Introduction to ARKit
Ever since Apple announced ARKit at its annual developers conference earlier this summer, the app-making community has enthusiastically shown off what it has been in a position to make with the brand new framework for augmented reality apps. ARKit hasn’t even officially launched yet, and already we’ve seen demos of AR fidget spinners, floating cats, and fancy automotive configurators on iPhones.
The Potential of ARKit
But it’s sometimes the fun, toy-like technologies that give approach to more serious use cases, which might be why Apple appears to be determined to indicate off other demonstrations of AR apps that may roll out with iOS 11 next month. Half a dozen app developers gathered on Apple’s campus in Cupertino, Calif. yesterday to demo their upcoming AR apps and speak about their development processes, including big brand names like Ikea, The Food Network, AMC TV, Giphy, and more.
iOS Developers Weigh In
iOS developers say the dimensions of Apple’s user base might be the true game-changer in AR. Some app developers, like UK-based Climax Studios and Brooklyn-based Touch Press, talked about how relatively easy it was to create an ARKit app, sometimes in only six to eight weeks. Many talked in regards to the technical capabilities which were unlocked with ARKit.
The Advantage of Apple’s Audience
But almost all the developers there said the identical thing: it’s Apple’s giant audience, its many thousands and thousands of iPhone and iPad users, that they think might be the true game-changer in AR. Apple’s pre-arranged gathering of AR app-makers also occurred just as Google is launching ARCore, a brand new platform for AR app developers that would expand Google’s AR reach in a major way.
Technical Advancements
The biggest advantage Apple has with ARKit is that AR apps will run on any existing device that’s each equipped with an A9 processor and running iOS 11 software, which is currently still in beta. This means any iPhone 6S or later, or any iPad Pro, will run these AR apps. Apple also has the advantage of owning the “full stack” within the iPhone and iPad: it controls the whole lot from the iOS software right right down to every component in each piece of hardware, which implies the experience of how apps run on said devices is tightly controlled as well.
Examples of ARKit Apps
Ikea was available at Apple yesterday, and showed off a brand new AR app for iOS called Ikea Place. It’s a riff on other furniture try-on apps we’ve already seen in AR, whether on Google’s Tango AR platform or in 2D furniture apps. The Food Network’s AR app, In the Kitchen, and AMC’s The Walking Dead AR app, called Our World, are other examples of ARKit apps that can be available soon.
Google’s ARCore
Google’s approach to AR has needed to be a really different one, since Android shows up on devices of all sizes and specifications. The company has been working on its AR solution, called Tango, since 2013, and developed specific hardware and software requirements that phone manufacturers would must adopt in an effort to support advanced AR. But just this morning, Google announced something called ARCore, its corresponding to Apple’s ARKit.
The Future of AR
Certainly, there are some technical advancements happening with Apple’s ARKit which can be notable. ARKit enables something called “world tracking,” which relies on a way called visual-inertial odometry. Most AR on phones thus far has involved 2D, flat overlays — think Pokémon Go — whereas the type of AR we’re talking about now’s advanced, 3D AR.
Multi-Player and Collaborative Features
Some ARKit apps will incorporate multi-player or collaborative features as well. AMC and Next Games showed off the way you’ll have the ability to ask friends to slay zombies with you in Our World; and the brand new Giphy AR app, called Giphy World, enables you to create an AR environment crammed with 3D confetti or cartoon hamburgers or 2D gifs floating across the room, and share a URL with one other user who can add more Giphy content to your AR world.
Conclusion
What will set ARKit apart, in response to Barry O’Neill, chief executive officer of Caterpillar app-maker Touch Press, is the “ease of use from a developer perspective and the size of the audience.” Consumers are going to work with AR in a really natural way now. With the launch of ARKit and Google’s ARCore, the longer term of augmented reality is looking brighter than ever, and it’ll be exciting to see how developers and users alike reap the benefits of these recent technologies.
