On a surface level, many of the iOS 11 announcements Apple made at WWDC this year were of little to no interest to mainstream consumers. The reality, though, is that Apple with iOS 11 introduced a number of new tools and frameworks that will help developers take the iOS user experience to new heights. The most obvious example of this is ARKit, a new framework that allows developers to create incredibly immersive and breathtaking augmented reality experiences. Just a few weeks removed from WWDC, developers have already released a number of quick and dirty ARKit demos which have us counting down the days until iOS 11 finally ships.
Now if you’re keen on getting a taste of what augmented reality on the iPhone might be like and have no interest in patiently waiting until September for the iOS 11 launch, there’s a new app that might help tide you over. Originally brought to our attention via The Verge, an app called Holo lets you “add holograms of real people and animals into your world” and then take photos or video of your newfound creations.
Currently available for iOS and Android, Holo doesn’t provide the type of advanced augmented reality experience that ARKit will ultimately offer, but it certainly does a solid job of giving us a preview of what’s to come.
There’s a burgeoning “store” inside the app where you can download different 3D objects, but they’re all either people or animals at the moment. There’s a skateboarder, a dancing wrestler, a few different versions of Spider-Man (sponsored by Marvel, of course), and for those of you clamoring for topical augmented reality, a fake Donald Trump.
If you do some digging around on sites like YouTube and Twitter, you can find more than a few examples of what Holo brings to the table, with one Spiderman-themed example embedded below.
When Spidey comes over but he's always on his phone…SMH @thisisholo #HoloApp #SpiderManHomecoming pic.twitter.com/8G95Nx5RG9
— stnic 🎶 (@stnic) June 22, 2017
tbh we can barely believe it ourselves. #HoloApp is here 🚨 download & make wild and weird vids for your friends 💥💥💥 https://t.co/9kH5x1vlbv pic.twitter.com/epuljlNDnx
— Holo App (@thisisholo) June 22, 2017
Now is the mapping and all the other bells and whistles that ARKit offers available with Holo? Not quite.
This Holo app is so close to, but not quite, what ARkit is going to be like pic.twitter.com/y9uFkiNEhk
— Sean O'Kane (@sokane1) June 22, 2017
Still, for an app that you can download right now, today, it certainly worth checking out if you have even a passing interest in augmented reality.
As for what the future holds for Holo, Fast Company relays that the app will soon feature “video-cutting tools like those in Vine.”
