Apple seeded the fourth beta for iOS 11.2, just one day after releasing iOS 11.1.2 to the public. The new iOS 11.2 beta 4 has also already hit public beta testers and includes mostly bug fixes and security patches to improve the overall experience for iPhone owners. The fourt ...more
While AR apps by Modiface and Perfect Corp. have made it easier for people to shop for makeup without setting foot in a store, MAC Cosmetics wants to give its brick-and-mortar customers the same experience. The makeup giant just made its virtual try-on mirror, featuring 29 cu ...more
Apple CEO Tim Cook told us that augmented reality would change everything, and now we have a better idea of exactly what he meant. A new report reveals that Apple is already hard at work on a rear-facing 3D sensor for the iPhone that would vastly expand the iPhone's AR capabi ...more
Apple released iOS 11.2 beta 3 on Monday to developers, with only a handful of changes over Beta 2. Still, it's always recommended you upgrade to the newest version of iOS, so if you are running any of the previous 11.2 betas, make sure to update. Beta 3's most significant ch ...more
Good news for those suffering from the "i" glitch, otherwise known as the "A [?]" bug: Apple has just released an official patch to fix the issue, in the form of a software update named iOS 11.1.1. Users have been experiencing a strange bug in iOS 11.1 where the letter "i" wo ...more
On all other iPhone models, you go to "Battery" in the Settings app and toggle on "Battery Percentage" in order to see the exact amount of power left in the status bar. On the iPhone X, XS, XS Max, and XR, however, that option no longer exists since there's not enough room up ...more
Just days after the launch of Google Poly, the marketplace for 3D virtual objects that developers can use for augmented and virtual reality apps, SketchFab, the current leader in the space, is firing back with a major enhancement to its platform. The company has announced an ...more
While millions eagerly await the stable Android 8.0 release for the Galaxy S8, the beta is already in the wild and readily available. Notable improvements include notification channels and the revamped Samsung keyboard. One aspect often overlooked are new customization options ...more
First showcased back in June at WWDC, Apple Pay Cash is Apple's answer to Venmo. Although iOS 11 has been out in the wild since September, this new iMessage feature has been mysteriously absent. That's finally changed with the second beta of iOS 11.2 — Apple Pay Cash is here. ...more
When you wake your iPhone X, XS, or XS Max for the first time, you'll probably notice a subtle animation in the top right of the screen that slides down to reveals a couple switches, one toggled on and one toggled off. At first, the meaning of this could be confusing, but it's ...more
People love emojis, it's a scientific fact. So an app that places poops, smileys, and ghosts into social media videos should, in theory, be the most popular app ever. That's likely the reasoning behind the new Holocam app, which is available for $0.99 in the iOS App Store. Sur ...more
Current shipping estimates for the iPhone X are 5–6 weeks, but is there a chance you'll get yours tomorrow? The initial preorders for the iPhone X dried up in minutes, and those who preordered after the first ten minutes are seeing delivery estimates from Nov. 16 all the way ...more
When Google announced its ARCore augmented reality toolkit for Android as its answer to Apple's ARKit for iPhones and iPads, the question from many observers was, "What about Tango?" For at least one app Tango app developer, ScapeHop, the answer is to move to ARCore, and don' ...more
HDR, or high-dynamic range, is currently the best way to view movies and TV shows on your iPhone 8 or 8 Plus. With a wider color gamut and a broad luminance range, there's no beating HDR video for the ultimate viewing experience. Unless, of course, you don't have the storage t ...more
If you're a regular reader of this site, there's a good chance friends and family turn to you as their volunteer technical support staff. In these instances, it can be difficult to troubleshoot purely through just verbal descriptions over the phone. While there are a plethora ...more
Thanks to ever more powerful smartphones — the iPhone X with its advanced A11 processor and the Galaxy Note 8 powered by Snapdragon's 835 come to mind — the mobile industry is fast closing in on consoles and PCs with regards to gaming. Game developers have been aware of this f ...more
Some iPhone users who updated to iOS 11 can no longer see the "Message" icon in the share sheet when in apps such as Photos, which means they can only text or iMessage an image from within the Messages app itself now. This is a bug with remote management software which will ho ...more
Mobile game companies Hit Point Studios and Legacy Games have adapted their Color BlastAR augmented reality game for iOS with the ARKit platform. The free game, aimed at children 6-12 years old, places colorless cartoon characters throughout the physical play space. Players, ...more
AirDrop is an underrated feature that lets you to quickly transfer files like songs and photos via Bluetooth and Wi-Fi from your iPhone to Macs and other iOS devices. It's been a staple in the Control Center ever since iOS 7, prominently displayed for easy access. However, wit ...more
As a long-distance runner off and on for the past, I absolutely detests hills. While there are many apps that can measure elevation and slope for certain routes, understanding spatial data on a line graph or even an elevation map can be difficult. A solution arrives by way of ...more
