Iphone Augmented Reality Unlocks New Possibilities with ARKit

Apple announced the release of ARKit and so unveiled endless possibilities for developers to build AR applications for both iPhone and iPad.

Augmented reality, or shortly AR is a technology that allows the connection between the digital and real world.

Recently, Apple unveiled ARKit, a new set of tools that will allow developers to take augmented reality to the next level. In spite of the fact that most people assume that AR means gaming only, things are different. AR offers more than just that.

For example, AR already has an application used for home improvement, called Houzz. It allows you to furnish your house and see what it would actually look like in reality. With AR, things go to the next level: you get to walk around the house, see the furniture from different perspectives and see everything up close. More than that, you get to see the exact size, move away, get closer or walk nearer the placed object. In a similar way, Lowe’s is using AR and Tango even for directing users around its stores.

One user explained the AR experience and was pleased by the help received from it: he used the technology to buy a TV.

“I was trying to find the right size to fit on my fireplace mantel. Sixty-five inches was too large, and I could tell that just by peering through my somewhat magical augmented reality smartphone from the couch. Eventually I decided to move down to 42 inches, which fit better.” the user said

The technology could be used to pull up a menu and reviews in a restaurant without having to wait for the waiter to come, or point it to a flower and learn more about its species.

These are only a few examples of how augmented reality can be used. The rest of the possibilities remain in the hands of developers, who are responsible for building new experiences on both the iPhone and iPad.

The technology is said to be launched this fall, along with Apple’s new mobile operating system, iOS 11.