Avatour is a cloud-based remote meeting and collaboration platform supporting live and recorded 360° and 2D video. It is the only solution in the world offering live 360° video conferencing where each remote participant can independently look around and interact with people on site - as if they were there in person. In addition, Avatour offers a rich suite of collaboration tools including in-video notes, AI-generated meeting summaries, AI-populated checklist reports, and Workspaces for 24/7 access to all shared assets (videos, images, presentations, reports, and more).

Watch our How-It-Works video (2 min.) to see the full experience for both on-site operators and remote participants. In short: an operator on site sets up a 360° camera and starts an Avatour meeting. Remote participants join from any web browser and can independently look around in the 360° environment, take notes, and collaborate in real time. On the Avatour Features page you will find an overview of all collaboration tools and workspace capabilities.

Up to 20 interactive participants can join an Avatour meeting simultaneously. In addition, up to 10 Spectators can join in a listen/view-only mode (no webcam, microphone, or playback controls — chat interaction only), bringing the total capacity to 30 per meeting.

There is no limit on simultaneous viewers in a Workspace. Workspace Owners control access through role-based permissions, allowing them to decide who can host meetings from a 360 camera, upload videos or photos, generate or edit inspection reports (Editor role), and who can view assets and add notes (Viewer role).

No. Avatour is a cloud-based Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) platform that is accessible from any modern web browser, so meeting participants and Workspace viewers do not need to install any software.

For live 360° meetings, offline recording and upload, the Avatour Camera App comes pre-installed on the 360° cameras included in the Avatour Turnkey Kit. Optional apps are also available: an Avatour VR headset app for immersive viewing, and mobile apps for iOS and Android that allow users to upload videos from third-party cameras or directly from their phone.

Yes. Avatour meetings can be used to jointly review pre-recorded 360° assets and make decisions together, which is especially useful when schedules or on-site connectivity make live meetings difficult. If a location doesn’t have an Avatour 360° camera, participants can also share a standard 2D camera feed from a smartphone. Live 360° video is only needed when you want remote participants to explore a space in real time.

Yes. Each participant can control their own view of the 360° scene, allowing multiple people to explore different areas simultaneously. The host can use the Lock Focus feature to align everyone’s view when needed.

No. The 360° camera stays at the site being visited. Remote participants can join from any computer, tablet, or smartphone via a web browser - or optionally via a VR headset - without needing a camera of their own.

The core difference is the 360° field of view. With standard video conferencing or smart glasses, remote participants are limited to roughly 70° - they see only what the on-site person points the camera at. With Avatour, each participant can pan and zoom independently in a full 360° environment, exploring the site as if they were physically there.

Avatour provides automatic video stabilization and a platform optimized for high-resolution delivery of feeds originating from the remote site. The platform also includes purpose-built collaboration tools such as in-video notes, AI-generated transcripts, meeting summaries, and automatically populated inspection or audit checklists. These features make Avatour far more effective for inspections, audits, and walkthroughs than standard video conferencing.

Digital twins provide a snapshot of a site - a static or periodically updated 3D model ideal for planning and asset documentation. For large sites like warehouses or construction sites, creating and updating these models can take significant time. They capture how a location looks, but not live processes, people, or real-time conditions.

Avatour delivers a current, real-world view. Participants can explore live or recorded sites in full 360°, see ongoing processes and people, and collaborate in real time. Meetings can be scheduled multiple times a day, making Avatour ideal for inspections, audits, and site-specific decision-making. While the two technologies complement each other, Avatour enables frequent collaboration, closing the loop faster between on-site personnel and remote participants.

Yes. Avatour is one of the simplest ways to run both pre-recorded and live 360° virtual tours. Unlike photosphere-based tour tools, Avatour supports full video (not just static images) with narration, live interaction, and collaboration tools. A pre-recorded tour can be created in two clicks using QuickCapture; a live tour is as simple as sending a calendar invitation. Learn more at our Use Cases page about Virtual Tours.

