In this article
What a property virtual tour is
A virtual tour is any way of walking through a property from a screen instead of in person. When agents say "virtual tour" they can mean three quite different things:
- A walkthrough video. The simplest option: you film as you walk through the property and post it. Viewers see what you chose to show, in the order you filmed it.
- A 360 tour. Panoramic photos taken from fixed points. Viewers look around from each point and jump to the next one. It is usually made with a 360 camera on a tripod.
- A reconstructed 3D tour. The room is rebuilt in 3D from a video, and viewers move freely through it as if they were walking. This is what Hausplat does, using a technique called Gaussian splatting.
The differences between the last two are covered in 3D tour vs. 360 tour. This article focuses on making a tour with your phone and no extra gear.
What you need
- A phone that records in Full HD or higher. An ultra-wide lens (0.5x) is even better: each frame captures more of the room and the tour comes out more complete.
- Even light. Every light on and the curtains open, without direct sun coming through the window.
- A still room. No people or pets moving around while you film.
- One to three minutes per room. That is all it takes.
You don't need a tripod, a 360 camera, a scanner or special apps. Neither do your clients: the tour opens from a link, in the browser.
Step by step
1. Get the room ready
Tidy up what shows, put away personal items and leave the doors the way you want them in the tour, open or closed. Anything that moves while you record, like a curtain in the breeze or someone walking past, comes out blurry or as a ghost.
2. Set up your phone
Use the ultra-wide lens, in landscape. Before you start, press and hold on the screen until the lock appears: it locks exposure and focus, so colors don't shift depending on where you point. If you have an iPhone, the recording guide lists the recommended settings one by one.
3. Record two slow loops
- First loop: walk around the room about two feet from the walls, with the phone facing the center.
- Second loop: cross from corner to corner through the middle, facing the walls.
With both loops, every corner is filmed from two sides, which is what the reconstruction needs. Go slower than feels necessary and turn gently at the corners. During one of the loops, tilt the phone up a little so the ceiling gets filmed too.
4. Send the original file
Messaging apps like WhatsApp recompress video and detail is lost. Move the file with a cable or Google Drive, or send it on WhatsApp as a document rather than as a video.
5. Upload it and wait for the email
You upload one video per room from your dashboard. With standard quality, the tour is ready about an hour after processing starts, and we email you when it is done.
6. Review it and clean it up
Open the tour and walk through it the way your client would. If something is floating in the air, or the window shows something you'd rather not, select it in the studio and delete it, then choose the view the tour opens with. Every edit is saved as a new version: the original stays untouched.
7. Share the link
Every tour has its own link. Clients open it from a message, an email or your listing, on a phone or a computer, with nothing to install. How to share a virtual tour has sample messages and a checklist for before you send it.
Which rooms to film
Each video is one room, and each room becomes a tour with its own link. You don't have to film everything: start with the rooms that weigh most in the decision, like the living room, the kitchen, the main bedroom and the balcony or terrace. Every kind of room has its quirks, covered in how to film an apartment room by room.
What to know before you start
A 3D tour made from a video is very faithful to what you filmed and weak on what you didn't:
- Whatever you didn't film is empty or blurry. If you never pointed at the ceiling, looking up shows holes.
- Mirrors and glass are simplified. Film them at an angle rather than head-on.
- Very small rooms are harder. In a tiny bathroom it is hard to do two loops, and the result is usually weaker than in a living room.
Almost none of this can be fixed afterwards: it depends on the recording. That is why it is worth checking the table of common problems at the end of the recording guide before your first shoot.
What it costs
Your first tour is free, no card required. After that, plans are billed in US dollars based on how many listings you upload each month, using credits: one credit is one standard-quality tour. Editing in the studio and exporting videos doesn't use credits. The plans are in the pricing section.