Who controls the session?
In well-designed Virtual Reality therapy, the patient simply watches and relaxes. Choosing the scenario, adjusting the volume and deciding when to stop is the team's job, and not the patient's, who is often frail, cognitively impaired or simply resting inside the experience.
The challenge is practical: how does one person control a headset on someone else's head, across the room, and how do they manage several at once, on a ward or in a care home? That's what the Companion app is for.
One browser, one fleet
Companion opens in the browser on any PC or tablet on the same Wi-Fi network. There's nothing to install, configure or update: the address is shown in the headset's own app. Each headset appears as a card on screen, and from there the clinician:
- picks the scenario and plays or pauses;
- skips ±10 seconds;
- adjusts volume and brightness remotely;
- assigns the patient to the session;
- triggers an immediate emergency stop.
One person can run a whole fleet of headsets from a single screen, useful when several sessions are running at once.
Everything runs on the local network. Companion doesn't depend on the internet or cloud accounts, and no patient data leaves the device, GDPR-compliant by default.
Why "nothing to install" matters
In a healthcare service, every new piece of software is a request to IT, an approval, a maintenance burden. By running in the browser, Companion avoids all of that: it works on any PC or tablet already in the service, with no integration into hospital systems and no installation. The team starts using it the same day.
RVer's role
Companion is part of RVer, a Class I Medical Device (base product, registered in EUDAMED and with INFARMED (Portugal), EU MDR 2017/745). The philosophy is always the same: technology amplifies the clinical team, it doesn't replace it. The patient lives the experience; the team stays in control, from the first tap to the emergency stop.
Managing several headsets from one screen changes the answer to who can run a session.
Frequently asked questions
How does the team control the Virtual Reality headsets during a session?
Through the Companion app, which opens in the browser on any PC or tablet on the same Wi-Fi network, with nothing to install. Each headset appears as a card: pick the scenario, play or pause, adjust volume and brightness, assign the patient and trigger a remote emergency stop.
Do you need to install software to use Companion?
No. Companion runs in the browser at the address the headset's own app shows. There's nothing to install, configure or update, and it works on any PC or tablet on the network.
Can I manage several headsets at once?
Yes. Each headset appears as a card on the same page, so a single person can control and monitor a whole fleet from one screen.
Does Companion send data to the cloud?
No. Everything runs on the local network, with no dependency on the internet or cloud accounts. No patient data leaves the device, in line with GDPR.