Most iPhone owners have already used AR on their Apple phone, though they don’t realize it. One of the most useful RA tools built into the iPhone is the simplest, the virtual tape measure from the Measure app, useful for when you want to find out how wide your new bed is or what size you need to hang this photo on the wall . And five years ago, those at Niantic Labs Pokémon Go it became a sensation of viral RA, with millions of people experiencing the physical world through phone screens while hunting down virtual game characters.
AirTag tags can be personalized with messages or emoji.
Photography: AppleThe difference with RA games like Pokémon Go, Says Wetzstein, although they rely primarily on the phone’s Wi-Fi and GPS radios to determine location, sensors that can’t provide location information nearly as accurate as ultra broadband technology. Something low-cost and low-power like AirTag, Wetzstein says, seems like the “perfect choice” for enabling applications that rely on more accurate tracking.
Jessica Brillhart, who heads the mixed reality lab at the USC Institute of Creative Technologies, points out that location tags could also be a way to share two-way information about objects within a space. Attach one of these tags to an object, give it a name, and “the system can learn on a scale what constitutes a refrigerator, what constitutes a bridge, what constitutes a tree,” Brillhart says. “So it’s an access point, but it works in tandem, feeding information into the system and helping people contextualize the world.”
It is worth noting that Apple has not identified it as a specific use case for AirTags, but it cannot be ignored that, once there is a network of location-sensitive devices in the world, provide the knowledge needed to unlock more powerful applications. .
“The biggest hurdle in RA is really knowing what you’re looking at or knowing where you are, but these AirTag tags can help contribute to that understanding,” Brillhart says.
Apple has not yet responded to requests for comment on this story. Of course, Apple’s RA ambitions probably don’t end with AirTags, the Measure app, and flashy games. According to reports, the company works on RA glasses, such as Facebook, Snap and others, although more recent reports suggest that Apple’s first front screen may be more of a niche device than a consumer-friendly product.
But even if these Apple AR glasses arrive and become a hit, and even if they like more AR games Pokémon Go appear to steal the hearts of children and adults, iPhone owners will continue to experience RA in other more mundane but ultimately more useful ways. Whether they use their iPhone to measure a file for their local office, or follow the on-screen arrows to find the AirTagged backpack before leaving for school, they are connected to Apple’s augmented reality vision. You don’t need glasses.
Bigger cable stories
- 📩 The latest in technology, science and more: get our newsletters.
- This is what it takes to fly a drone on Everest
- AI comes to vehicle repair and workshop owners are not happy
- 7 emergency preparedness apps to keep on your phone
- Bill Gates is optimistic about climate, capitalism and even politics
- How to stop misinformation before it is shared
- 👁️ Explore AI like never before with our new database
- 🎮 WIRED Games: Get the latest tips, reviews and more
- 💻 Update your working game with laptops, keyboards, typing alternatives, and headphones that eliminate noise from our Gear computer.