Android Central: How to fix drift problems with Daydream View

Thursday, April 19, 2018

How to fix drift problems with Daydream View

Having your controller drift off while you're in the middle of a game can be frustrating, but it is fixable.

Google Daydream offers a new way to interact with your world while in VR. With the use of the remote, you are given are a greater degree of ability to easily zip from one menu to another with aplomb and ease. At least, when the remote is working properly that how it seems. While controller drift during a video can be distracting, if it crops up during a game it can seriously throw you off of your stride. Thankfully, there are a few different ways to troubleshoot this problem so that it doesn't ruin your VR gaming experience.

Update your software

If your controller is acting funky from the first time you jump into Daydream mode, then there might be a ridiculously easy fix for you. Open up Google Daydream inside of Google Play Store. From here make sure that your Daydream app is completely up to date.

If it needs an update, install the update and then check back in to see if the controller is now working properly. If it's still acting up, head into your settings menu and ensure that your Android software is up to date. While it doesn't work in every case, a number of users have reported that updating their software has eliminated drift problems.

Tap your controller

One of the easiest ways to troubleshoot your problem requires you to troubleshoot the controller directly. While it seems a bit weird, it seems that tapping the back of the controller firmly can fix many issues with drift. It doesn't require much force, and it's easy enough that you can do it without ever taking your Daydream headset off your face.

What you want to do is turn it over and place the controller in your hand with the touchpad facing down. From there you'll want to gently tap the back of the controller where the touchpad is. You don't want to whack the controller when you do this. Rather you should aim for a solid tap.

Recalibrate the controller on a solid surface

In certain cases, the problem was solved by recalibrating the Daydream remote. You're always able to recalibrate from within VR by hitting a button on your controller and having it recenter both your view and your controller. However, recalibrating on a firm, solid surface appears to help in some cases.

For this method, you'll want a solid surface like a table or the arm of your couch. Sit your remote down on the surface, and from there calibrate it several times. While this seems like a strange fix, it has worked for some folks. That's because for some reason calibrating the remote while it is sitting on a stable surface seems to make it steadier afterwards.

Charge the controller, and let Daydream View cool down

While the 2017 Daydream View comes with a built-in heatsink, this wasn't the case for the original 2016 model, and there were issues with overheating. If your problems with controller drift start to crop up after you've been playing for a while, and you haven't upgraded your headset, then it might be time to take a break.

If your phone has started to heat up inside of Daydream, then it's entirely possible that is what is causing your problem. Remove your phone from the headset, and let it cool down. If your phone hadn't heated up, then it may be that your controller needs to charge. Drift apparently seems to crop up more with the remote when it's battery is near dead. Plug your controller in, and let it get a decent charge before you try to jump into VR again.

Contact Google Support for a replacement

If none of these solutions have solved your problem, then it may be time to contact Google Support. Users who have troubleshot their Daydream View and not found any fix have had luck by contacting Google Support.

Now, when you call they may ask you to go through some of the troubleshooting methods that we have outlined above. Don't get frustrated, just go through everything with them. If none of their tips solve the problem, you can request an exchange and have a new remote sent out. For a few people, a malfunctioning remote was causing the overall problem.

Conclusion

Right now there a variety of fixes for remote drift, but none of them seem to work in every case. For now, it's a matter of trial and error in order to find a solution to this problem, but it may well become easier as time goes along. Did any of these fixes solve your problem? Do you have another fix that we didn't have here? Be sure to drop us a line in the comments and let us know about it!

April 2018: We've updated this post to ensure you have all of the information you need to troubleshoot your issues with drift while using Daydream!