Mobile AR News News

News: Facebook Camera Can Now Change Your World into an AR Paint Canvas
For social media platforms like Facebook, augmented reality represents a whole new art form with which users can express themselves online. Now, Facebook is giving those users a new brush.

News: Nickelodeon Reels in AR Mode for Popular Mobile Game Sky Whale
One of the most popular mobile games out there for kids has added an augmented reality mode that brings the titular character into the real world.

News: Zara AR App Brings Virtual Models to Life in Stores
Department store chain Zara is temporarily ditching its mannequins and dressing up its stores with augmented reality experiences featuring virtual versions of real fashion models.

News: Apple iPhone X Owners Get a Trio of Super-Realistic Snapchat Lenses Aided by the TrueDepth Camera
Snapchat has released three new augmented reality Lenses that boast uber-accurate face tracking courtesy of the TrueDepth camera on the iPhone X and ARKit.

News: Pretend You're Playing Golf in The Masters Tournament with Snapchat's Latest AR Lens
With the Masters, one of professional golfing's four most prestigious annual tournaments, now in full swing, Snapchat is giving users the ability to commemorate the moment in augmented reality.

News: App from Japan Uses Apple's iPhone X to Transform Your Face & Voice into the Cutest Anime Character
Apple's iPhone X now has the power to turn anyone into a Japanese anime character, thanks to a new app that harnesses the device's TrueDepth camera.

News: This Augmented Reality Panda App Uses the Voice of Kristen Bell to Teach Kids About Nature
What's black and white, sounds like actress Kristen Bell, and is standing in your living room talking to your kids right now? Don't worry, that's just Genius the Panda, an augmented reality character from the Yakables app for iPhones and iPads.

News: Artsy Claims Crown as First App to Take Advantage of ARKit's New Wall-Crawling Abilities
Less than a week after ARKit 1.5 became available to the public through the iOS 11.3 update, the App Store has its first app with AR features (Artsy) to leverage Apple's AR toolkit update.

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: Star Wars Holochess Comes to ARKit-Friendly iPhones & iPads
Part of the Star Wars: Jedi Challenges experience that was once exclusive to users of Lenovo's Mirage AR headset is now available to anyone with an ARKit-compatible iOS device.

News: Coachella & Eminem Hit High Notes with Augmented Reality Mobile Apps
The annual Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival is one of those events that everyone talks about, so an augmented reality experience in the festival's mobile app and from one of its headlining acts, Eminem, basically means the technology is officially cool.

News: Snapchat Highlights Augmented Reality Feature in New Group Video Chat
Snapchat has added yet another social feature to its mobile app, and this one makes it possible to use augmented reality with a group of friends over video.

News: Snapchat Refocuses on Its Camera & AR Magic in New Marketing Push
With a fresh series of videos and a new webpage, Snapchat has composed an answer to its own question, "What is Snapchat?"

News: Snapchat's Easter Egg Hunt Showcases Potential for Branded Augmented Reality Games
Alongside the usual collection of holiday-themed Lenses, Snapchatters received an extra-special treat from Snapchat over the weekend—a world-spanning Easter egg hunt.

News: Meet the 8-Year-Old ARKit Developer Who Just Uploaded Her First Augmented Reality App to Apple's App Store
While you were busy browsing Instagram, composing tweets, or chasing Snapchat updates, an eight-year-old ARKit developer was hard at work on her first step toward taking over the tech world via augmented reality.

News: Apple's iOS 11.3 Update Arrives for All With AR Vertical Surface Detection via ARKit 1.5 for iPhones & iPads
If you have an ARKit-compatible iPhone or iPad, check for a software update, as iOS 11.3, with ARKit version 1.5 in tow, has just dropped. As we previously reported, ARKit 1.5 brings several new augmented reality features for app developers to use.

News: An Augmented Reality Game Brings the Monsters of The Rock's 'Rampage' to Your City Skyline
Given Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson's blockbuster movie pedigree and the promotional power that usually accompanies his work, there's a certain predictable symmetry in the news that Rampage, a movie adaptation of the classic arcade game, has now become an augmented reality mobile app.

News: Niantic Defends Against App Clones with Quests & Mew Character for Pokémon GO
With the Google Maps API giving entertainment brands the means to build their own location-based AR games, Niantic is raising the bar for the genre with new updates to Pokémon GO.

News: Now You Can Bring NASA's Spacefaring Robots into Your Home via ARCore
Space might be the final frontier, but NASA is making a detour into augmented reality first. The Spacecraft AR app, developed by NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) in collaboration with Google, debuted exclusively for Android this week (an iOS version is also in the works).

News: Walmart Shoppers Can Now Use Their Smartphones to Become Marvel's Black Panther via Augmented Reality
Marvel and Walmart are looking to capitalize on the uber-successful Black Panther film with a mobile augmented reality app designed to push the franchise's merchandise.

News: Google Wants Everyone to Try Scribble Art in Augmented Reality
As part of its ARCore push this week, Google has promoted Just a Line from one-time AR experiment to a full-fledged app.

