Unity deprecated GLES support for iOS, so you're probably (?) building for just Metal.

The new version of Google Cardboard doesn't support Metal yet -> https://github.com/googlevr/cardboard/issues/11

To get iOS + Vuforia + Google Cardboard working, I've had to use the old version of Google Cardboard, which is installed via Unity's Package Manager. I'm hoping v1.5 of the new Google Cardboard is released before we're ready to push our latest stuff live..

So both Vuforia and Google Cardboard are vital to our app, and we need to find a way to make them work together on iOS. I figure it must be something specific, but I can't tell for sure.

hellodear.in

Regards, teatv.ltd

The "solution" is just to use another tool instead of Vuforia.

Forums does not work, support neither.

Get away from it and use something else.

Damm even I am having a similar kind of issue, I have searched all over the internet and even have posted on number of threads on different forum, no solution seems to work. I am really frustrated, can anyone of you here help me resolve this issue, I am very much tired now.

Today, Google Cardboard has released its 1.4.0 version with official support to OpenGL ES 3. Vuforia still doesn't work. I hardly have any hope now.

iOS build log:

2020-12-04 17:14:49.045227-0300 XRSample[693:18945] Built from '2019.4/staging' branch, Version '2019.4.12f1 (225e826a680e)', Build type 'Release', Scripting Backend 'il2cpp'
-> applicationDidFinishLaunching()
-> applicationDidBecomeActive()
[Subsystems] Discovering subsystems at path /private/var/containers/Bundle/Application/25F5D64E-4FE3-4C4F-AC56-7A4D4DE20936/XRSample.app/Data/UnitySubsystems
[Subsystems] No descriptors matched for  examples in UnitySubsystems/cardboard_api/UnitySubsystemsManifest.json.
[Subsystems] 1 'inputs' descriptors matched in UnitySubsystems/cardboard_api/UnitySubsystemsManifest.json
[Subsystems] 1 'displays' descriptors matched in UnitySubsystems/cardboard_api/UnitySubsystemsManifest.json
[Subsystems] No descriptors matched for  meshings in UnitySubsystems/cardboard_api/UnitySubsystemsManifest.json.
GfxDevice: creating device client; threaded=1
Renderer: Apple A9 GPU
Vendor:   Apple Inc.
Version:  OpenGL ES 3.0 Metal - 68.7
GLES:     3
 GL_OES_standard_derivatives GL_KHR_texture_compression_astc_ldr GL_EXT_color_buffer_half_float GL_EXT_debug_label GL_EXT_debug_marker GL_EXT_pvrtc_sRGB GL_EXT_read_format_bgra GL_EXT_separate_shader_objects GL_EXT_shader_framebuffer_fetch GL_EXT_shader_texture_lod GL_EXT_shadow_samplers GL_EXT_texture_filter_anisotropic GL_APPLE_clip_distance GL_APPLE_color_buffer_packed_float GL_APPLE_copy_texture_levels GL_APPLE_rgb_422 GL_APPLE_texture_format_BGRA8888 GL_IMG_read_format GL_IMG_texture_compression_pvrtc
OPENGL LOG: Creating OpenGL ES 3.0 graphics device ; Context level   ; Context handle -2122637472
OPENGL LOG: OpenGLES3 is deprecated on this platform
Initialize engine version: 2019.4.12f1 (225e826a680e)
XRGeneral Settings awakening...
UnityEngine.XR.Management.XRGeneralSettings:Awake()

(Filename: ./Runtime/Export/Debug/Debug.bindings.h Line: 35)

2020-12-04 17:14:49.812032-0300 XRSample[693:18945] [/Users/jballoffet/Documents/v1.4.0/untitled folder 2/cardboard/sdk/unity/xr_unity_plugin/cardboard_xr_unity.cc : 814] Configured OpenGL ES3.0 as Graphics API.
[Subsystems] Loading plugin cardboard_api for subsystem Display...
[Subsystems] Failed to initialize subsystem Display [error: 1]
[Subsystems] Loading plugin cardboard_api for subsystem Input...
[Subsystems] Failed to initialize subsystem Input [error: 1]
UnloadTime: 1.015208 ms
Compiled for iOS
Vuforia.PlatformRuntimeInitialization:InitPlatform()

(Filename: ./Runtime/Export/Debug/Debug.bindings.h Line: 35)

[CardboardApi] Device params found.
Google.XR.Cardboard.Api:HasDeviceParams()
CardboardStartup:Start()

(Filename: ./Runtime/Export/Debug/Debug.bindings.h Line: 35)

2020-12-04 17:14:49.945704-0300 XRSample[693:18945] Unbalanced calls to begin/end appearance transitions for .

You can test this behavior on this repository. This is the last time I'll for your ask help, although I'm still open to do my part if necessary or if requested. I'm already studying other solutions.

