Today, smartphone users have access to a wide variety of augmented reality applications — for leisure, for navigation, for work and for solving everyday problems. So it's time to talk about the best AR apps of 2020. Here's what you can download and try out right now.
Just a Line
[caption id="attachment_1383" align="alignnone" width="1280"]
Just a Line[/caption]
A new Google Doodle game has arrived. Now we do not draw in Notepad, but immediately in the real world. The Just a Line app lets you draw in augmented reality, take photos and videos with a new image, and send them to your friends. Finish drawing your world. All you need is a smartphone, a finger, and imagination.
Download Just a Line: Android, iOS
Google Lens
[caption id="attachment_1384" align="alignnone" width="1200"]
Google Lens[/caption]
Google Lens is the latest incarnation of the Google Goggles concept. This is a giant search engine that uses the power of an entire cloud server to recognize texts, images, objects, and places that the camera is pointed at. Point your smartphone camera at any object — a street, a house, a monument, a fountain, or an item of clothing in a store — and Google Lens will tell you everything you wanted to know about it.
The app is available in a separate version on Android, and is also embedded in "Google Photos" on Android and IPhone.
Download Google Lens: Android
Google Maps
[caption id="attachment_1385" align="alignnone" width="1280"]
Google Maps[/caption]
The new version of Google Maps is a more pragmatic augmented reality app. Just turn on AR mode and your smartphone will be your guide anywhere. The intuitive AR app will help you find your way in a big city, complementing reality with signs and arrows superimposed on regular Google panoramas.
Download Google Maps: Android, iOS
Civilizations AR
[caption id="attachment_1386" align="alignnone" width="1920"]
Civilizations AR[/caption]
The BBC Сivilizations AR app is an interactive sequel to the series of the same name. Here we can see more than thirty artifacts from different eras and civilizations. Thanks to augmented reality, you can hold ancient treasures in your hands and view them from all sides.
Each artifact is presented in three dimensions with a circular view. See through artifacts, read and listen to stories about them, and discover ancient secrets of their origin and use.
Download Civilizations AR: Android, iOS
Quiver
[caption id="attachment_1387" align="alignnone" width="640"]
Quiver AR[/caption]
Augmented reality apps are also available for children. Quiver is a virtual coloring book and probably one of the best children's AR apps. Here the colors come to life. On quivervision.com a large set of images is available: children will have something to paint and who to paint. Cartoon characters, animals, educational pictures and landscapes — everything you color and print will come to life in full, in augmented reality mode.
Download Quiver: Android, iOS
Inkhunter
[caption id="attachment_1388" align="alignnone" width="620"]
Inkhunter[/caption]
Inkhunter is a unique augmented reality app for those who want to get a tattoo. Try on a tattoo before you apply it. Select a drawing, draw a marker on the body and point your smartphone camera at it. Inkhunter overlays the image, and you can rotate, move, zoom, and change it in detail - until it finally suits you. Choose from the many drawings in the app itself or upload your own. With Inchunter you will definitely not regret your future tattoo.
Download InkHunter: Android, iOS
YouCam Makeup
[caption id="attachment_1389" align="alignnone" width="648"]
YouCam Makeup[/caption]
YouCam Makeup — your pocket stylist. An augmented reality selfie camera turns your smartphone into a beauty salon. You can choose and try out lipstick, eyeliner and other make-up from the brands L'oreal, Maybelline and Urban Decay.
The app also has social network features: you can share your new image with friends, follow other users, explore and buy tried-and-tested accessories.
Download YouCam Makeup: Android, iOS
Euclidean Skies
[caption id="attachment_1390" align="alignnone" width="2436"]
Euclidean Skies[/caption]
Euclidean Skies is the only paid app in our review, but we couldn't avoid it. This amazing puzzle game is a combination of the impossible worlds of Escher and Rubik's cube. Here you are a guide to help the adventurer overcome his enemies. To do this, you need not only to move in the playing field, but also to move this field: rotate it and move it.
The game has an augmented reality mode: you can place a large, colorful, fancy playing field right in your room.
Download Euclidean Skies: iOS
These are not all mobile applications with augmented reality that are available today. Follow our publications — there is still a lot of interesting things ahead.