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.
Related Stories
We've seen a lot of teasers about the Beats Studio Buds over the past month since they first showed up in Apple's beta software updates, and today they're finally official. The Beats Studio Buds are available to order today in red, white, and black ahead of a June 24 ship date, and they're priced at $149.99.
The Studio Buds are the first Beats-branded earbuds to truly compete with AirPods...
Apple is enhancing AirTags security to prevent stalking using the Bluetooth devices, Apple told CNET today. Apple is already sending out over-the-air updates to AirTags that will shorten the amount of time before an unknown AirTag alerts you if it is in your possession.
At the current time, AirTags play a sound after three days of being away from their owner. After the update, AirTags will...
Apple this week released iOS 12.4, the newest version of iOS 12 available for iPhones and iPads. One of the new features in iOS 12.4 is an updated data migration option that uses device to device transfers rather than relying on iCloud.
Apple didn't provide much information on the new data migration feature, so we thought we'd check it out in our latest YouTube video.
Subscribe to the ...
YouTube is planning to stop supporting its YouTube app on the third-generation Apple TV models, where YouTube has long been available as a channel option.
A 9to5Mac reader received a message about the upcoming app discontinuation, which is set to take place in March.Starting early March, the YouTube app will no longer be available on Apple TV (3rd generation). You can still watch YouTube on...
T-Mobile has issued a statement with further details about a cyberattack that the company confirmed earlier this week, confirming that the data breach included the personal information of almost 50 million current, former, and prospective customers.
Late last week, T-Mobile confirmed that a forum post that purported to offer data from more than 100 million people was the result of a company...
Apple's long-awaited AirTag was finally unveiled today, and as expected, the small circle-shaped accessories can be attached to items like wallets, keys, and more to allow them to be tracked in the Find My app.
As was rumored ahead of release, each AirTag is equipped with a U1 chip, and on devices that also have U1 chips, there's a Precision Finding feature.
U1 Ultra Wideband chips are...
Apple will release a new version of the MacBook Air around the middle of 2022, Apple analyst Ming-Chi Kuo said today in note to investors seen by MacRumors.
The upcoming MacBook Air will feature a 13.3-inch mini-LED display, which would make it the second Mac to gain mini-LED technology after the 2021 MacBook Pro, which is rumored to include a mini-LED display and is expected to launch later ...
Apple today announced that the original film "Finch," starring Tom Hanks in its titular role, will premiere on Apple TV+ on Friday, November 5 and shared a first-look image from the film.
The first look at "Finch," shared by Apple. The film, which is anticipated to be an awards season contender, revolves around a man, a robot (played by "Get Out" actor Caleb Landry Jones), and a dog that form ...
Another class-action complaint has been lodged against Apple, which claims that the company was aware of a MacBook Pro design flaw that caused some devices to have backlight display issues (via Apple Insider).
The so-called "flexgate" problem was present in some MacBook Pro models manufactured between 2016 and 2017. The problem appears as dark patches along the bottom of the MacBook Pro's...
Apple introduced the first MacBook Air, MacBook Pro, and Mac mini with M1 Apple Silicon chips yesterday, and as of today, the first benchmark of the new chip appears to be showing up on the Geekbench site.
The M1 chip, which belongs to a MacBook Air with 8GB RAM, features a single-core score of 1687 and a multi-core score of 7433. According to the benchmark, the M1 has a 3.2GHz base...
Top Rated Comments