How to Make a Virtual Tour on Your Phone (Step-by-Step Guide)

Step 2

Install Clear Pano and create a new tour

▶ Watch this step at 1:55

Download Clear Pano for iPhone or Clear Pano for Android, open it and create an account. Your first tour is free.

1. Tap New Tour.
2. Enter a tour name, for example “Demo Tour”.
3. Enter a description, for example “Semi-detached house for sale”.
4. Tap Property Location, find the property on the map, pinpoint it and tap Set Location.
5. If the property has more than one floor, turn on Add floors. This makes it easier to import photos floor by floor.
6. Tap Create.

Step 3

Add the floors of the property

▶ Watch this step at 2:52

If you turned on Add floors, you now tell Clear Pano which floors the property has. The example house has a ground floor and a first floor.

1. Tap Add Floor once for each floor.
2. Tap a floor to name it. Clear Pano suggests a name and a short button label, such as “Ground Floor” with the label G, or “1st Floor” with the label 1. Edit them if you want, then tap Add.
3. For floors below ground, add a lower floor and name it, for example “Basement” with the label B.
4. Tap Save when your floors are complete.

Single-storey property? Skip this step.

Step 4

Import your 360° photos

▶ Watch this step at 4:33

Now import the photos for each floor.

1. On the ground floor, tap Browse Photos, select all the ground floor photos and tap the tick to confirm.
2. Do the same for the first floor and any other floors.
3. Tap Done. Your tour is created.

In the editor, a floor selector lets you show one floor's photos at a time, or tap All to see every photo. If you later publish to Google Street View, viewers get the same floor selector there.

To reorder scenes: hold your finger on a scene, drag it to the right position and let go.

Step 5

Rename your scenes

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Each photo is a “scene”. Give every scene a clear room name so viewers know where they are.

1. Select the scene you want to rename.
2. Tap Rename.
3. Tap the X to clear the text and type the new name, for example “Living Room”.
4. Tap Rename.

Repeat for all your scenes.

Step 6

Link your rooms with hotspots

▶ Watch this step at 6:41

Hotspots are what turn separate 360° photos into a tour. A viewer taps a hotspot to move from one photo to the next.

1. Point the crosshair at the spot where the next photo was taken.
2. Hold your finger down on the screen.
3. Choose the hotspot type. Pick Floor Hotspot when the spot is on the floor in the same space. Pick Area Hotspot when it leads into a new area, such as through a doorway.
4. Select the scene that was taken at that spot.

Repeat until every scene is linked.

To find a hotspot quickly, tap the hotspot button. To delete one, hold your finger on the hotspot button and tap Delete.

Step 7

Recenter each photo

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The center point is the direction a photo faces when it first loads. Set it so each room opens on its best view.

1. Go to the scene and turn it to face the direction you want.
2. Tap the Center button.

You'll see “Center point updated”. From now on, that photo always loads facing this way.

Step 8

Remove the tripod legs and unwanted objects

▶ Watch this step at 9:35

Every 360° photo has tripod legs at the bottom. Clear Pano removes them on your phone, with no separate editing app.

1. Go to the first photo and point the crosshair down at the tripod legs.
2. Tap Remove in the toolbar.
3. Paint a selection over the tripod legs. Make sure they're fully covered.
4. The tripod legs disappear. Move to the next photo and repeat.

The same tool removes other things, such as a reflection of the camera and tripod. Point the crosshair at the object, tap Remove again and paint over it.

Step 9

Colour grade your photos

▶ Watch this step at 11:30

If a room looks dark, brighten it.

1. Choose the photo you want to adjust.
2. Tap Colour and experiment with the sliders. In the video I raise Exposure to brighten a dark laundry room, then raise Shadow to lift the shadows.
3. Apply the changes to this photo only, or apply them to all the photos in the tour.

Step 10

Add info spots

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Info spots let you attach details to something in the room. Viewers tap the spot to read them.