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Yes. You can share live 2D video from any device camera - either to provide a close-up alongside a 360° feed or to hold a meeting without a 360° camera when none is available on site. All collaboration tools remain fully available. Avatour still works as a fully-featured video conferencing platform in these cases.

Avatour includes a focused set of AI capabilities designed to make inspections, audits, and reviews more efficient:

• AI-generated topics - automatically extracts key topics discussed during a recorded meeting, with links to the video timeline.
• AI-generated meeting summaries - produces a structured summary of the meeting.
• Audio transcription - full transcript of the audio in a recorded meeting, anchored to the video timeline.
• AI-populated checklist reports - Based on a checklist template you define, Avatour’s AI pre-fills a report using workspace assets. The report is then ready for human review and sign-off, saving time while ensuring accuracy.
• Face blur - automatically obscures faces in live and recorded video to support privacy compliance.

All AI features are disabled by default and must be explicitly enabled. AI outputs are assistive only — they are presented as drafts for human review, editing, and approval. Avatour does not use AI to make decisions of any kind.

Avatour is purpose-built for site-centric activities that traditionally require physical presence. The most common use cases are:

• Remote inspections and audits – Health & Safety, Environmental, Quality, and Operational reviews
• Gemba walks and continuous improvement – lean manufacturing, operational efficiency
• Supplier and contract manufacturer oversight – regular visibility without travel
• Virtual tours for business development – showcasing facilities to prospects or clients
• Site-specific training – immersive, location-based instruction for distributed teams
• Project progress reviews – construction, installation, and infrastructure monitoring
• Best-practice sharing – capturing and distributing on-site knowledge across global teams

Avatour is used across industries including manufacturing, logistics and supply chain, chemicals, energy, construction and real estate, home and furniture retail, and insurance.

Avatour creates value on three levels. First, it delivers direct, measurable cost savings by eliminating or reducing travel — fewer flights, less time lost, lower CO2 emissions. The Avatour Analytics dashboard tracks these savings automatically per meeting (travel cost, travel time, CO2 avoided). Second, it enables more frequent and flexible oversight: because a visit no longer requires a flight, teams can check in more often, respond faster, and catch issues earlier. Third, it improves decision quality by giving remote stakeholders genuine situational awareness — the 360° view and collaboration tools mean they can see, ask, and act on the same information as if they were on site.

Yes. Avatour supports three main usage modes: (1) Live 360° meetings, where a camera operator streams in real time to remote participants; (2) Recorded asset review, where 360° videos are uploaded and reviewed asynchronously or together in a meeting; and (3) Hybrid sessions, combining live streaming with simultaneous review of previously recorded assets. Workspaces provide a 24/7 library of all assets for on-demand, self-serve access.

Yes. The Avatour Camera App supports fully offline recording. The operator records assets locally on the device with no internet connection required. Once connectivity is restored, the recording is uploaded to the Avatour platform.

AI processing—such as face blurring, summarization, and checklist reporting—can then be applied to the uploaded recording. This makes Avatour practical for industrial sites, remote facilities, and field locations where connectivity is limited or unreliable.

A compatible 360° camera is required only when capturing or streaming 360° video from a site. See our Avatour Hardware page for the list of supported cameras.

The Avatour Turnkey Kit contains everything needed to start conducting live 360° meetings and offline recording out of the box, including a supported 360° camera, an extendable camera pole/stick, a tripod base, a Bluetooth audio headset, an extended battery pack, and the Avatour Camera App pre-installed. The kit is designed to be portable and ready to use from day one, with no technical configuration required.

No. Avatour runs on compatible 360° cameras via the Avatour app. All hardware offered by Avatour is off-the-shelf third-party equipment, selected and assembled into Turnkey Kits for customer convenience.

