Google Cardboard vs Puck Remote App
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.
Google Cardboard
Experience virtual reality on your iPhone. This app guides you through setting up a compatible viewer and offers initial immersive experiences to explore.
- VR viewer setup
- Introductory VR experiences
- iPhone compatibility
- Cardboard viewer integration
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Cardboard puts virtual reality on your iPhone. The Google Cardboard app helps you set up a Cardboard viewer and includes a few experiences to get you started. To fully enjoy this app you'll need a Cardboard viewer. Learn more and get your own Cardboard viewer at http://g.co/cardboard. Do not use this app while driving, walking, or otherwise by being distracted or disoriented from real world situations that prevent you from obeying traffic or safety laws.
Puck Remote App
Control your home devices with your smartphone. This application works with a specific external hardware module to provide a unified remote control experience, eliminating the need for multiple physical remotes.
- Unified home device control
- Replaces multiple physical remotes
- Requires external Bluetooth LE to IR module
- Seamless home interaction
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Hate remotes? Puck it! Control your home from your phone. The PUCK app removes the need for individual remotes to offer a seamless, integrated solution for home interaction. Hello PUCK. Goodbye, remotes. Note: This app uses an external Bluetooth LE to IR (infrared) module (Puck®) which provides for simple exchange of infrared remote codes. The app must be paired with the Puck® hardware to be fully functional.
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is rating: Puck Remote App at 3.1 against Google Cardboard's 2.8. Puck Remote App also leads on review sentiment (47% vs 27%) and iOS requirement (12.0 vs 15.0). Google Cardboard's advantage is ratings volume (598 vs 26) and update cadence (every 3 months vs every 6 months). On price, ads, in-app purchases and monetization model there is nothing between them.
Scored on Price · Rating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings · Update frequency · Ads · In-app purchases · Monetization · Best chart rank · Devices · Requires iOS
Both are free to download. Neither carries in-app purchases, so what you see is what you pay.
Puck Remote App holds the better App Store score, 3.1 against 2.8. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: Google Cardboard has 598 ratings behind it against 26, so its average is the more settled of the two. Written reviews point the same way: 27% of Google Cardboard's written reviews are positive against 47% of Puck Remote App's.
Google Cardboard ships an update every 3 months, Puck Remote App every 6 months. The most recent releases landed on October 17, 2026 and October 14, 2026 respectively.
| Parameter | Google Cardboard | Puck Remote App |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free | Free |
| Rating | 2.8 (598 ratings) | 3.1 (26 ratings) — better |
| Positive reviews | 26.6% of reviews | 46.7% of reviews — better |
| Number of ratings | 598 — better | 26 |
| Update frequency | Every 3 months — better | Every 6 months |
| Ads | No | No |
| In-app purchases | No | No |
| Monetization | Free | Free |
| Devices | iPhone, iPod | iPhone, iPad, iPod — better |
| Requires iOS | 15.0 | 12.0 — better |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 60 MB | 15 MB |
| Age rating | 4+ | 4+ |
| Developer | SmashToast, Inc. | |
Customer experience
Google Cardboard
Puck Remote App
Bugs and requests
Google Cardboard
Reported bugs
3 issues- Constant spinning/shaking on some devices
- Crashes and freezes on launch
- Incompatibility with certain VR headsets
Requested features
4 requests- More VR games and interactive experiences
- Ability to view own photos/videos in VR
- Support for newer iOS versions
- Improved navigation and controls
Puck Remote App
Not enough reviews yet to summarise bugs or requests.
In-app purchases
Google Cardboard
No in-app purchases
Puck Remote App
No in-app purchases
Questions
Is Google Cardboard free?
Is Puck Remote App free?
Which has better reviews, Google Cardboard or Puck Remote App?
Do Google Cardboard or Puck Remote App have ads?
Which is updated more often, Google Cardboard or Puck Remote App?
Other comparisons
