iOS 11 brings ARKit to hundreds of millions of iPhones, iPads and iPod Touches across the world. And you don’t even need the latest iPhone for this. ARKit apps will run smoothly even on an iPhone SE.
Here’s the list of compatible iPhones and iPads with ARKit in iOS 11.
We’re only in day one of iOS 11 rollout and we’re already seeing some amazing useful and fun AR implementations on the App Store. We’ll find a lot more awesome and interesting apps in the coming days and we’ll be sure to update the list.
1. AR MeasureKit
One of the most useful things you can do using ARKit is to measure and map your surroundings. After iOS 11 update, it’s like you always have a super intelligent tape measure always in your pocket. Given that measuring things using AR makes for a great demo, we’ll find lots of such apps in the App Store in the coming days.
One of the AR measuring apps we’ve run into is ARMeasureKit. It does way more than just measure from point A to point B. You can map trajectory, drop pins and measure between them, even create a cube to see how big or small something will be in real life. And of course, it works as a level.
Download: AR MeasureKit
2. World Brush
World Brush is a social 3D painting app with a twist. You can paint on the screen, on the view that you’re seeing. And the app will record your painting and the estimate location. Then anyone who goes to the location, can see the paintings done there, right on top of the view. Of course, all the data is anonymized.
Download: World Brush
3. Carrot Weather
Check the weather in augmented reality. My AR mode launches today on iOS 11, meatbags! https://t.co/IMLyre6zkk pic.twitter.com/QIXRh9JAZO
— CARROT (@CARROT_app) September 19, 2017
Carrot Weather is a stylized weather app with a personality. With it recent update, it added crazy level of customizations and it’s currently one of the best weather apps on iOS. If you already own the app, their new AR mode is going to make for an interesting demo. You’ll see Carrot’s mascot, with stats overlaid in 3D.
Download: Carrot Weather ($3.99)
4. Sky Guide AR
Absolutely thrilled to bring AR to Sky Guide! Here’s a screen recording. Update to iOS 11 and head to the @AppStore. pic.twitter.com/A17bzcZkuF
— Fifth Star Labs (@FifthStarLabs) September 19, 2017
Sky Guide was already one of the best ways to explore stars in space. Now, they’ve added an AR mode where the app will annotate the sky around you in real time. Just point your camera up and watch as Sky Guide tells you about the constellations and where other objects like the space station are.
Download: Sky Guide AR ($2.99)
5. magicplan
magicplan gives you professional level floor mapping tools inside the iOS app. You can use the AR mode to map out your space (in exact detail). Once the floor plan is ready, you can go in and change things, add furniture and more.
Download: magicplan
6. Thomas & Friends Minis
Thomas the engine is now available on your iPhone and iPad, in 3D. If you like games where you build things, you’ll like Thomas & Friends Minis. Here, you first use the builder to build a train set. And then you can see Thomas travel on the set you’ve made, in 3D using the AR mode.
Download: Thomas & Friends Minis
7. Housecraft
Check out @HousecraftApp! An AR toybox for your home, made by @AsherVo and me! Download it now with iOS 11 https://t.co/WwcLxgRMTd pic.twitter.com/2WU4MvNH5c
— DZ (@danielzarick) September 19, 2017
Housecraft lets you place common furniture and house objects around your house. This way you can see just how much space they take up, and if they go with your interior design or not.
Download: Housecraft
8. Complete Anatomy 2018
Complete Anatomy 2018 brings its already exhaustive anatomy models into real life using AR. Using the AR mode button, you can put a 3D model of any flat surface. Then move your camera around to see it from any angle.
Download: Complete Anatomy 2018
9. Fitness AR
Now this is just plan cool. If you use Strava to map your runs or bike rides, you can use this app to map it in front of you, in 3D. This will show the detailed geography, along with terrain detail.
Download: Fitness AR
10. PCalc Lite
https://twitter.com/jamesthomson/status/908694535949242369
PCalc is our recommendation for the best calculator app for iPhone and iPad. And the developer is put in a really fun bonus AR mode inside the About screen in the latest update. You can throw around live Pcalc calculators and operate them in 3D.
Download: PCalc Lite
Share Your AR Finds
If you’ve come across a really awesome and useful app that we haven’t featured above, leave a link in the comments below.
