Google’s new ARCore update opens the door to new AR experiences

Google is powering up ARCore with new capabilities

What you need to know

• Google today announced ARCore 1.24.
• It’s highlighting two new APIs, Raw Depth API as well as the Recording and Playback API.
• Google also shared that there were more than 850 million ARCore compatible devices.

Alongside Android 12 and other announcements at Google I/O today, Google also brought in new updates for ARCore. The company unveiled ARCore 1.24, complete with a new Raw Depth API and a new Recording and Playback API.

The Raw Depth API is aimed at helping developers take more accurate measurements of indoor spaces and built a better model of physical surroundings. It works on devices that lack specialized sensors, making it more widely accessible. Google says that this also allows developers to filter depth data in real-time, further enabling the placing of AR objects on physical objects such that look pretty realistic — well, for AR objects anyway. Google highlights examples from TikTok and 3D Live Scanner to show how this update would work in practice.

The Recording and Playback API is more interesting. Google says that they allow for asynchronous AR experiences. Developers can build AR experiences that are transposed on videos, allowing for things like the VoxPlop! app which Google says “uses recording and playback to experiment with the notion of spatial video co-creation, enabling users to record videos, drop in 3D characters and messages, and share them with family and friends.” This is because developers can record AR metadata when capturing video, allowing for the AR elements to be added to the video later without the developer needing to go back to the location.

Google says that these new APIs are available in ARCore 1.24. If you’re using one of the many Android phones compatible with ARCore, you should be able to access apps that use these new features. There are currently 850 million compatible devices, making it a good target for developers.