A really surprising fact is that most people don’t know they are already using some of the Best Augmented Reality apps in their phones!
Before we begin, what is this Augmented Reality (AR) everyone talks about?
Well, it is a technology that basically superimposes images generated by a computer on a user’s perception of the real world, therefore offering a composite view.
The concept of AR isn’t brand new, it was actually first seen in 1968 when a computer scientist and professor from Harvard, Ivan Sutherland, invented the first display mounted on a head known as the Sword of Damocles.
Now, almost half a century later, AR is no longer a clunky mount-head device but can be found in the smartphones we hold in our hands!
In fact, AR apps are so popular with people that it has been predicted that most custom mobile app development company stands to gain almost 1 billion users for some of the top Augmented Reality Apps in 2020.
Best Augmented Reality (AR) Apps for Android & iOS in 2020:
1. Google Translate
Android, iOS
Google Translate is not an Augmented Reality app, not strictly, but it does have one AR function that is extremely helpful for translating text.
This specific function is part of the camera mode in the app. Just take a photo of the text you can’t understand and the app translates the text in your picture in real-time.
This app has a catalog of various language when you are hooked up to Wi-Fi, but if you have no connection or you’re offline, you can still avail a quick translation through downloading language packs.
So, the next time you go to a country where you don’t know the language of, Google Translate can be very handy and the might be the only thing that prevents you from getting lost in an unknown land.
2. Night Sky/Star Walk
Android, iOS
These two apps are similar: you can find Night Sky on iOS devices and Star Walk on Android devices.
Both Revolutionary Augmented Reality Apps provide a fascinating AR experience for astronomy and stargazing.
Based on your phone’s orientation and your exact location, this app shows you a star map that is geographically precise.
In both apps, the map can be overlaid atop your surroundings through the AR functionality. It is a great tool if you want to learn astronomy, which is both educational and fun.
3. Just a Line
Android, iOS
Just a Line is among the standouts of the AR Experiments project from Google, and while the initial idea is simple, it is plenty of fun to play with this app and it is an amazing start point to see what Augmented Reality Examples can possibly do.
Start the app and it will take some time to calibrate the area around you. Once that’s accomplished, just use your finger to draw what you want. When you are done, step back and appreciate your work.
Then walk around and appreciate it in total 3D space as it’s completely rendered in 3D too.
It is a really fun AR Technology; you can move around to change the outcomes, stretch the lines also.
It is not specifically profound and it doesn’t have anything to offer besides drawing on air but it’s still enjoyable to play with.
4. JigSpace
iOS
This Augmented Reality iOS app is an educational app that provides a range of animations that explore the inner mechanisms of anything – from locks and car engines.
You can be on your couch and explore the whole solar system through this app with proper explanations and captions to help you understand.
This is easily among the coolest educational app from an iOS App Development Company.
5. IKEA Place
iOS
IKEA Place is among the Best Augmented Reality App and it is getting popular fast.
The app can install 3D models for their brand furniture and put them inside your house.
See accurate color and size representations of how a table or couch would look in your room or if the rug matches your curtains with the app.
This AR Technology is really helpful before you make furniture purchases from IKEA.
6. Magicplan
Android, iOS
Based on various apps for measurement across all app stores, magicplan is among the best you can find right now, especially when Apple’s upcoming Measure threatens to challenge it.
It is geared for professionals but anyone can use it. Interior designers and contractors can add the app to their professional devices of measuring, enabling for the production of remarkably detailed floor plans.
7. AR GPS Compass Map 3D
Android
You can conduct yourself from where you standing to an arbitrary point on this app’s map with their AR compass.
Choose where you wish to go, and the display will oversee you to your desired destination and make sure you don’t get completely lost.
A handy app to have if you are traveling to foreign cities or just trying to get to a part of the city you live in that you aren’t familiar with.
8. INKHUNTER
Android, iOS
This top Augmented Reality Apps in 2020 is for those who are deciding to get a tattoo and are wondering where to place it.
With INKHUNTER, you can place readymade – or your own designed – tattoos anywhere you want on your body.
Tattoos put on your body utilizing the camera look almost real minus the needle thanks to the editor in-app and the way this app renders tattoos.
Only black and white tattoos were available before but now the app allows color, so you have more options to check before you get a permanent tattoo.
9. Snapchat
Android, iOS
Even though users are fuming over the latest update and it has fallen to number three on the App Store on iOS and now has only two out of five stars, it is still among the Best AR Apps 2020 and popular as the biggest social media network based on photos.
The AR functions on Snapchat are extremely effective, and items like the face swap and dog filter features have transformed as memes all on their own.
The redesign may be unlikeable, but the AR functionality is still very impressive and this keeps this app in the list of top Augmented Reality Apps in 2020.
10. GIPHY World
iOS
If you are familiar with the GIPHY GIF app, GIPHY World will remind you of it; with this app, you can create videos and share it among friends as well.
You put #d models created from the library on GIPHY, take a video and share with followers and friends next. It is a little obnoxious, but it makes the style of Snapchat fun beyond the ecosystem of the messenger app.
11. Holo
iOS
Do you recall the Google Pixel’s AR stickers? This app is almost where it all started. Holo lets you take characters from the real and fictional worlds and pull them into your current surroundings.
Holo refers to this process as Holo-mixing. The character list ranges from YouTube celebrities to fictional people and you can use them along with a set range of sounds and animations to create the perfect placement.
The real execution can get glitchy, and the AR feature isn’t free of bugs – sometimes the character may move with you instead of you moving them – but as an app that is available on both iOS and Android, it is definitely an impressive attempt anyway.
