ARKit app downloads exceed 13M in 6 months, nearly half are games, report says

Posted:
in iPhone edited December 2019
Fresh statistics from market research firm Sensor Tower suggest uptake of Apple's ARKit is on a steady upward trajectory, with more than 13 million augmented reality apps downloaded since the framework launched last September.




According to data gathered by Sensor Tower Store Intelligence, the iOS App Store has seen iPhone and iPad users around the world download roughly two million ARKit apps every four weeks over the past six months.

The research firm is tracking what it calls "ARKit-only" apps, or augmented reality software built "expressly" using Apple's framework. Apps that include only minor ARKit integration such as value-added AR features like photo modes and mini games, were not included in the tally.

Unsurprisingly, games accounted for 47 percent of cumulative downloads in the firm's last check, up from 35 percent when Sensor Tower issued an inaugural report on ARKit apps in October. In second place are utility apps like AR rulers, a segment that contracted from a 19 percent share of downloads in October to 15 percent this month.

Entertainment apps like virtual pet simulators hit 12 percent, while the Lifestyle category more than doubled its share of downloads, jumping from 5 percent to 11 percent. Photo & Video, Education and Other bring up the rear with shares of 6 percent, 4 percent and 7 percent, respectively.

Similar to traditional apps, ARKit titles that gained an early following continue to perform well in Sensor Tower's metrics.

Shopping app IKEA Place, sticker app GIPHY World, battle game The Machines and VR pet My Very Hungry Caterpillar AR are examples of top apps that continue to draw in users. Consumers were first introduced to IKEA Place, GIPHY World and The Machines through various Apple keynotes, including the introduction of ARKit at WWDC 2017.

As for overall top performers, popular virtual pet app AR Dragon led the free app space over the past six months, while dimensioning app CamToPlan Pro topped both the paid app and highest grossing charts, the firm said.

According to Sensor Tower, there are more than 2,000 ARKit-only titles on the iOS App Store, and that number continues to grow as developers find new and novel uses for the augmented reality framework.

Most recently, Apple released an update to ARKit, dubbed ARKit 1.5, alongside the first iOS 11.3 beta release in January. With the new technology, developers can build apps capable of detecting vertical and irregularly-shaped surfaces, as well as images like posters and book covers.

Comments

  • Reply 1 of 12
    FranculesFrancules Posts: 122member
    Bye xbox. 🙂
    nunzySpamSandwichwatto_cobra
  • Reply 2 of 12
    asciiascii Posts: 5,936member
    I downloaded the BBC Civilisations app which is an AR app that projects famous historical relics (such as the Rosetta Stone) in to your environment and lets you walk around them and look at them closely etc.

    It was pretty good but the main thing it had trouble with was identifying the plane of the floor to place the object on (so much so that I had to move from a room with plain carpet to one with kitchen tiles, giving it a pattern to focus on), and I presume that is something the AR kit framework does for it, rather than the BBC having to code that for themselves, so it gave me the impression that ARKit is still a "work in progress," but you can see the potential.
  • Reply 3 of 12
    racerhomie3racerhomie3 Posts: 1,264member
    I am currently playing the Nickelodeon AR game.
  • Reply 4 of 12
    foggyhillfoggyhill Posts: 4,767member
    ascii said:
    I downloaded the BBC Civilisations app which is an AR app that projects famous historical relics (such as the Rosetta Stone) in to your environment and lets you walk around them and look at them closely etc.

    It was pretty good but the main thing it had trouble with was identifying the plane of the floor to place the object on (so much so that I had to move from a room with plain carpet to one with kitchen tiles, giving it a pattern to focus on), and I presume that is something the AR kit framework does for it, rather than the BBC having to code that for themselves, so it gave me the impression that ARKit is still a "work in progress," but you can see the potential.
    I think ark it 1.5 is Bette in I’d Ingraham planes
  • Reply 5 of 12
    gatorguygatorguy Posts: 24,176member
    foggyhill said:
    ascii said:
    I downloaded the BBC Civilisations app which is an AR app that projects famous historical relics (such as the Rosetta Stone) in to your environment and lets you walk around them and look at them closely etc.

    It was pretty good but the main thing it had trouble with was identifying the plane of the floor to place the object on (so much so that I had to move from a room with plain carpet to one with kitchen tiles, giving it a pattern to focus on), and I presume that is something the AR kit framework does for it, rather than the BBC having to code that for themselves, so it gave me the impression that ARKit is still a "work in progress," but you can see the potential.
    I think ark it 1.5 is Bette in I’d Ingraham planes
    Ummm... Did you use Siri voice dictation? I don't think it heard what you intended. Either that or you need to keep your cat off the keyboard. ;)
    edited March 2018 muthuk_vanalingamfastasleepjony0
  • Reply 6 of 12
    icoco3icoco3 Posts: 1,474member
    What is the game they showed at the launch?
  • Reply 7 of 12
    Francules said:
    Bye xbox. 🙂
    ???

    I did not know the XBox can do AR?
  • Reply 8 of 12
    nunzynunzy Posts: 662member
     Apple was very smart Apple was very smart to get into augmented reality instead of virtual reality.
    SpamSandwichwatto_cobrajony0
  • Reply 9 of 12
    icoco3icoco3 Posts: 1,474member
    CobraGuy said:
    Francules said:
    Bye xbox. ߙ⦬t;/div>
    ???

    I did not know the XBox can do AR?
    Not "Buy" as in "purchase" but "Bye" as in "see ya later".
    edited March 2018 watto_cobracornchip
  • Reply 10 of 12
    fastasleepfastasleep Posts: 6,408member
    icoco3 said:
    CobraGuy said:
    Francules said:
    Bye xbox. ߙ⦬t;/div>
    ???

    I did not know the XBox can do AR?
    Not "Buy" as in "purchase" but "Bye" as in "see ya later".
    yeah but why though.
  • Reply 11 of 12
    fastasleepfastasleep Posts: 6,408member

    nunzy said:
     Apple was very smart Apple was very smart to get into augmented reality instead of virtual reality.
    Why can't it be both? VR is amazing, they'd be fools not to have some pony in that race.
  • Reply 12 of 12
    asciiascii Posts: 5,936member

    nunzy said:
     Apple was very smart Apple was very smart to get into augmented reality instead of virtual reality.
    Why can't it be both? VR is amazing, they'd be fools not to have some pony in that race.
    I think they are going to release AR for the phone and VR for the Mac.
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