Augmented reality now is so intricately woven into everyday living and entertainment. Games, movies and even tattoo parlors make use of augmented reality apps. You most likely would have heard of the world-famous game Pokémon Go, and the massive reception it received worldwide. Do you want to know why it was such a massive success? Gamers will tell you that the more real a game is the better its reception. In other words, the closer to real life the game characters are, the more interesting the game becomes. Pokémon Go achieved that, it gave us fantasy characters that we could chase and capture like real life characters, and augmented reality was the backbone of its success.

With the success of Pokémon Go and other augmented reality apps and games, you may start to wonder how the mobile app development company came up with the awesome idea that so many people come to enjoy. Well, a lot of things come to play in bringing augmented reality to life and not just any life, a successful one, and every mobile app development company realizes that all of the features of their app will have to be more than satisfactory to be successful. To begin we will consider some features that augmented reality apps should possess to garner some measure of success in the market.

GPS Functionality

Most devices come with the option of turning on location, an augmented reality app should be able to work with this already pre-installed GPS and work seamlessly with it. It will be cumbersome and redundant to build an app that will have its own GPS locator. Building an app with its own GPS locator will not be necessary if the app can make use of that on the device. Pokémon Go would not have been such a success if it was not able to work in real time with the device’s GPS.

Real-Time Rendering

This is a must for all augmented reality apps and every ar app development company knows that for its app to be widely accepted there should be no time lag between processing information(could be space, picture or location) and rendering. Take, for example, google translate; just taking a picture of the phrase, word or sentence you want to translate and feeding it into the app gives you the translation into the required language in real time. It can even go ahead and pronounce the translation for you. Imagine how tiring it will be if Google had to search for about 5 minutes to come up with that translation. This point cannot be overemphasized.

Good Spatial Recognition

Some apps are used for trying to fit wares, furniture or items into space. For example Augment, an app used to show customers real-life representation of their purchases. This app can also place the purchased item in different locations in the house so that the customer will be able to see just how the purchased item will fit into his home or office setting. Imagine trying to place a vase you bought online on your reading table, and because of poor spatial recognition, the vase keeps overlapping with your side table instead of sitting on it, that will be utterly ridiculous. So for augmented reality apps to be of any use whatsoever, these apps should have good spatial recognition.

Ease of Use

The more complex running an app is, the more useless the app becomes to the customer or users. On the other hand, the more ease in using an app, the more effective it becomes to the user. If users have to provide complex or numerous parameters before the app works, then it serves no purpose but to annoy the users. Augmented reality apps should be as close to plug and play as possible. Consider the augmented tattoo app Ink Hunter, for example, it does not require you to draw up complex designs of your own or provide some other complex information before giving you beautiful tattoo renderings. The app is able to work without the need for such data. It simply renders the image on the skin of the customer allowing the customer to see what the actual tattoo will look like eventually.

Be Social

The more social an augmented reality app is, the more it has to offer to the user. Pokémon Go had this feature and it proved to be a major selling point for the augmented reality game. The game offered the chance of joining teams once a certain level had been reached. A sense of camaraderie can be helpful for the user. And surprisingly most users looked forward to these social interactions. Some apps offer the users the opportunity of dropping messages at different locations, these messages can be read by other users of the app if it marked public or by specific users if the message is marked private.

Entertaining

No one wants a boring app, least of all, a boring augmented reality app. If the app is not entertaining to use, there is really no need for even creating such an app. It must be noted that this feature does not apply to augmented reality game apps alone. Regardless of the purpose for which the app was created, its users should get excited whenever they use the app. This is a must for every app. Every experience the user has with the app should be an exciting one. For example, there is an all that helps in arranging furniture in an apartment. It will be entertaining to keep placing and then moving furniture till you get the best location. Entertaining will also mean that the users should feel like they’re a part of the experience. They should also be able to relate to certain aspects of the app.

Pokémon was a part of most gamers childhood, so it was quite easy for them to relate to the augmented reality version. This seems quite basic, but it can greatly affect the reception that your app will receive.

Universal

If possible, the ar app development company should try to build an app that will be available for both iOS and Android users. It makes no sense to restrict your apps usage to users of a particular operating system. When the app works across both operating systems, the company will have won users on both sides. On the other hand, if the app discriminates against some users of a particular operating system, it shuts those users off and the potential market too. It will be more useful if it is possible to release most apps across both operating systems.