The possibilities of transforming the environment itself to provide interactive and innovative digital experiences are being explored now, and the practice is trending now. Augmented Reality (AR) can do this, and it has taken the mobile app development Dubai industry by storm. AR in mobile apps give users an engaging and memorable experience, while attracting more curious users who want to check out the technology. 

Basically, AR adds information and context to the reality that users would find relevant. It’s not a brand new technology. Having been around for a while, AR only picked up pace in the last couple of years thanks to the rapid advancements in mobile technologies during the period.

Where AR can be used

Certain specific sectors present better opportunities to use enhanced functionalities of AR to provide value to mobile users, either in the form of entertainment or as a source of information. It makes use of the mobile device’s features to facilitate interactivity. 

AR can be used in:

• Games - AR has vast potential in mobile games, facilitating much greater interaction and immersion, and even giving realistic virtual experiences to users. The users would essentially be interacting with the game and the environment simultaneously in real-time. Pokémon Go became popular for these exact reasons.
  
• Marketing - AR can also be used for marketing and advertising through mobile apps. The app can give a digital experience of a product similar to a hands-on experience. For example, Toyota leveraged AR in their Mystery Stories application that allows users to see what’s under the hood of a car brand.
  
• Tourism - AR can essentially turn a smartphone into a digital tourist guide. The app would just need access to the device’s camera and GPS features to recognize places caught in the camera, and provide real-time information on those places. 
  
• Fashion - AR brings visual appeal to fashion-based apps. For instance, what if users of the app can view virtual versions of themselves in the app, and try out various products to check how it would look without having to visit the physical store. AR can make it possible. 
  
• Health & wellness - AR can be used in fitness apps or even in apps that serve medical purposes. With AR-powered apps, doctors can ‘show’, rather than verbally explain, the condition of a patient’s medical state. AR can potentially assist surgeons with complex procedures, aid doctors in documentation, and so much more. The applications of AR in the medical sector are many, and are being researched at present. 
  

Conclusion

Many mobile application development companies in UAE now provide AR app development in Android and iOS. The technology is particularly demanded by growing enterprises for marketing and advertising. Provided there is a lot of a creativity involved, AR can be leveraged effectively to make interactions better for users, while enterprises achieve better business opportunities.