Google has released its YouTube VR app, previously available on Daydream, on SteamVR. The app allows users to browse YouTube videos through an interface in 3D, 360-degree space, and watch any of the innumerable 360-degree videos available on YouTube. It also allows for virtual big-screen viewing of standard format YouTube videos, in a setup similar to that found on, say, the Hulu app for PlayStation VR.

You can download it for free right now and try it out.

Unfortunately, the YouTube VR app doesn't seem to be working for many users, who have taken to the app's Steam community page, reviews, and discussion forums to complain about crashes and other problems. Users are posting their hardware specs as they report that it crashes on startup every time. Additionally, users have complained that it makes poor use of only one of the Vive's controllers, that quality is low, and that many SBS stereoscopic 3D videos are not working—which is obviously a huge omission

On the bright side, while the application is specifically built for the HTC Vive, some Oculus users are reporting that they could get it to work.

Many of these complaints come down to the fact that this application was built for cheap, smartphone-based VR, but it wasn't updated to the standards users expect on high-end consumer VR devices like the Vive.

Plus, the marketing of 360 videos as "VR" has generated a lot of consumer confusion about what the VR experience really is. On mobile VR platforms, videos that are just spherical video describe themselves as "VR" even though stereoscopic 3D is not involved—much less head tracking or the interactive elements that make VR really immersive. That doesn't fly with SteamVR users. It probably won't fly with the influx of Windows Mixed Reality headset users or incoming Mac users, either.

YouTube reps have responded in the discussion threads that the YouTube team is looking into the problems (specifically the crashes) and have asked users who are having problems to share their system specifications to help with troubleshooting.