Augmented Reality App Makes Home Improvement Projects a Breeze

Home improvement projects are time consuming enough without driving back and forth to the store, and even after seeing the product in their display, who knows how it will actually fit in your home. Wouldn’t it be nice to “try before you buy” without leaving your home? It looks like Apple and one of the biggest names in furniture are teaming up to solve this problem. Ikea is rumored to be working on an app using Apple’s ARkit, which is a part of the newly announced iOS 11 operating system. With this home improvement app, shoppers see how the products will look in their homes using their iPhones and iPads. You may have used something similar on Wayfair or Houzz, (Try 2D augmented reality on your smartphone or tablet with Cadet products at houzz.com) but, as always, bigger and better things are in the works. This app uses augmented reality, which lets you layer virtual objects over reality. Apple’s new ARkit uses the phone’s camera to detect surfaces in a room. Virtual objects anchored at the proper scale lead to more realistic results than other home improvement apps. This video demo from MacRumors shows the app in action. Ikea is just one of the first big names reported to be using this new software. But more are sure to follow.