News: NY Times Brings Readers Closer to Bowie's Freaky Costumes in Augmented Reality
Continuing with its new paradigm of using augmented reality to cover the news, The New York Times has published a feature story that takes a peek into the late David Bowie's eclectic wardrobe of on-stage outfits.

News: Google Opens ARCore Floodgates with AR Section on Play Store & Exclusive AR Apps from eBay, Lowe's & Jet.com
In the weeks following Google's AR toolkit launch last month, the availability of quality ARCore apps has been somewhat limited. That changed on Tuesday, as a flurry of new and updated apps arrived on the Play Store, including some AR experiences available exclusively on Android.

News: Google Debuts an ARCore Exclusive with Curate App from Sotheby's International Realty
Just weeks after officially launching its mobile augmented reality toolkit, Google can now claim one of its first Android and ARCore app exclusives with the Curate app from Sotheby's International Realty.

News: Resolution Games Ports Popular Fishing Game from VR to Augmented Reality
Having pushed more than two million downloads of its Bait! game for the Gear VR and Daydream platforms, VR developer Resolution Games is bringing the virtual fishing fun to augmented reality.

News: Makers of Ghostbusters World Scare Up Sneak Peek of Gameplay Footage
Sony's Ghost Corps, the caretaker of the Ghostbusters franchise, just released some pre-alpha gameplay footage from the upcoming Ghostbusters World location-based AR game to whet the appetites of would-be hunters of the paranormal.

News: Apple May Bring TrueDepth Camera to More iPhone Models & iPad Pro This Year, Analyst Says
Apple's TrueDepth camera made its debut in the premium-priced iPhone X late last year, and since then, the reviews have been pretty positive. Now, Apple might be preparing to make the Animoji-friendly sensors available in more iPhones, as well as the iPad Pro, later this year.

News: Developer Brings Street Fighter into Real World as Multiplayer Augmented Reality Mobile Game
The guy who recreated Super Mario Bros. as a first-person obstacle course is back with an augmented reality take on another classic game.

News: 'Walking Dead' AR Game Powered by Google Maps Coming This Summer, Gameplay Footage Released
Ever since the announcement of The Walking Dead: Our World game last fall, publisher AMC and developer Next Games have been quiet about the title. Almost too quiet.

News: Apple's WWDC Invite Tells Us That 2018 Edition Will Be All About Augmented Reality
Historically, Apple loves to drop hints about its major upcoming events through clues included on its invitations. Those invites usually require a good bit of deciphering to connect the dots, but in the case of Apple's upcoming Worldwide Developers Conference (WWDC) 2018 invite, the topic is immediately obvious: it's augmented reality.

News: Capital One Introduces AR Features to Ease the Car-Buying Experience
If you're playing word association with the terms "augmented reality" and "automobiles," your first thoughts probably center on navigation displays in cars or virtual models of exotic vehicles.

News: Facebook Debuts Image Recognition in Camera AR with 'Ready Player One' & 'A Wrinkle in Time' Poster Promos
Despite the wide availability of markerless augmented reality experiences for mobile devices, there is still a market for scanned triggers for content, as evidenced by the new image recognition capabilities on Facebook's Camera AR platform.

Apple AR: PGA Tour AR App Lets You Follow Golfers Live on Your Coffee Table
If you're a golf fan who can't attend the Arnold Palmer Invitational in person, you can still follow the next stop on the apparent Tiger Woods comeback tour in augmented reality with an iPhone or iPad.

News: Red Cross AR App Takes You Deep into the Life of a Child Plagued by International Warfare
Next to things like natural disasters and disease, the specter of war is one of the only things that threatens to derail the 21st century's long stretch of technological innovation. Now a new app is using augmented reality to remind us of that by focusing on those most impacted by war — children.

News: Yahoo! Japan's Maps App Unveils AR Mode with an Unbearably Cute Mascot to Guide the Way
Whenever Japan does something new in tech, the cute factor is almost always taken into account. The same holds true for augmented reality, as Yahoo! Japan has just revealed its take on AR map navigation with a new AR Mode.

News: Jurassic World Augmented Reality Game Wants to Be Pokémon GO for Real Dinosaurs
Following in the augmented reality footsteps of Pokémon GO, Universal Studios has decided to give us an AR version of Jurassic World.

Apple AR: This App Uses the iPhone X's TrueDepth Camera to Conjure 3D Illusions
A Swedish digital artist has developed an app for the iPhone X that creates mind-bending 3D illusions that correlate to the user's point of view.

News: BBC Brings Ancient Artifacts into Your Living Room with Augmented Reality App for iOS & Android
According to Indiana Jones, certain things belong in museums, but, thanks to augmented reality, you can now see some of the ancient treasures of the world in your own home via the Civilisations AR app from the BBC.

News: Japan Startup Launches What Could Be the First AR Barbie Doll for Your iPhone
We already showed you the dark side of augmented reality in the form of a virtual girlfriend from Japan, but now the same country has given us something a lot less creepy that could be the future of virtual pop stars everywhere.

News: Snapchat Makes Its World Lens More Social with 3D Friendmojis
Because it takes two to tango, your dancing Bitmoji World Lens on Snapchat is getting a dance partner.