12. SketchAR
Android, iOS
If you want to explore art but not have any time to actually sit down and practice it, you can use SketchAR, which is basically an app for AR tracking.
You plot a bunch of circles on paper, choose a sketch and the app will display the image on the paper, letting you trace around it.
However, it is not a direct tracing since you will struggle to match lines properly, but it works great if you want to practice a particular type of sketching.
This app can feel awkward – you hold a phone in one hand and draw with another hand—but it is definitely worth checking out.
13. Quiver
Android, iOS
As smartphones are made more for adults, it is not surprising that there are not a whole lot of apps out there for children.
Fortunately, Quiver is among the Few Examples of Augmented Reality Apps that work to provide your child 2D coloring books that come to life with animated pictures that jump directly to kitchen tables from crayon-lined pages.
Even though the app demands printed pages, users can install any of the many free coloring packages from the app’s website, which include cute teddy bears to fierce fire-breathing dragons, from wild horses to huge dinosaurs.
Once the drawing is done, users just need to make sure the whole page can be viewed inside the camera’s peripheral on their smartphone, therefore, letting the image to jump to life with music.
You can look at the animation from various angles, zoom in, zoom out and look at it as if you are regarding an actual object. Even though it’s for children, it’s still fun for any age group.
14. Arise
Arise is an Augmented Reality app for mixed reality games that require you to supervise a cute and small knight through a maze of illusions – all-optical.
To enable the knight to jump across many gaps, you too move around the 3D puzzle space till the parts line up from your perspective.
This enables the knight to move forward over and on to the following gap. This app is a pleasant, relaxing way to spend your time.
15. Froggipedia
iOS
This app is surely not for people who are squeamish but Froggipedia is an amazing tool to educate anyone who doesn’t really enjoy the idea of dissecting an actual frog for science.
This AR apps let you to experience and explore the fun and distinct lifecycle of these amphibians, from its beginning as an egg to ultimately becoming a full frog.
The app allows you the capacity to dissect the frog or view a living frog as a transparent view.
You can use your finger or Apple Pencil to take the frog apart and look closer at individual systems and organs inside – and you don’t even harm a real frog.
16. BBC Civilisation AR
Android, iOS
AR is best utilized for education and apps like the BBC Civilisation AR app are truly making the way for a future that’s AR-centric.
This app allows you to look at various artefacts, locate them, rotate and resize them to get a better look. There’s a very useful tutorial when you first launch the app, which shows you how to use the app by checking out a mummy, you hear the history, and even manage a glimpse through the X-ray function.
You have over 30 historical items to explore, photograph, and admire while you’re still in your living room. This is an amazing app for all the history enthusiasts or for people who just to envision how a museum in the future would look like.
17. Mondly
Android, iOS
If you want to learn a language but don’t have the time for it, Mondly is among the Best Augmented Reality app for this purpose.
With 33 various languages to choose from and regular exercises to ensure learning, you can master a new language in no time, and since it’s on your phone, you can keep learning on the go.
Mondly has been fast in adopting AR. There is a VR version of Mondly and the AR tech is in-built in the primary app.
You just tap a button, put it down on a flat surface and your AR teacher will appear who will help you start your lesson, providing examples of words as memory aids.
While you can’t possibly use it every day, it is still a fun way to learn a language. Though only an Android version is available now, the App Development Services behind this has promised an iOS version soon.
18. Pokemon Go
Android, iOS
Who doesn’t remember this game’s appearance in 2016? Therefore, this wouldn’t be a complete list if we don’t mention Niantic’s Pokemon Go.
It gained popularity fast – so much so, we are sure you remember the frenzy around it 3 years ago! You might even be bumped into eager players who were outside, walking around trying to catch Pokémons.
The game applies GPS to mark locations and move the avatar in-game while the camera on your phone shows where Pokemons are hiding in the real world. This is easily is the coolest Real-World Application of AR.
With easy instructions and clear information about game mechanics, people figured out this game quickly. Though the hype seems to have died down a bit, yet you can’t deny this was easily the most impressive use of AR in a game.
Currently, the game has been updated and even more, Pokemons have been inserted in the game.
19. WallaMe
Android,iOS
WallaMe is an awesome Augmented Reality Android app that allows you to leave secret messages in multiple locations across the world that can only be read by others who use the same app.
To use the app, you take a picture of a sign, street or wall and then use the in-app tools for drawing to design your own secret message.
The AR factor shows up when you’re in the spot that has a secret message as it can be only discovered through your phone and WallaMe’s camera.
Messages can also be private so only your friends can read it.
20. Amikasa
iOS
Amikasa is an Augmented Reality iOS app that enables you to style rooms and figure out the room’s desired layout before you purchase furniture.
Using the camera on your iPad or iPhone, you can simply walk around your work office, bedroom or kitchen, and put the 3D models of many things to see how they fit, look, or figure out their right placement.
This includes the capacity to change the color of the item. The app uses popular brand items that you can purchase while you use this app, and if you are not sure about your style, your friends can view the augmented room and give you advice.
The latest update also puts more kitchen cabinets, faucets, wallpapers, and burners, providing you more options to create the perfect room.
Conclusion
AR is really enjoying its moment in the sun now, so if you are looking to Hire Mobile App Developer to create the coolest AR app, this is definitely the time.
Even though none of the AR apps are without some issues, but as experiments, these are all very impressive. Games, in this category, seem the most promising.
However, as developers get more used to this technology 2020 can be a fun and fascinating year for Augmented Reality Apps.