Yes, with one distinction. You can use any 360° camera to record video and upload it to the Avatour platform for review and collaboration. However, for live 360° video meetings (real-time streaming), you need a 360° camera that supports the Avatour Camera App. See avatour.com/hardware-kit for the current list of compatible cameras.

Yes. Unlike fixed conference-room cameras or CCTV systems, the Avatour camera setup is designed to move freely throughout a site. The 360° cameras are lightweight, battery-powered, and can be carried on the extendable pole throughout any facility. Battery life is approximately 45 minutes on the built-in battery, or over 4 hours with the recommended external battery pack — and batteries can be swapped during a session for even longer coverage. Audio is provided via a Bluetooth headset worn by the operator.

Yes. In addition to purchasing the Avatour Turnkey Kit outright, we offer a Hardware-as-a-Service (HaaS) option where the hardware is leased as part of your overall Avatour service subscription. This reduces upfront capital expenditure and ensures hardware remains current. HaaS is available alongside our standard Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) licensing. Contact us for details.

Yes. A VR headset provides the most immersive experience for viewing 360° content — participants turn their head to look around naturally. VR headsets are optional; participants can also join from any web browser by clicking and dragging to navigate the 360° view. See support.avatour.com for the current list of compatible VR headsets and setup instructions.

Yes. We ship the Avatour Turnkey Kit globally, ready to use out of the box. Deliveries within the US and EU purchased from our webshop include free shipping and typically arrive within 2-3 business days. International deliveries outside the US and EU generally take 2-3 weeks. Import duties, local taxes, and customs regulations may apply for certain destinations — we recommend contacting us before ordering for locations outside the US and EU so we can advise on delivery options and costs.

The requirements differ for the on-site operator and remote participants. For the operator (the person running the 360° camera), uplink bandwidth is most important. Avatour delivers a good experience at 2 Mbps uplink and maximum quality at 10 Mbps. The system automatically manages lower bandwidth by reducing frame rate while preserving visual quality. For remote participants, a downlink of at least double the operator's uplink rate is recommended, though the platform dynamically transcodes the stream to accommodate connections as low as 2 Mbps. 1 Mbps uplink is sufficient for participants sharing their own camera feed.

No. WiFi is not required on site. Several connectivity options work well with Avatour:

• 4G LTE cellular is generally sufficient for live streaming at 2-6 Mbps uplink
• 5G is recommended where available for more robust, higher-bandwidth performance
• Starlink satellite service works in many locations where no cellular service is available, though throughput on the Starlink network can vary and may affect visual quality;
• And for sites with no connectivity at all, the Avatour Camera App supports fully offline recording — the session is stored locally and uploaded once a connection is available.

For a full connectivity guide and our free network compatibility check tool, visit support.avatour.com.

Yes. Avatour is designed to work with corporate network environments. All connections use standard web protocols (HTTPS/TLS on port 443), which are open on virtually all corporate networks. UDP ports are used for optimised media delivery but the system falls back to TCP if UDP is blocked. Our Knowledge Base article 'What are the ports, protocols, and IP addresses used by Avatour?' provides the full technical specification for IT and firewall configuration.

Yes. Avatour treats information security as a core operational priority. Key security measures include:

• All data encrypted in transit using TLS 1.3 and at rest using AES-256 server-side encryption (AWS SSE).
• Real-time media protected using SRTP (Secure Real-Time Transport Protocol) with DTLS.
• Each customer's data stored in a dedicated tenant environment - your data is never co-mingled with other customers'.
• Access to all data follows the principle of least privilege, with full audit logging of all access and activity.
• Avatour's security program is aligned with the SOC 2 and ISO 27001 frameworks, with certification currently in progress with both.

For full technical detail, see our Information Security White Paper, or contact us at info@avatour.live.

