Apple Announces ARKit 4 with Location Anchors, Depth API, and Improved Face Tracking
Apple today announced ARKit 4 alongside iOS 14 and iPadOS 14. The new version of ARKit introduces Location Anchors, a new Depth API, and improved face tracking.

Location Anchors allow developers to place AR experiences, such as life‑size art installations or navigational directions, at a fixed destination. Location Anchoring leverages the higher-resolution data in Apple Maps to place AR experiences at a particular point in the world, meaning AR experiences may now be placed at specific locations, such as throughout cities or alongside famous landmarks. Users can move around virtual objects and observe them from different perspectives, exactly as real objects are seen through a camera lens.
ARKit 4 also takes advantage of iPad Pro's LiDAR Scanner with a brand-new Depth API with advanced scene understanding capabilities, creating a new way to access detailed per-pixel depth information. When combined with 3D mesh data, this depth information makes virtual object occlusion more realistic by enabling instant placement of virtual objects within their physical surroundings. This can offer new capabilities for developers, such as taking more precise measurements and applying effects to the environment.
Finally, face tracking is expanded in ARKit 4 to support the front-facing camera on all devices with the A12 Bionic chip or newer. Up to three faces may now be tracked at once using the TrueDepth camera to power front-facing camera experiences like Memoji and Snapchat.
Popular Stories
iOS 19 will not be available on the iPhone XR, iPhone XS, or the iPhone XS Max, according a private account on social media site X that has accurately provided information on device compatibility in the past.
The iPhone XR, iPhone XS, and iPhone XS Max all have an A12 Bionic chip, so it looks like iOS 19 will discontinue support for that chip. All other iPhones that run iOS 18 are expected...
Apple today released watchOS 11.4, the fourth major update to the operating system that runs on the Apple Watch. watchOS 11.4 is compatible with the Apple Watch Series 6 and later, all Apple Watch Ultra models, and the Apple Watch SE 2.
watchOS 11.4 can be downloaded on a connected iPhone by opening up the Apple Watch app and going to General > Software Update. To install the new software,...
Apple today released new firmware updates for all AirPods 4 and AirPods Pro 2 models. The new firmware is version 7E93, up from the 7B21 firmware that was installed on the AirPods Pro 2 and the 7B20 firmware available on the AirPods 4 and AirPods 4 with ANC.
It is not immediately clear what new features or changes are included in the new firmware, but we'll update this article should we find ...
Apple today released iOS 18.4 and iPadOS 18.4, the fourth major updates to the iOS 18 and iPadOS 18 operating system updates that came out last year. iOS 18.4 and iPadOS 18.4 come two months after Apple released iOS 18.3 and iPadOS 18.3.
Subscribe to the MacRumors YouTube channel for more videos.
The new software can be downloaded on eligible iPhones and iPads over-the-air by going to...
Visa wants to pay Apple approximately $100 million to be the new payment network for the Apple Card, reports The Wall Street Journal. As of right now, the Apple Card is on the Mastercard payment network, but that is set to change because Apple is ending its partnership with Goldman Sachs.
Both American Express and Visa are vying to replace Mastercard as Apple's card services provider, while...
While the iPhone 17 Pro and iPhone 17 Pro Max are not expected to launch until September, there are already plenty of rumors about the devices.
Below, we recap key changes rumored for the iPhone 17 Pro models as of March 2025:
Aluminum frame: iPhone 17 Pro models are rumored to have an aluminum frame, whereas the iPhone 15 Pro and iPhone 16 Pro models have a titanium frame, and the iPhone ...
Apple today seeded the first betas of upcoming iOS 18.5 and iPadOS 18.5 updates to developers for testing purposes, with the software coming just two days after Apple released iOS 18.4 and iPadOS 18.4.
iOS 18.5 and iPadOS 18.5 can be downloaded from the Settings app on a compatible device by going to General > Software Update.
We don't yet know what Apple is introducing in the iOS 18.5...