The Future is Now: Augmented Reality Use Grows for Smartphone Users

One of the most talked about new developments in smartphone technology is the advancement of augmented reality app development, or “AR”. This is the futuristic-seeming technology that allows your device to superimpose a computer-generated image onto your view of the real world. You may have seen it if you follow your kids or grandkids on social media sites like Snapchat and Instagram in the form of the twitchy, animated bunny ears or whiskers they’ve used to add a colorful splash of fun to live action videos.

Augmented reality is being incorporated into everyday use apps, so you’ll begin to notice it more and more, especially if you’re using flagship Android smartphone models like the Samsung Galaxy S9 smartphone or Galaxy S9+, or the latest iPhones. For instance, Apple will be rolling out an app called Measure, which will allow you to use your phone’s camera to accurately, and easily, measure the size of real world objects. Google Lens combines AR with Google’s powerful search engine tool to let you immediately find and view information about whatever you’re looking at just by holding your camera up to that object.

As you can imagine, AR will come in especially handy for things like measuring the fit of a piece of clothing or selecting a paint color for a room, and smartphone app designers are already on the case. Furniture giant Ikea is teaming up with Apple to offer an app that lets you use AR and your camera to virtually place furniture into a room and see how it would look in various locations and configurations!

And that’s just the beginning. Both iPhone and Android are releasing more options to app developers, so we can expect more amazing features to come. These great tools may seem like something out of science fiction, but they’re not—the future has arrived on your smartphone!