Best Augmented Reality Apps

January 19, 2010 By Dena Cassella

Augmented reality mobile apps are all the rage these days--here are our picks for the best augmented reality apps for your iPhone or Android smartphone.

There have been many awe-inspiring augmented reality demonstrations last year, with promise of more innovation and focus on the virtual effect in 2010. The best way to get a hold of this intriguing technology is to fill your smartphone with mobile AR apps. Augmented reality apps are more than just a cool accessory for your mobile phone, they are actually very useful, educational and of course entertaining. Here are our top picks for the best AR apps out there.

Wikitude World Browser

This is a very useful travel app. The Wikitude World Browser AR app displays data and other points of interest by overlaying information on the real-time camera view from an iPhone 3GS or Android smartphone. Next time you see some ancient ruins, hold that phone up and get educated about the place.

WhereMark

WhereMark is kind of like a collective augmented reality application. The multifunctional app allows users to explore Wikipedia (in a Wikitude app style) and local searches, find places to eat and shop with navigational AR references, and will also help you remember where you parked your car. It’s an all-inclusive app. Thank you for the use of your lovely graphic as our page header, WhereMark—we are much obliged.

WorkSnug

WorkSnug is a coporate iPhone app that is backed by Platronics. This useful AR app will identify where the surrounding Wi-Fi hotspots and compatible workspaces are for you. This convenient app is currently available in London, but will be coming to New York, San Francisico, Berlin, Madrid and more major cities across the globe very soon.

AugMeasure

The AugMeasure app is a handy little tool that can measure short distances with just your iPhone. The app displays distances on screen by using your iPhone’s camera and overlaying the measurements on screen with live pictures from the phones camera. The picture will adjust accordingly and all in real time with where ever you point your camera.

Acrossair Nearest Tube App

One of the first augmented reality apps to go live in the iPhone AppStore, this handy app will pin-point where the nearest subway or light rail stations are. Acrossair also has specific apps, similar to this one, for the Pairs Metro, Tokyo Subway, Barcelona Metro, San Francisco Transit, Madrid Metro, and New York Subways. Acrossair is only for iPhone.

DishPointer

DishPointer started out as a “mashup” of Google Maps and is now a handy augmented reality app for the iPhone and Android phones. In this clever mobile version of DishPointer you can hold your phone up to the sky and get a virtual overlay of their nearest satellites to know which way to point the your satellite dish.

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Showing 11 comments

Saket at 12:41am 1st November 2010 Wikitude, Worksnug and Acrossair Twitter App are awesome. But sadly Twitter App isnt of much use to me, there are only few handful people who use twitter in my city. By the way, I've found some more AR Apps - http://techsplurge.com/featured/7-amazing-augment...
Dena C. at 11:29am 20th January 2010 Hey, we were just naming our picks for the best, but please keep commenting guys and tell us YOUR top picks! There are some great ones out there, please share if there is an AR app you consider to be on you "best" list
dang at 11:17am 20th January 2010 Ah, that's interesting. It would suck to get a call or text message right then, I can imagine even buzzing might scare em.
markmoeller at 10:26am 20th January 2010 THe user just suspends the phone with the app running. Just power back on and the app is instantly ready for action. Volume always turned down or off. The UI was designed based on field testing by hunters.
dang at 10:08am 20th January 2010 Is hunt-n-scope really meant to be used while hunting? I can't imagine sitting up in a tree waiting for deer and when you see one, whipping out your iphone, unlocking it, launchign the app, raising it up to view the deer through the camera and getting the distance.

Seems like a lot of work where you might end up spooking the animal instead.
1. Yank Hater at 2:31am 20th December 2010 Why are Bloody Yanks obsessed with killing things? Just cause you can don't mean you should.
  1. markmoeller at 8:09pm 24th December 2010 I'm from the UK, you jerk. I'm not interesting in killing things. Instead I use hunt-n-scope to virtually hunt. Besides it is just a fun app.
markmoeller at 9:35am 20th January 2010 Hunt-n-Scope is worth a look too. It gives real time distance to target estimates on the iPhone using the camera.
Dena C. at 9:17am 20th January 2010 I just added Layar in-- that's a good one to. They just launched Layar 3.0 i think.
There are so many great apps out there it's hard narrow down "the best"

great suggestions, Thanks!
Michael at 6:49am 20th January 2010 What about Layar or Toozla?
Bob at 11:14pm 19th January 2010 Interesting article but you omitted Sekai Camera from Japan