Mobile AR News Features

How To: The Ultimate Guide to Hatching Eggs in Pokémon GO

Finding Pokémon in the wild isn't the only way to add to your collection in Pokémon GO—you're also able to hatch your own from eggs that you've gotten from PokéStops.

ARKit 101: How to Pilot Your 3D Plane to a Location Using 'hitTest' in ARKit

Hello, budding augmented reality developers! My name is Ambuj, and I'll be introducing all of you Next Reality readers to the world ARKit, as I'm developing an ARKit 101 series on using ARKit to create augmented reality apps for iPad and iPhone. My background is in software engineering, and I've been working on iOS apps for the past three years.

News: Samsung Elevates Galaxy Note 10+ with Depth Camera for 3D Scanning & Augmented Reality Apps

The mobile augmented reality war for dominance between Apple and its Asia-based rivals is in full effect.

News: Facebook Brings Its AR Camera Effects to Instagram & Messenger Apps

On Tuesday, on the one-year anniversary of the announcement of its AR Camera platform, Facebook founder and CEO Mark Zuckerburg revealed at the company's F8 developers conference that the platform will be extended to the company's Instagram and Messenger apps.

ARKit 101: How to Place a Virtual Television & Play a Video on It in Augmented Reality

In a previous tutorial, we were able to place the Mona Lisa on vertical surfaces such as walls, books, and monitors using ARKit 1.5. By combining the power of Scene Kit and Sprite Kit (Apple's 2D graphics engine), we can play a video on a flat surface in ARKit.

News: Walmart & Target Unwrap New Augmented Reality Features to Bring in Holiday Shoppers

This year's holiday shopping season is shaping up to be fertile ground for augmented reality to show its worth, as both Walmart and Target have crafted immersive experiences designed to engage shoppers in the coming weeks.

News: 8th Wall Brings Image Targets to Its Web-Based Augmented Reality Platform

When it comes to web-based augmented reality, 8th Wall has emerged as one of the leading platform providers, and the company just cranked up its capabilities another notch for AR marketers.

News: New York Times App Lets You See a Higgs Particle Reaction from the Large Hadron Collider in Augmented Reality

Although it's impossible (at least for now) to travel back in time to see the Big Bang, The New York Times has provided its readers the closest simulation of the experience via its latest augmented reality feature.

News: Young Readers Can Now Enter the World of Dr. Seuss via New AR App Created with Unity's Project MARS

Alongside Sesame Street, the Dr. Seuss universe has been a constant presence in the formative years of several generations of children in the US.

News: Scandy Gives Tango Owners a Taste of 3D Scanning

Mobile 3D scanning company Scandy has released a new app for devices on Google's Tango mobile AR platform that gives users the advanced 3D scanning capabilities.

News: Microsoft Remote Assist Now Available for Android in Preview

Just weeks after revealing plans to port one of its most vital augmented reality products from HoloLens to the smartphone world, Microsoft has finally opened the mobile software floodgates to the public.

News: This Billie Eilish Oculus Quest 2 Video Inadvertently Offers a Peek at AR Gaming on the VR Headset

It's always fun to get an unexpected glimpse of the future, especially when that peek is so close you can actually feel the excitement of the new emerging dynamic.

News: China's Vivo Unveils Time-of-Flight 3D Sensor That Rivals iPhone X's TrueDepth Camera

The spirit of Google's Tango augmented reality platform lives on at Vivo, a China-based company that has developed its own 3D sensor for mobile devices.

News: Burberry Teams with Google Search to Let You Browse High Fashion in Augmented Reality

Just days ago, Georgio Armani canceled his live show in Milan and opted to stream it instead due to coronavirus concerns. Now, at the start of Paris Fashion Week — shadowed by similar worries — Burberry has launched an augmented reality tool that lets you view the latest high fashion from the comfort of your home.

News: Facebook's New Messenger Kids Aims to Lock in Young AR Users, Give Parents More Control

Next to millennials, one of the groups most coveted by brand marketers is "Generation Z," the consumers of tomorrow who were born between 1996 and 2010. On Monday, Facebook established a beachhead with that demographic in the realm of augmented reality by launching Facebook Messenger Kids.

News: This Viral Instagram Augmented Reality Filter Will Tell You Which Disney Character You Really Are

One Instagram creator's augmented reality homage to Disney's deep bench of animated characters has earned him fifteen minutes of fame.

ARKit 101: Using the Unity ARKit Plugin to Create Apps for the iPhone & iPad

Many developers, myself included, use Unity for 3D application development as well as making games. There are many that mistakenly believe Unity to be a game engine. And that, of course, is how it started. But we now live in a world where our applications have a new level of depth.

News: Sherwin-Williams Uses Augmented Reality to Take the Guesswork Out of Paint Color Selection

Do you see a red door and wonder if it might be a good idea to paint it black? You could "ask Ask Sherwin-Williams," or, better yet, you could just ask the new augmented reality features in the retailer's mobile app.

Apple AR: Star Wars Holograms Are Now a Real Thing on iPhone X via Clips App

Augmented reality is making many of our childhood dreams from Star Wars come true. A week after Lenovo gave us the ability to actually play Holochess, Apple has now made it possible to take live video of ourselves and layer on a (non-3D) hologram-like effect, closely resembling the famous Star Wars hologram scene featuring Princess Leia decades ago.

Hands-On: Here's How Augmented Reality in Google Search Works

Lions and tigers and bears are just a few of the animals that Google users can now bring into their physical environments.

