reality is enhancing user experiences in mobile apps by offering immersive, 360° environments across verticals like gaming, education, real estate, and wellness. Mobile VR apps allow users to explore virtual spaces, take guided tours, or engage in calming environments using only a smartphone, often with the help of simple VR viewers like Google Cardboard.

In gaming, mobile VR offers lightweight interactive content and cinematic experiences, while in real estate, apps enable remote property walkthroughs. Educational apps bring subjects to life through interactive 3D models, and wellness apps use spatial audio and visuals to support meditation and stress relief.

While mobile VR offers accessibility and reach, it faces challenges such as limited device compatibility, lower processing power, and reduced interactivity compared to dedicated headsets. Retention is also a hurdle, with many users dropping off after the first session. Still, as mobile hardware improves and developers innovate within these constraints, VR continues to grow as a creative and practical feature in mobile apps.

Artificial intelligence (AI) is increasingly enhancing VR experiences, particularly within mobile apps. By combining immersive environments with adaptive intelligence, AI makes VR more interactive, personalized, and responsive.

In gaming and simulation, AI enables non-playable characters (NPCs) to react dynamically to user behavior, while in education and wellness, it personalizes content based on pace, preferences, or mood. AI also supports real-time scene understanding, using eye tracking and object detection to adjust focus, difficulty, or interaction.

Generative AI further accelerates development by creating 3D assets, designing levels, and scripting dialogue. For marketers and developers, AI-powered VR provides valuable behavioral insights. When paired with a measurement solution like Adjust, user interaction data becomes actionable, enabling user journey analysis, campaign optimization, and improved ROI in virtual app spaces.

Curious how Adjust’s measurement and analytics solutions can elevate your app’s immersive experience? Request a demo and speak to an expert.