Google described Sprayscape as a “perfectly imperfect VR-ish camera app for Android” that lets users take pictures “on the inside of a 360-degree sphere” by using the phone’s gyroscope.

The gyroscope in a phone adds an additional dimension to the information supplied by the accelerometer, used to detect the orientation of the phone, by tracking rotation or twist.

Essentially, users can take a VR-ready 360-degree view of wherever they are.

The app is part of Android Experiments, which documents creative experiments by developers and makes them open source.

“With so many great projects being sent in each month, we were inspired to make and share an experiment of our own. We love virtual reality. And we love taking pictures. So why not try smashing the two together?,” wrote Glenn Cochon, senior designer at Google Creative Lab, in a blog post.

“Just point your phone and tap the screen to spray faces, places, or anything else onto your canvas,” he explained.

Photos can be shared via a link in a text message or on social media which lets other people “jump into your scapes and have a look around using their phones or even Google Cardboard for a more immersive experience.”

Sprayscape is built in Unity with native Android support. It maps the camera feed on a 360 degree sphere, using the Cardboard SDK to handle gyroscope data and the NatCam Unity plugin for precise camera control.

When a user saves a “scape”, a flat panorama image is stored in the app data. When the scape is shared, the image is wrapped to a sphere, making it navigable by panning, tilting and moving the device.

The app is only available for Android.

Last month, Google launched its Cardboard Camera app for iOS, enabling users to capture 3D 360-degree VR photos.

More than 5 million “moments” have already been captured with the app’s Android version.