Yes. Avatour manages personal data in accordance with GDPR and CCPA requirements. Personal data collected is limited to first name, last name, and work email address for licensed users, plus meeting and session metadata (meeting IDs, timestamps, participant identifiers). EU customer data is stored on AWS infrastructure in Frankfurt, Germany; US customer data is stored in Virginia, USA. Customers and users can request deletion of their personal data at any time. For full details, see our Privacy Policy at avatour.com/legal/privacy-policy, or our GDPR knowledge base article at support.avatour.com.

Avatour uses Amazon Web Services (AWS) as its primary cloud infrastructure provider. EU-based customer data is stored in AWS Frankfurt (Germany); US-based customer data is stored in AWS Virginia (United States). Data residency is assigned based on the customer's organisational headquarters location. Google Cloud Platform (GCP) is used for specific processing workloads. All storage is encrypted at rest.

Yes. Avatour supports Single Sign-On via SAML 2.0, compatible with all major identity providers including Microsoft Entra ID (Azure AD), Okta, and others. When SSO is enabled, your organisation's identity provider becomes the authoritative source for user identities, passwords, and group memberships. MFA enforcement and password policies are fully controlled by your identity provider. SSO is available on Business and Enterprise licences. For setup details, see our SSO/SAML knowledge base article at support.avatour.com.

Yes. Avatour supports blurring faces in both live and recorded 360° and 2D video. Face blur can be applied to individual assets or enforced as an organisation-wide policy by administrators, ensuring all stored media automatically has faces obscured. This feature is widely used by enterprise customers as part of their GDPR and privacy compliance programmes.

Avatour provides multiple layers of protection to ensure commercially sensitive or confidential information is safeguarded during live meetings and when recordings are stored.

1. Meeting Access Controls

• Participant authentication: Meetings can be restricted to specific participants who must authenticate before joining.
• Host-controlled participation: The host can approve or deny entry and remove participants during the meeting if necessary.
  

2. Workspace Access Controls

• Role-based access: The workspace owner can grant access to specific users and assign roles (Viewer or Editor) to control what they can do.
• Secure asset access: All assets are delivered via signed URLs and are only accessible after authentication and role-based permission checks.
• Audit logging: Access, sharing, and permission changes are logged for accountability.
  

3. Recording and Storage Controls

• No-record mode: Administrators can disable recording entirely at the organization level to ensure no video is stored.
• Secure storage: When recordings are enabled, assets are stored in secure cloud infrastructure with encryption at rest.

4. Encryption and Data Protection

• Encryption in transit: All live video, audio, and data are encrypted using industry-standard TLS/SSL protocols during transmission.

5. Privacy and Content Protection Features

• Angle restriction: The 360° camera field of view can be limited to 180° or 90° to exclude sensitive areas from capture.
• Face blur: Privacy protection features can mask faces or other identifiable details in recorded content.

Access to meeting recordings and related assets is controlled through authentication, role-based permissions, and secure delivery:

• Meeting and workspace access: Only invited participants who authenticate can join a meeting. Workspace owners manage collaborators by assigning Editor or Viewer access to the workspace and its associated assets.
• Secure delivery: Assets are provided via signed URLs and are accessible only after authentication and role-based permission checks.‍
• Audit logs: All access, sharing, and permission changes are recorded.

Yes. Avatour performs vulnerability scanning at least monthly and conducts annual penetration testing against its platform. Static code analysis (Snyk) is run on every code change, and dynamic application security testing (DAST using OWASP tools) is performed on major releases. All findings are tracked and remediated through a formal security review process.

Avatour collects the minimum data necessary to operate the platform. For licensed users: first name, last name, and work email address. For all sessions: meeting metadata (meeting ID, title, start/end times), participant metadata (join/leave timestamps, user identifier), and technical diagnostic data (video quality metrics, network performance indicators). Location data is derived from IP address and used solely for ROI metrics such as estimated travel saved — it is not used for tracking or surveillance purposes. Post-meeting feedback ratings are optional. Avatour does not collect unnecessary personally identifiable information and supports the use of pseudonyms or aliases where appropriate.