Introduction to Augmented Reality
Augmented Reality (AR) is a fun technology to play with. The basic premise of AR is to overlay digital content on top of real things using something like a map, a camera, or sometimes the sky. Unlike VR, it grew slowly within the background over the span of a few years. There aren’t a ton of giant, great AR products yet, however the list grows slowly yearly. AR has tons of potential applications and it’s only a matter of time before they grow to be more rampant.
The Best Augmented Reality Apps for Android
There are many AR apps available for Android, and listed below are a few of one of the best ones.
Facebook made a variety of guarantees in terms of augmented reality. Their app already has just a little little bit of that promise. When using Facebook Stories, you should use various AR filters to spruce up your photos. It’s very just like Snapchat. Some of their augmented reality efforts also include the Camera Effects development platform, AR Studio, and others. It’s not probably the most powerful AR app on the market. However, Facebook goes to do some fun stuff with AR in the long run. Plus, Facebook Stories is pretty fun, even when it’s a blatant rip-off of Snapchat Stories.
Google Maps
Google Maps is among the best uses of AR in an app to this point. The app recently added Live View, a solution to navigate together with your camera viewfinder from the app. Maps then imposes information on the screen about businesses and directions as you walk or move down the road. It’s an excellent neat concept and excellent for directions in cities where it’s possible you’ll not know all the road names. Plus, we will see this technology improving over time to work even higher than it does now.
Google Translate
Price: Free
Google Translate is arguably one of the best translator app on the market. It supports a ton of languages. You can translate forwards and backwards between virtually any of them. You may even have it translate in real time so you’ll be able to have conversations with people. The augmented reality a part of the app allows you to point your camera at text from one other language. The app then translates it in real time. This can enable you to do things like read street signs or menus. Like the barcode scanner above, that is considered one of those super handy AR apps that a variety of people install. Microsoft Translator has a variety of the identical features as well.
Inkhunter
Inkhunter is considered one of the more unique AR apps. What it does is allow you to try what tattoos will appear to be in your body before you get it. You draw a number of lines in your body. From there, point the camera at those lines and the app mechanically puts the tattoo there. It won’t work for super complicated or large works, but those in search of something manageable can expect reasonably good results from this app. There can also be a photograph editor just in case you desire to mess with the design more. It’s pretty good.
Just a Line
Just a Line is one other ARCore app from Google’s Creative Lab. It allows you to draw things in an augmented reality space. They stay in that space where you drew them. Thus, you’ll be able to draw a line after which walk around that line if you desire to. Of course, this all takes place together with your mobile camera. You may also record what you draw and share it with others. It’s completely free to play with and it’s a neat showcase of what a very good AR experience may be. Unfortunately, Google hasn’t updated this in over a 12 months and meaning bugs aren’t getting fixed. We’ll likely replace this one on the following update if this doesn’t get any love.
Sketchfab
Sketchfab is an entertaining AR app. It’s a 3D modeling app with hundreds of thousands of 3D models. You can view them in VR, AR, or simply within the app itself. There isn’t much functionality for an app like this. It’s mostly for entertainment value. You can use your camera viewfinder to have a look at a thing after which add models from Sketchfab into the frame and take pictures. Again, it’s probably not functional, just entertaining. Plus, the app is free and it’s a very good use of AR to point out people.
Sky Map
Sky Map is considered one of the oldest AR apps on the market. It was originally developed by Google. You turn it on and the phone displays a star map. You hold your phone as much as the sky. The display will show the celebs within the sky right above it. You can use it to seek out constellations, It’s just a little tough to calibrate at first, nevertheless it’s reasonably accurate once you work it out. It’s fun for entertainment, especially while you’re having fun with the good outdoors. It’s totally free with no in-app purchases.
Snapchat
Snapchat is one of the popular messaging platforms on the market. You connect with an individual on the app and then you definately can send pictures and video of whatever you’re doing. The app has quite a lot of special filters you can augment right on top of your face. It can appear to be you’re a dog or a cat or whatever else Snapchat happens to have available on any given day. It’s some really basic augmented reality, nevertheless it works shockingly well. The app is a battery hog and never overly optimized. However, it’s still fun to make use of.
Star Chart
Price: Free / $2.99
Star Chart is loads like Sky Map. You can use it to view the celebs within the sky. It will help locate things like constellations, planets, and other celestial bodies. It boasts the power to point out around 120,000 stars and planets in total. On top of having the ability to view them out of your current location, it’s also possible to travel throughout the app to take a more in-depth have a look at anything that will interest you. It’s a superb educational app that can also be fun to make use of. It’s not 100% accurate on a regular basis, nevertheless it’s normally close enough to offer you an idea of where to look.
TikTok
TikTok is on this list for a similar reason Facebook and Snapchat are. The company has an augmented reality platform where developers can construct out AR experiences for users to play with. The news was announced in August 2021 so there aren’t a ton of examples on the time of this writing. However, because the platform expands, an increasing number of AR effects should grow to be available within the TikTok Effect Studio for creators. Social media has long been considered one of the largest driving forces for AR and I assume TikTok is contributing to that. Given what we’ve seen from Facebook and Snapchat, the outcomes might be very interesting.
Conclusion
In conclusion, augmented reality is a rapidly growing field with many potential applications. The apps listed above are a few of one of the best examples of AR technology in motion. From social media filters to educational tools, there’s something for everybody. As the technology continues to enhance, we will expect to see much more progressive and exciting AR experiences in the long run. Whether you’re interested by entertainment, education, or simply wish to try something latest, there’s an AR app on the market for you. So why not give one a try to see what the world of augmented reality has to supply?