1. Point the crosshair at the object, for example the TV.
2. Tap Info in the toolbar.
3. Type a title (“TV”) and the information (“Free access to premium TV channels”).
4. Tap Add.

Step 11

Add text labels

▶ Watch this step at 13:19

You can also place text directly in a photo, such as a room name.

1. Point the crosshair where the text should appear.
2. Tap Text in the toolbar.
3. Type the text, for example “Kitchen”.
4. Choose the font, size and style. Turn on the drop shadow and stroke to make it stand out.
5. Tap Save.

Step 12

Preview your tour and turn on the walkthrough effect

▶ Watch this step at 14:00

Tap Preview to see the tour exactly as a viewer will. Look around, tap an info spot and tap a hotspot to move between rooms.

To make moving between photos feel like walking through the property:

1. Tap Edit to leave preview mode.
2. Tap Walkthrough in the toolbar.
3. Go back to Preview and tap through the tour.

Step 14

Add your branding and logo

▶ Watch this step at 15:28

Tap the tour name to open Tour Information. This holds the details you entered when you created the tour. Here you can also choose the tour thumbnail that appears with your share link.

To show your brand on the tour:

1. Tap Create Brand.
2. Add your logo, company name, a description of your brand and your contact information.
3. Tap Save, then Save again.

Once you have a brand, a Nadir option appears. A nadir is a logo placed at the very bottom of a 360° photo, where the tripod stood.

1. Tap Nadir and turn it on.
2. Adjust the size and tap Apply.

Your logo now appears at the bottom of every photo in the tour.

Step 15

Set up Google Street View (optional)

▶ Watch this step at 16:59

If you want the tour to appear on Google Maps, you need to tell Google where each photo was taken and which way it faces.

1. Scroll the toolbar to GSV and tap it.
2. Sign in with your Google account.
3. Zoom all the way in on the map so you can be as accurate as possible.
4. With the first photo selected, point to where it was taken and tap Add Pin.
5. Tap Orientation. In the picture-in-picture view, find a landmark whose direction you know, such as the front door. Turn the photo so it matches that direction on the map, then tap Done.
6. Move to the next photo and repeat until every photo has a pin and an orientation.
7. Tap Publish GSV, then go back.

The tour is now ready to publish to Google Street View, complete with a floor selector.

Step 16

Sync and publish your tour

▶ Watch this step at 23:20

First, back the tour up. Tap Sync and wait for it to finish. A synced tour is saved to the cloud, so if you change phones and open Clear Pano on the new one, the tour downloads automatically.

Then put it online:

1. Tap Publish.
2. Choose how zoomed in the tour opens. I prefer zoomed out all the way, so viewers see more of the room when it loads.
3. Choose who can see the tour:
   • Public: anyone can find and view it, and Google can index it.
   • Unlisted: only people with the link can view it, and Google does not index it.
   • Password Protected: only people with the password can open it.
4. Tap Publish Tour.

Your tour is now online.

Step 17

View, share and embed your tour

▶ Watch this step at 24:43

Tap Copy Link, open your web browser and paste the link. The tour loads, and you can look around, switch floors, read the tour information and see your branding and all the scenes. Send the same link to clients or add it to a property listing.

To embed the tour on a website:

1. Tap Embed on Website.
2. Choose an aspect ratio. I find 4:3 works best.
3. Tap Copy Embed Code and send it to your web developer to add to the site.

Step 18

Publish to Google Street View

▶ Watch this step at 25:47

If you set up Street View in step 15, you can now send the photos to Google. This needs a paid Clear Pano plan.

1. Wait until the photos show as ready to publish.
2. Tap Publish to Street View.
3. Stay on this screen until it finishes, and don't let the phone go to sleep. A strong Wi-Fi connection helps the photos upload quickly and without errors.
4. When it's done, you'll see a confirmation that your photos are live and Street View is up to date.

To see them, tap View on Google Maps. In the Google Maps app you can also go to Contribute, then See contributions, then See all photos.