Apple AR: Occipital's ARKit App Offers Room Scanning on Par with Tango for iPhones

In off-record discussions with AR experts, the consensus on ARKit is that it takes a software approach to the depth-sensors available on Tango devices. As a result, the toolkit has shortcomings, such as detecting walls and vertical surfaces.

ARCore 101: How to Create a Mobile AR Application in Unity, Part 4 (Enabling Surface Detection)

One of the primary factors that separates an augmented reality device from a standard heads-up display such as Google Glass is dimensional depth perception. This can be created by either RGB cameras, infrared depth cameras, or both, depending on the level of accuracy you're aiming for.

Apple AR: Virtual Dog Demo by Ridgeline Could Be the New Tamagotchi

This demo made with Apple's ARKit is 13/10 and features a very good boy. Since the ARKit was announced, there have been rumors going around about what it could mean for pet lovers who want to see augmented reality dogs. The popular Twitter We Rate Dogs has created a Good Dogs Game app that lets you have a your own virtual dog, but now Ridgeline Labs have also entered the arena with an ARKit dog game of their own, and it's the best thing I've ever seen.

News: Papa John's Launches 'Spider-Man: Far from Home' AR Experience via Snapchat

In the Tom Holland era, it appears to be impossible to promote a new Spider-Man movie without an augmented reality experience, a trend that continues with Spider-Man: Far From Home.

News: View the Lands You'll Conquer in 'God of War' with Mimir's Vision AR App

With the heavily anticipated installment of the God of War game series arriving on April 20, PlayStation has taken the opportunity to make its first foray into mobile augmented reality with a companion app.

News: Starbucks Uses Instagram AR to Promote Sustainability via Holiday Campaign

Starbucks is spicing things up ahead of this holiday season with a little augmented reality joy. This week the company launched its first Instagram filter, called Holijoy, delivered like an early Christmas gift and packing four seasonal lenses.

News: Blizzard Transforms Snapchat with World of Warcraft 15th Anniversary AR Lenses

If the name Leroy Jenkins elicits a reaction from you, then you are old enough to remember the iconic title World of Warcraft from its heydey (whether or not you actually played the massively multiplayer online role-playing game).

News: Posemoji App Lets You Use Your Body to Create Augmented Reality Emoji & Designs

The great thing about augmented reality is that so much is possible using the emerging tools and software, your only real limit is your imagination — that includes making real versions of imagined products.

Hands-on: I Went to Battle in Augmented Reality with Father.IO & Lived to Tell About It

Last week, augmented reality startup Proxy42 released Father.IO, a multiplayer game that turns any indoor or outdoor space into a laser tag arena.

How To: Change the Color of an Object Before Taking the Photo with Your HTC One

Aside from the most basic functions, most of us are pretty useless when it comes to Photoshop. Yes, we can all add filters, but who wants to see everything in black-and-white or sepia? Why not change a sunflower blue, your hair pink, or your lips purple—without having to spend hours with editing software.

Apple AR: Take a Walk on the Moon with New Space Door Demo

The latest portal demo made with Apple's ARKit is one small step for man, one giant leap for augmented reality. That's right, the latest demo allows you to venture through a door onto a moon from wherever you are.

News: ManoMotion Updates Its Hand Tracking SDK for Smartphones with Skeleton Tracking

If two hands are better than one, then two hand-tracking SDKs must be better than one as well. After uSens announced its Hand Tracking SDK at the Augmented World Expo in Santa Clara on Thursday, ManoMotion unveiled the latest version of its own SDK. Both technologies give apps the ability to track hand gestures with just a smartphone camera.

News: BMW Uses ARKit to Let You Customize Your New Car in iOS

Last month, BMW rolled out its playful take on augmented reality with Snapchat, and now the automaker is bringing that same immersive computing whimsy to iOS directly.

News: Jack in the Box Partners with Paramount to Promote 'Sonic the Hedgehog' Movie with Snapchat AR

There might not be a better brand partnership for the speedy Sonic the Hedgehog character than a fast-food restaurant. For that matter, augmented reality is also the ideal technology for promoting a movie that features an animated talking rodent living life in the real world.

News: This AR App Could Make Your Next Dentist Visit Less Frightening

For some, going to the dentist can be a terrifying experience, but a new use of augmented reality could go a long way toward making the trip feel more like it's worth the orthodontic angst.

How To: Android + Drive Assist = Augmented Reality Goodness for Your Car

While texting and driving may get you a ticket, there are still a ton of uses for your phone in your car, music and navigation just to name a couple. Every Android device comes with access to GPS and traffic updates, but none of those apps really have your back in real-time.

News: This App Turns the iPhone X into an AR Face-Painting Booth

Thanks to Face Maker, a new app for the iPhone X, children everywhere can now avoid the trauma of face painting.

Apple AR: Become Pac-Man with Immersive Augmented Reality Game

There have been many classic games that have been rebooted thanks to Apple's ARKit, including Tetris, but none have been quite so immersive as this one. YouTube user KobiSnir has created an augmented reality Pac-Man game where you are Pac-Man, dubbed "ARMan."

News: Children's Book Classic Peter Rabbit & Other Tales Come to AR via iOS App

The landscape for mobile augmented reality apps is still mostly filled with utility and gaming apps, but a new entrant into the space is looking to pull children into the mix.

News: Toyota Rolls Out Web-Based AR Advertising Campaign via 8th Wall

While Toyota ranks as the leading automotive brand in the world, the company is a follower when it comes to augmented reality.