ARKit 3 Features Limited to iPhone XS, iPhone XR, and 2018 iPad Pro

BY Rajesh Pandey

Published 5 Jun 2019

With iOS 13, Apple is also debuting ARKit 3.0 with a number of new enhancements aimed at making the whole AR experience even better. This includes People Occlusion, face tracking, collaborative sessions, and more. However, these new ARKit features are only going to be available on A12 Bionic-powered iPhones and iPads.

Apple did not mention this ARKit 3 restriction on stage but the info is buried in the Augmented Reality page on its website.

ARKit 3.0 introduces People Occlusion which will allow AR content to realistic pass behind and in front of people in real life thereby offering more immersive content. Another key new feature of ARKit 3.0 is motion capture, multiple face tracking, and allowing apps to simultaneously use the back and front camera.

ARKit 3 delivers an incredible awareness of people. With People Occlusion, ARKit 3 knows where people and AR objects are and properly occludes the scene. With Motion Capture, ARKit 3 tracks human movement as input to the AR scene. It can also track up to three faces at a time, supports collaborative sessions, and more.

All these features will only be available on the iPhone XS, iPhone XS Max, iPhone XR, and the iPad Pro because apart from the horsepower of the A12 Bionic chip, these features also rely on the powerful neural engine and TrueDepth camera. The iPhone X is the only non-A12 Bionic device to support multiple face tracking since it features a TrueDepth camera at the front. However, other features which are more processor intensive are only going to be available on the A12 Bionic devices.

Up until this point, ARKit features have been available on all iPhones and iPads.  ARKit 3.0 is a part of iOS 13 which will be released to the public in September this year.