diff --git a/gst-libs/gst/gl/eagl/gstglcontext_eagl.m b/gst-libs/gst/gl/eagl/gstglcontext_eagl.m
index 42dde56cf4..0ab07fe731 100644
--- a/gst-libs/gst/gl/eagl/gstglcontext_eagl.m
+++ b/gst-libs/gst/gl/eagl/gstglcontext_eagl.m
@@ -219,18 +219,29 @@ gst_gl_context_eagl_create_context (GstGLContext * context, GstGLAPI gl_api,
 {
   GstGLContextEagl *context_eagl = GST_GL_CONTEXT_EAGL (context);
   GstGLContextEaglPrivate *priv = context_eagl->priv;
+  EAGLSharegroup *share_group;
 
   if (other_context) {
     EAGLContext *external_gl_context = (EAGLContext *)
         gst_gl_context_get_gl_context (other_context);
-    EAGLSharegroup *share_group = [external_gl_context sharegroup];
-
-    priv->eagl_context = [[EAGLContext alloc] initWithAPI: kEAGLRenderingAPIOpenGLES2 sharegroup:share_group];
-    [share_group release];
+    share_group = [external_gl_context sharegroup];
   } else {
-    priv->eagl_context = [[EAGLContext alloc] initWithAPI:kEAGLRenderingAPIOpenGLES2];
+    share_group = nil;
   }
 
+  priv->eagl_context = [[EAGLContext alloc] initWithAPI:kEAGLRenderingAPIOpenGLES3 sharegroup:share_group];
+  if (!priv->eagl_context) {
+    priv->eagl_context = [[EAGLContext alloc] initWithAPI:kEAGLRenderingAPIOpenGLES2 sharegroup:share_group];
+  }
+  if (!priv->eagl_context) {
+    g_set_error (GST_GL_CONTEXT_ERROR, GST_GL_CONTEXT_ERROR_CREATE_CONTEXT,
+        "Failed to create OpenGL ES context");
+    return FALSE;
+  }
+
+  if (share_group)
+    [share_group release];
+
   priv->eagl_layer = NULL;
   priv->framebuffer = 0;
   priv->color_renderbuffer = 0;