Facebook has added support for 360 photos upload and viewing to its website and apps for iOS and Android. The photos can be taken using any app or 360 camera and Facebook will allow users to view it by moving around their phone or swiping/dragging the picture in their browser or app.
A 360 photo can be either a panoramic image or an actually 360 photo sphere. If you do not have a 360 camera hardware, you can use different apps on iOS or Android devices to capture them. Here are a few apps that Facebook supports content from:
- Panoramas from iPhone, iPad and Samsung Galaxy devices
- Photos from Street View, Google Camera and Google Cardboard
You can try and test different apps to see if they work with Facebook. However, to get you started, here is our simple guide to uploading your first 360 photo to Facebook:
Upload 360 photos to Facebook from iOS:
- Shoot a panorama using iOS’ built-in Camera app. It can be as wide or narrow as you want. Once captured, open up the Facebook app and upload it. Users should see it in a 360 view.
- Shoot a photo sphere using Google Street View app. Google’s app allows you to create immersive 360 photo spheres. All you need to do is make sure that you have steady hands and follow the instructions to point the camera at the dot to create your photo sphere.
Upload 360 photos to Facebook from Android:
- Simply use the Google Camera app (or download it from the Play Store if you use a non-Nexus smartphone). The app has built-in functionality to capture both panoramas and photo spheres. Or if you are using a Samsung Galaxy smartphone, you can use its default app to capture 360 photo supported panoramas too.
Once you have captured your 360 photo, use the latest version of the Facebook app for iPhone or Android to upload and post it to your timeline. You must have at least version 57 or version 80 for iPhone and Android respectively, to be able to upload or view 360 photos. On desktop, Chrome, Firefox and Safari are needed to view them. There is no mention from Facebook on 360 photo support for Windows app/Edge browser yet.
