Move over, ordinary apps. It’s time for some Augmented Reality!
Technology has dissolved the line between the world we live in and the world that exists within our screens, remaining intangible. Augmented Reality (AR), which runs on the idea of placing computer-generated objects into our world through a device, is often an escape for us, from our own reality, without quite making it past the boundary separating the believable from the unbelievable. And it goes beyond just Pokémon Go!
In case you’re interested in exploring AR apps, we’ve listed below some of the top trends in AR, as well as the top apps in those categories.
Not all of us are skilled at drawing. And not many of us have the hours to dedicate towards practicing enough to learn to draw better. It can become frustrating when you try to create something praise-worthy on the page, that ends up being sub-par. These AR apps can bring your drawings to life and help inject some much-needed creativity in your work:
- Just a Line (available on iOS and Android) is an app that lets you doodle on your photos and uses augmented reality to animate them. You can then share these creations with your friends, with a video.
- SketchAR (only available on Android) is similar, with a slight difference being that the app allows you to trace the drawing you want to make by projecting it onto the page on the screen. You use one hand to hold the phone and the other to trace; it may not be perfect, so don’t expect amazing results the first few times. It’s a good start for someone trying to perfect their drawing skills.
If you’ve ever wanted to attempt your hand at interior design but don’t want to drain thousands of dollars from your bank account in physically buying the pieces for your home, only to realise that that couch doesn’t go well with those shelves, then these apps are for you:
- The IKEA place app (available on Android and iOS) allows users to model furniture on their phone in the room they are standing in. It features hundreds of items from the favoured IKEA catalogue and lets you test it out in your own home, saving you unnecessary trips to the store. It uses ARKit and uses the real dimensions of the objects to give you an accurate idea of what they will look like.
- Amikasa (only available on iOS) is another decorating app that is similar to the IKEA one in that it allows you to style a room prior to buying furniture simply by using the camera on your device. It lets you change the colour of the furniture and use real name-brand items, which you can purchase while on the app if they tickle your fancy.
- Check out our story on the Vivid app with AR
It’s obvious that AR is reaching new heights and expanding its abilities into traditionally analogue territories, like furniture styling. It has tremendous potential for growth and is undeniably going to take over apps and will implement itself into our lifestyle even more over the years. It’s an exciting and awe-inspiring future that will define the new decade in more ways than one.
You can read more about Augmented Reality here.
Women Love Tech would like to thank Alexia Johnson for her article.
