Google ARCore, which was recently renamed to Google Play Services for AR, is Google's attempt at expanding Augmented Reality and its experiences to more and more devices without the need for specialized niche hardware, unlike the erstwhile Project Tango. While ARCore does away with the need for specialized hardware, there is still a small catch: it requires powerful hardware, which is adjudged upon by Google through its ARCore certification which then whitelists the device to support ARCore functions. Now, Google has added in support for the Realme 5, Realme 5 Pro and the Realme XT to its augmented reality service.

The following devices have been added to Google ARCore since our last coverage:

  • Realme 5
  • Realme 5 Pro
  • Realme Q
  • Realme XT
  • Wiko View 3 Pro

This means that all of the above-mentioned devices perform as expected with ARCore. Google provides ARCore certification on the basis of camera quality, motion sensors, and design architecture to ensure that the device would perform as AR developers would expect it to perform. The phone also needs to have a powerful enough CPU that integrates with the hardware design to ensure good performance and effective real-time calculations.

Realme XT XDA Forums || Realme 5 Pro XDA Forums || Realme 5 XDA Forums

The full list of supported devices can be found here. If you have one of these supported devices and you want to try out augmented reality apps, you don’t have to do anything special. Google Play Services for AR should automatically get pushed to your device, but you can force an update by downloading the APK yourself. Once it arrives, you can download and start using any app or feature that makes use of it, such as Google Maps’ Live View mode or Pokémon GO’s AR+. Devices that are supported by Google’s AR service (as in, they have the necessary calibrations done and are recognized by the app) but aren’t listed on Google’s webpage can’t download the app from the Play Store, but it’s still possible to sideload Play Services for AR and then play around with apps that use the service.

Google Play Services for AR Developer: Google LLC
Price: Free
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