A headset is a common present and an awkward one. It arrives, it gets set up, somebody plays a shooting game for twenty minutes, and then it goes in a drawer. The thing that keeps a headset out of the drawer is having something on it worth putting it on for, which is why "give them the headset, then give them somewhere to go with it" is a better present than either half alone.
So, gifting the library. We will start with the caveat, because it changes everything that follows.
We do not sell gift cards, gift codes or redeemable vouchers. There is no such product and we are not going to imply there is. A subscription lives on an account, so gifting it means either setting it up on their account or sharing a device that is already signed in. Both work. Neither comes in an envelope.
Why there is no gift card
Because subscriptions here are attached to an account rather than to a code. Access is decided by who is signed in, which is what makes it work across a Quest, a PICO, a Galaxy XR and the Vision Pro app without anybody managing licences. That design is good for daily use and bad for putting in a card, and we would rather have the first than the second.
We are not going to build a fake voucher flow to paper over that. If somebody sells you an Explore POV gift code, it did not come from us.
Route one: set it up on their account
This is the cleanest version and the one we would suggest for a partner, a parent or anybody you will be in the room with. If the person you are buying for is older and new to headsets, VR travel for seniors covers fit, seating and which experiences make the kindest first watch.
- Do the headset part first If the headset is also the present, get it out of the box, through its own setup and onto the house Wi-Fi before anything else. Nothing kills a gift like a firmware update on the day.
- Open the library in the headset browser Go to explorepov.com/vr, press play, then press Enter VR. Let them watch a trailer before any account exists. This is the part that decides whether the present lands, and it costs nothing to try.
- Create the account in their name Their email, their sign-in, their account. This matters: the subscription follows the account, so if it is yours, the present is really a loan.
- Subscribe on that account Pick a plan on the pricing page and pay with your card. The card and the account do not have to belong to the same person. You are simply the one holding the phone at that moment.
- Write the renewal date down Covered properly below, and the single most common way a gift like this turns into an argument in three months.
Route two: share a device that is already signed in
If the headset is going to live in a shared space, a lounge, a family room, a common room, then the simpler answer is to sign in once on that headset and leave it signed in. Anybody who picks it up is watching. Nobody manages anything.
This is genuinely how a lot of households use it, and it is the right shape for a present that is meant for a room rather than a person. The trade is that it is tied to that headset: whoever picks up a different one will be signed out. If the person you are giving to has their own headset and their own habits, route one is better.
The renewal conversation, which we would rather you had now
Subscriptions renew automatically until somebody cancels. That is normal, it is stated on the pricing page, and it is exactly the thing that makes gifting slightly awkward, because a present should not quietly become a recurring charge on your card.
Two ways to handle it, both fine:
- Tell them. "I have put three months on it, it renews on this date, here is how to cancel or keep it." Then it is theirs to decide and nobody is surprised.
- Set a reminder for yourself. Note the renewal date the day you subscribe and decide then whether to continue or cancel. Cancelling keeps access running to the end of the period already paid for, so nothing is lost by doing it early.
Cancelling on a web subscription is done by signing in, opening the account menu at the top right and using "Manage subscription" to reach the billing portal. If the subscription was bought inside the Vision Pro app instead, it is cancelled through Apple, under Settings, then Apple ID, then Subscriptions. The FAQ has the detail.
Which plan for a present
Plans and current prices are on the pricing page and we are not going to restate numbers here that could go out of date. The shape worth knowing: there is a monthly option and there are longer options that work out cheaper per month.
For gifting specifically, a longer block is usually the better present, because a headset habit takes more than a few weeks to form and the first month tends to be the novelty month rather than the real one. A single month is fine if what you actually want is to let somebody try the idea properly.
Does it work on the headset they own?
Almost certainly. The library streams through the browser already on the headset, so there is nothing to install from a store and nothing to sideload. Meta Quest 2, 3, 3S and Pro, PICO 4, 4 Ultra and Neo 3, Samsung Galaxy XR, HTC Vive, and desktop headsets on SteamVR through Chrome or Edge. On Apple Vision Pro there is a native app, and it is the most polished way to watch.
The one platform-specific note worth passing on with the present: on PICO, use Wolvic rather than the built-in browser. The reasons and the steps are in how to watch VR travel on PICO. For Quest, everything works in the browser that is already there, and the walkthrough is at how to watch VR travel on Meta Quest.
Making it feel like a present rather than a login
A subscription is not a thing you can wrap, so give them a destination instead of an account. Pick one experience that means something to the person, open it on your laptop, and hand it across with the QR code on screen so they can scan it straight into their headset. The handoff is described in VR travel on your computer.
Somewhere they have been works. Somewhere they always said they would go works better. Sunset Over Kyoto Temple, Drifting Through Venice, Reine Viewpoint in Lofoten, or Winter Wonderland if you want snow at the right time of year. The full list is in the destinations index, and our picks are in the experiences people come back to.
If you want to check the whole thing works before the day, open a trailer yourself. No account is needed to watch one, on any headset, which makes it easy to rehearse the moment before you stage it.