Top 3 Frameworks for Building Augmented Reality Apps (2017-2018)

November 26, 2017 by Ajitesh Kumar · Leave a comment
Augmented Reality Apps Tools and Frameworks



Are you planning to get started with developing apps for Augmented Reality? Are you a Mobile / Web Developer planning to reskill or become an Augmented Reality Developer? If that be the case, check out this list of Augmented Reality tools / frameworks which would help you get started with developing augmented reality apps for different platforms such as iOS and Android.

  • ARkit
  • ARCore
  • Wikitude

ARkit for iPhone and iPad

ARkit is a augmented reality platform by Apple. It will help you create apps providing augmented reality experiences for iPhone and iPad devices. It claims to do so by helping you easily blend digital objects and information with the surrounding environment.

The following is an overview of key features / functionality:

  • Robust face tracking using TrueDepth Camera
  • Visual inertia odometry for tracking the surrounding objects (world around you)
  • Ability to detect horizontal planes
  • Ability to estimate lighting
  • Rendering optimizations and high performance hardware (A9, A10, A11 processors)

The following is what you need to get started:

Download iOS 11 and the latest version of Xcode 9, which includes the iOS 11 SDK to build AR features. Get started by downloading the tools.

ARCore for Android

ARCore is an augmented reality platform by Google.

The following is an overview of key features / functionality:

  • Motion tracking to allow phone to track its position relative to the world
  • Environmental understanding to detect the size and location of flat horizontal surfaces
  • Light estimation to estimate the environment’s current lighting conditions.

One can get started with developing augmented reality apps for Android platform using one of the following:

Wikitude SLAM – A Cross-platform SDK

Wikitude SLAM is a a cross-platform SDK for developing augmented reality apps.

The following is an overview of key features / functionality:

  • 3D recognition and tracking
  • Image recognition and tracking
  • Cloud recognition
  • Location based services
  • Augmentations and visualization
  • Support for Graphics APIs
  • Support for devices such as Android, iOS, smartphones, tablets, smart glasses

The detailed information can be found on this Wikitude SDK full features page.

Download the Wikitude SDK to get started with developing your first augmented reality app.

Trends for Augmented Reality Tools

Here are Google trends for the above mentioned tools for augmented reality apps:

Ajitesh Kumar
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Ajitesh Kumar

I have been recently working in the area of Data analytics including Data Science and Machine Learning / Deep Learning. I am also passionate about different technologies including programming languages such as Java/JEE, Javascript, Python, R, Julia, etc, and technologies such as Blockchain, mobile computing, cloud-native technologies, application security, cloud computing platforms, big data, etc. I would love to connect with you on Linkedin. Check out my latest book titled as First Principles Thinking: Building winning products using first principles thinking.
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