With the official release of iOS 11, the availability of an app that uses the much-hyped ARKit platform to place virtual furniture in one's home was expected. The fact that the app comes from Houzz, and not IKEA, may come as a surprise, considering that the latter was feature ...more
While IKEA will employ ARKit to help you see how that new couch looks in your living room, Redbubble wants to show you throw pillows that match. Redbubble, an online marketplace for clothing and home décor from independent artists, has updated its iOS app to enable customers ...more
The new iOS 11 update provides an easy software-based solution to shut down your iPhone in case the power button, officially known as the Sleep/Wake button on all iPhone models except the iPhone X, goes bonkers. In addition to this, there's also a hidden setting that lets you ...more
If giving truly is better than receiving, then The Box AR should be the best ARKit app available when iOS 11 releases next week. Dad jokes and hyperbole aside, developer 8ninths puts a creative spin on placing holograms on the user's view of the real world. Every 24 hours, A ...more
When Apple introduced ARKit earlier this year, they trotted out IKEA as one of the companies it was working with to build an augmented reality app that lets customers see furniture as it would appear in their home. While the Swedish furniture monger did not make an appearance ...more
Clumsiness is the great equalizer when it comes to smartphones — it makes no distinction between the most expensive flagship handset and cheaper mid-range models. A hard drop onto pavement will usually result in a shattered screen, regardless of how pricey your device is. And ...more
When you take a screenshot on your iPhone in iOS 11, a thumbnail preview appears in the corner for a few seconds. Tapping on it will give you immediate editing and sharing tools, but not everyone digs the convenience. What can be convenient for you can be obtrusive for others ...more
It seems like it was just last week that AMC and Next Games unveiled their location-based zombie game based on hit TV series The Walking Dead. (Wait, actually it was just last week.) But, just like a walker seeking fresh flesh, AMC is back this week with another AR mobile app ...more
While not specifically an augmented reality conference, IFA 2017 packed a plethora of presentations with AR themes, including devices with AR features from Sony and Motorola, a smartphone-based AR headset from Lenovo, and a new processor from Huawei that will facilitate AR exp ...more
Your display name in ProtonMail is what email recipients will see when they first receive your message in ProtonMail, Gmail, or another email provider. You can choose this name when you first set up your ProtonMail account, but it can also be set up after the fact if you skipp ...more
A Jedi does not seek adventure or excitement, but Star Wars fans can seek Jedi with the Find the Force augmented reality scavenger hunt promoting the launch of merchandise for Star Wars: The Last Jedi. Between Sept. 1 and 3, participants are tasked with finding Find the Force ...more
Thanks to augmented reality, fashion companies can let customers try on cosmetics, clothes, more cosmetics, and sunglasses from the comfort of their homes and through the non-judgmental eyes of their smartphone camera. Now, watches enter the augmented reality fitting room, co ...more
A camera app demo that uses Apple's ARKit has been blowing up on Twitter recently and it very well might be the future of how we take pictures with our iOS devices. The demo was created by Twitter user Zach Lieberman, a self-described researcher, educator, and maker of art us ...more
If you've ever browsed a restaurant menu and wondered what a particular dish looks like, then the augmented reality mobile app from Kabaq was made for you. KabaQ displays highly-realistic 3D models of menu items on the user's view of their table, allowing them to see various ...more
If you've been looking for an alternative to Google Maps, look no further than Waze. In addition to benefits like crowd-sourced traffic data, police trap locations, and road work avoidance, the app even lets you personalize the voices used for navigation and directions. Best ...more
The more impressive demonstrations of the capabilities of augmented reality add another dimension to what we see in the real world. One company, Greta & Starks, is on the verge of launching an augmented reality headset called Starts AR that displays film subtitles for the dea ...more
If you're new to Plex, there are a couple of things you should know up front. First is how to use it — simply install the Plex server app on your computer and point it to your media library, which you can then access anywhere using the Plex app for iOS or Android. All of this ...more
Overall, Plex is a great service. You just install the server on your computer, then you can stream your media library to wireless devices with the Plex app for iPhone or Android. But it does have one annoying feature that's enabled by default: Theme music plays automatically ...more
If you've ever wondered how to import your photos in Snapseed, then you've come to the right place. Snapseed is a wonderful photo-editing app and will provide you with many tools to take your photos to the next level. But you can't get to that next level if you don't know how ...more
Gaming with augmented reality just keeps getting cooler and cooler. Nitrome is no amateur at games. The company has hundreds of mobile and browser games. A few years back, the company came up with the idea that they referred to as "project surface." Essentially, the idea was ...more
