Panoramic photos are popping up everywhere — real estate ads, vacation rentals, even car websites. Up until now, making your own personal panoramic photos has been rather tricky, requiring you to snap several photos and then stitch them together with software. 360 makes it simple by simply turning in place, but the low resolution might not suit everyone’s needs.

When you first launch the app, you must create an account on the 360 service for sharing purposes. Once registered, you can quickly view the stream of photos — both regular shots and panoramic photos posted by others — from everywhere or just near your location. People currently contribute panoramas from all over the world, so it’s fun to browse and get a sense of international surroundings.

Shooting a panoramic picture couldn’t be easier. Press the 360 button and hold yourphone up at eye level, then move it in a circle around you, guided by an arrow on the screen telling you which direction to go. A helpful circular map on the side of the screen shows you how much of the panorama you’ve covered. The app uses the phone’s compass to do this, and a tips screen shows you how to reset it — moving the phone in a figure eight — if it needs recalibration.

It’s also easy to super-charge your boring Facebook and Twitter posts by connecting to those services right through the app, and expose your friends and followers to your 360-degree scenes.

The only downside is the image quality of the panoramic pictures. Indoor shots look rather dark, and both indoor and outdoor can be a little blurry, but I was able to capture some shots that looked pretty good, and I found a few posted by others that were clear and bright. Check it out!

Download the free Appolicious Android app