It's been almost 2 months since iOS 14 came out, and we still cannot update our apps only because of this issue. I don't know what else to try, but I think we as users can only go so far. We need developer assistance on this issue.

Having exactly the same issue here.

Have a Unity project with Cardboard + Vuforia on Android and iOS that was working just fine until not long ago.

iOS 14 came out, if you tried to open the previously working app on iOS 14 it would just shut down on start up. No log error, nothing. It just shut down.

We went back to the project, updated everything we could and after a million problems, we finally got it to build, compile and run properly again on iOS.

However, now, if Vuforia works, Cardboard doesn't.

Hope someone can find out what's going on because I am currently quite lost and the project needs to run both things as it did up to now.

I have updates

Recently, my team managed to make a quick modification to the Cardboard API in order to enable OpenGLES 3. So we decided to give Vuforia + Cardboard a second chance. We successfully built the project with OpenGLES 3 and load the Cardboard VR view. However, if we add Vuforia to the project, we experience the same effect as before: the Cardboard VR View does not load. That should be enough evidence to say that the issue is not related to the Graphics API, instead it seems to be something with the Vuforia. I'd like @mcotora if you could pass this to the development team. I've setup the sample repository with this exact scenario: https://github.com/JoaoBorks/unity-xr-sample/tree/opengles3_vuforia

It's plain simple: if you build with Vuforia, it does not load the VR. If you build without Vuforia, it works as expected.

Please, we have to fix this in order to update our apps.

Thank you for your response @mcotora. I've totally missed that Graphics API Support page. I'll update my issue on the official Google Cardboard repository to include this information. I believe once they support OpenGL ES 3 or Metal, it will work as expected. Once it is supported, I'll update this post as well.

Hi,

Based on your input, the issue is with Vuforia not selecting openGLES 2 on iOS. Unfortunately this is as expected as we do support only openGLES 3+ on iOS.

Supported versions: https://library.vuforia.com/content/vuforia-library/en/platform-support/supported-versions.html

Thank you.

Vuforia Engine Support

@mcotora Any advice?

It's been more than 2 weeks since I first reported this and nobody from Vuforia responded. This issue is affecting my app release since iOS 14 came out. I cannot upgrade my app or publish new features due to this particular issue with iOS. If there's anything else than giving you guys a repro project, please let me know. I'd love to help to solve this ASAP. If needed, please open a conversation with the developers of the Cardboard SDK as well.

I just found out that Vuforia selects Open GL ES 3.x instead of Open GL 2.x, and that's probably why the VR is not loading (even though I only have Open GL ES2 on my player settings):

2020-10-20 18:59:39.247003-0300 XRSample[421:8804] INFO/AR(421) 2020-10-20 18:59:39: Vuforia selected rendering API OpenGL ES 3.x
2020-10-20 18:59:39.247065-0300 XRSample[421:8804] INFO/AR(421) 2020-10-20 18:59:39: Vuforia SDK version 9.4.6
2020-10-20 18:59:39.247118-0300 XRSample[421:8804] INFO/AR(421) 2020-10-20 18:59:39: Vuforia SDK build 5809
2020-10-20 18:59:39.327365-0300 XRSample[421:8804] INFO/AR(421) 2020-10-20 18:59:39: Matched precache profile for Apple, iPhone8,4, iOS 14, 800.1
2020-10-20 18:59:40.710690-0300 XRSample[421:8804] INFO/AR(421) 2020-10-20 18:59:40: Vuforia Fusion: Detected and enabled use of ARKit
2020-10-20 18:59:40.711101-0300 XRSample[421:8804] Rendering mode set to: OpenGL ES 3.x
2020-10-20 18:59:40.726141-0300 XRSample[421:8804] Rendering mode set to: OpenGL ES 3.x
Unknown screen orientation received! Assuming it is Landscape Left.
Vuforia.RuntimeExtensionMethods:ToVuforiaScreenOrientation(ScreenOrientation)
Vuforia.IOSUnityPlayer:SetUnityScreenOrientation()
Vuforia.IOSUnityPlayer:ContinueInit()
Vuforia.VuforiaRuntime:InitInternal()

We're having the same issue. This is a critical issue for us that leaves the app unusable on iOS.

Same happens to me, can't use vuforia with google cardboad on Unity 2019, that's devastating, because we have a project that already uses both and we can't upgrade it since ios 14.0.1 came out.

I've created a repository to reproduce the problem containing only the Cardboard VR Sample scene and Vuforia binaries. It can be easily tested just by building to iOS and seeing that VR view does not load and shows the exact same debug log I posted here. The project is using Unity 2019.4.11f1.

Figured this might help Vuforia devs to debug the issue (and if it's something related to Vuforia).