Group messages are great when you want to talk to multiple people at the same time. However, things can get disorderly real fast in the Messages app, especially if the same person is in multiple group conversations. That's where custom group names come in, which helps you make ...more
The app SketchAR is an easy, innovative way to trace what you want to draw onto the canvas of your choice. It was first released on iOS and Android Tango phones, but now, finally, it has been released on Microsoft's HoloLens. SketchAR uses computer vision to scan the environm ...more
Map apps, while incredibly helpful in our technology-centric world, can often be a source of frustration. No maps app is perfect, and things can get confusing fairly quickly when trying to navigate GPS mapping. iOS developer Andrew Hart has experimented with a new way of mobil ...more
If you have movies and videos stored on Box, Google Drive, Dropbox, or OneDrive, you should definitely be using the VLC app for iPhone. After setting a few things up, VLC will let you stream videos directly from any of these services with a proper video player UI, complete wit ...more
If you live in New York City and are itching to sell your Yeezys, you're at risk of falling victim to thieves. A devious duo is searching Facebook to find people selling the popular sneakers and then robbing them at gunpoint when they meet up in person. Don't Miss: How to Nav ...more
When you're playing videos, the actual content should be the focus, not the media app's interface. But with VLC's default theme on Android, the bright orange-and-white motif shocks your eyes in a dimly-lit setting and draws your attention away from what really matters. Let's c ...more
I couldn't live without seeing previews of certain notifications on my iPhone, but there are definitely some that I'd like to hide, either because they're annoying or because I don't want anyone else to see them. Previously, you could only disable notification previews for App ...more
As we all know, and certainly have marked on our calendars, it's World Emoji Day! Considering that over five billion emojis are sent daily on Facebook Messenger alone, emojis deserve to be celebrated, and Apple's doing just that. On this monumentous day, the tech giant is gift ...more
HoloLens developers have created some useful solutions for visualizing building models and viewing construction plans overlaid on the job environment. Instead of investing in new (and, at this point, relatively expensive) hardware, Danish software company Dalux is proposing t ...more
Apple just jumped on the auto-play bandwagon with their revamped App Store in iOS 11. Now, when you visit an app or game page that has a video trailer, it will automatically play. This can not only get pretty annoying, but it can eat up your precious data. Luckily, there's a w ...more
Apple continues to impress the AR world with game-changing innovations that add to their already incredible products. The company's most recent endeavor has been to plunge into the world of augmented reality with the announcement of their ARKit. Now it seems they are already ...more
The Sharknado franchise is, somehow, releasing a fifth movie "Sharknado 5: Global Swarming" (groan) next month. In anticipation of the film's release, the company has decided to create an augmented reality mobile game called, prepare yourself, "Sharknado: ShARkmented Reality". ...more
In a recent series of tweets, investor and entrepreneur (and NR50 member) Amitt Mahajan summarized the challenges and opportunities for iOS developers looking to leverage Apple's ARKit for augmented reality experiences. "ARKit apps still have the same problem as every other m ...more
Cyclists of the world, new AR glasses are here to improve your rides. Possessing 2 GB RAM, a quad-core CPU, GPS, 16 to 32 GB of storage, an accelerometer, camera, gyroscope, magnetometer, barometer, Bluetooth, speaker, WiFi, and a mic, these aren't your regular UV-blocking sun ...more
Whether you're hard of hearing, watching a foreign movie, or just like reading along when you're watching a TV show or film on your smartphone, Netflix includes captions and subtitles that you can use. Best of all, if you don't like the way the default captions and subtitles l ...more
It's really easy to binge-watch episode after episode, and that's exactly what Netflix wants us to do. Before you can even think twice, the next video is playing and you're stuck wallowing in the abyss of unintentionally marathon-viewing your new favorite TV show, and there's ...more
Snapchat has added three new features, letting you personalize your snaps more than ever. One of those is links, which was not allowed at all before. The other features allow for greater personalization of snaps, with both visual and auditory choices. The updates are being re ...more
Baseball fans can now leave their wallets behind at specific stadiums throughout the country. A new upgrade by Appetize to the foodservice and retail technology used at ballparks means you can now use Apple Pay to make purchases at 5 Major League Baseball stadiums. Don't Miss ...more
Parents rejoice, Apple Pay is making it much simpler for your kid to use Greenlight, the MasterCard for kids app. The goal of Greenlight is to prepare kids for the world of financial independence while making it as safe as possible for them. Parents are able to monitor and co ...more
Apple promised at WWDC to release the iOS 11 public beta by the end of June, and they've just followed through on their promise. Available Now: Download the iOS 11 Beta Starting today, anyone with a supported iPad, iPhone, or iPod touch can test out Apple's upcoming mobile o ...more