The mobile augmented reality industry is stuck in an awkward adolescence.
On one hand, hardware companies like Apple and Google are releasing amazing new features for their phones every year.
On the other hand, this wizardry is mostly confined to native apps (the kind you install from the App Store), and people have a strong aversion to installing apps. Based on recent malware outbreaks, I can’t say I blame them.
While many see apps as a fact of life, like bookmarks or passwords, for others, installing an app for a shorter experience like an AR minigame, etc is a nonstarter. This represents a tremendous lost opportunity for engagement, education, and entertainment.
So how will AR ever realize its potential for quick marketing experiences or simple product explanations?
Enter WebXR
In the AR/VR (XR) industry, many believe that accessing experiences via a web browser is the answer. Just go to awesomeAR.com, and you’re in!
Visually, these web-based experiences lag behind app-based ones considerably, but 8th Wall and WebXR are looking to close the gap in the short and long terms respectively.
The frustrating bit is that Apple and Google could make these web experiences vastly better than they currently are (nerd alert: just wire WebKit to ARKit and we’re off).
But both want their new features to be used in paid apps. Apple made $11B from the App Store last year. I’ve never made $11,000,000,000 but I imagine it’s hard to walk away from.
So what’s the answer?
Unfortunately, there isn’t an easy answer now, or even really on the horizon. And that’s disappointing!
However, there are a few possibilities, depending on the use-case. Here are some of the best:
Option 1: AR Quick Look
What it is: Newer iOS and Android phones have the ability to view 3D models, including placing them life-sized in the real world without an app.
What it’s good for: This is great for visualizing products; what will that chair look like in my den, what will that Lego set look like, etc.
Why it’s great: AR Quick Look is super easy for users. Just click the link and enjoy.
Why it’s not perfect: It only currently supports simple animations, so no games, interactive content, or user interface features (yet). The iPhone viewer allows for photos to be taken, but not video.
Option 2: Social Media AR (Snapchat / Facebook / Instagram)
What they are: Creating stunning AR experiences for social media apps like Snapchat, Facebook and Instagram.
What they’re good for: Short-to-medium length AR experiences that are meant to be shared; aka marketing!
Why they’re great: These platforms are already installed on many (most?) devices and have rich AR capabilities that allow for a wide set of experiences like face tracking, body tracking, image recognition, place recognition, image segmentation, and more every day.
Why they are not perfect: These are meant to be bite-sized pearls of AR that users can download quickly, engage with easily, and share with friends. As such, Snap and Facebook enforce content size limits that constrain the depth of experiences possible. To help ensure user security, there are a few functional limits on these platforms as well (sharing, access to external servers, etc) that hinder their creative potential a bit. That said, these platforms are quickly evolving and may soon address these shortcomings.
Option 3: Web-based AR
What is is: As described above, AR content on mobile phones, served through a website.
What it’s good for: Longer AR user experiences, especially ones that evolve over time.
Why it’s great: No app or social network required, and content can be upgraded and changed seamlessly. Web AR experiences can track user progress over time, share content between users (multiplayer games), and communicate with external servers to do things like offer physical and digital prizes.
Why it’s not perfect: Since the experiences are running in a web browser, they don’t have the same level of direct access to the phones’ resources as native apps. This means they are less graphically rich and can’t easily do many of the performance-intensive tasks that make for exciting AR experiences like body tracking, segmentation, video recording, etc. That said, the capabilities of Web AR are growing continuously.
Option 4: Native Apps
What is is: A standalone app users install from Google Play or the iOS App Store.
What it’s good for: Pretty much everything content-wise.
Why it’s great: Apps offer access to every bell and whistle of the AR content world, including: body tracking, people occlusion, plane detection, image and object detection, and so on (the kitchen sink). Experiences can be as flashy as the social platforms while also being as deep as web-based AR. With a content-management system, experiences can be upgraded seamlessly to the end-user.
Why it’s not perfect: Users have to download an app.
Best Answer for Now: The Hybrid Approach
Since there is no clear catch-all winner here, each campaign must carefully weigh the pros and cons of each of the above approaches to find the right fit for its users and use-case.
Lately, at Balti Virtual, we’ve been experimenting more and more with mixing and matching these approaches to create a comprehensive, blended AR strategy.
So for example, if the end-goal is for users to reach a web-based experience or app, we may start with social content or even AR Quick Look content to offer an easy sample before introducing the friction of an app install or website registration.
What’s Next?
In the longer-term, I’d expect the hardware manufacturers/platform owners to move to some kind of micro-app or “lens/filter/layer” model for their native camera apps, possibly based on the WebXR spec or, more realistically, as a subset of their app stores. This would essentially be apps-by-another-name, and would balance ease of access with not wanting to completely overwhelm users with mounds of content.
That said, I believe the current growing pains will last for another few years at least, and we will have to constantly tailor solutions for each project’s goals from the slate of options we have today.
In the words of Paul Saffo: “Don’t mistake a clear view for a short distance”.
