Best Augmented Reality Apps

January 19, 2010 By Dena Cassella

Yelp Monocle

Social reviewing service Yelp provided the iPhone with its first augmented reality app, the Yelp Monocle. iPhone owners can shake their phones three times to turn on the Yelp Monocle, which uses the phone’s GPS and compass to display overlaid markers for restaurants, bars and other nearby businesses in real time.

Acrossair Twitter AR App

Acrossair says that just by holding the phone up vertically it will display all the tweets around you in 360 degrees of Augmented Reality view, with the distances and photos of the people tweeting around you. Kind of creepy, but still very cool. You can either tweet in 2D or “augmented reality view,” which is what we prefer.

Layar

This AR app is quite nifty. Layar is mobile augmented reality browser that is a global application and available for the iPhone 3GS and Android phones in all Android Markets. It also comes pre-installed on the Samsung Galaxy in the Netherlands. The Layar app can do a lot of things and impose cool images over the picture on your screen.

Theodolite

Do you like maps? Do you like know your altitude? Well you’re in luck because the Theodolite AR app does just about that—it turns your world (or at least the one through your iPhone’s camera) into a very informative topographical scene. This app overlaps the data over your camera’s image and even lets you learn your inclination, altitude and elevation. Great for adventurers.

iPew

This AR app allows you to shoot lasers at who ever walks into your iPhone’s camera frame. Why is this AR app awesome? If you have to ask, then you don’t deserve to use it. Lasers people, lasers! Life’s short–enjoy yourself.

Car Finder

We’ve all had this experience—you finish up your grocery shopping and head out into the parking lot to make your way home, but unfortunately you have no idea where you parked. This AR app will help guide you home—first by guiding you to your car. Once the car’s location is set, the app creates a visible marker showing the car, its distance away and the direction in which to head.

Page 2 of 2

<12

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