Apple Adds New AR Shopping Tools To Home Depot s Toolbox

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The TV, washer/dryer and chair aren't real, but shopping sites are adding link-outs to make getting the real versions easier via AR.

Apple


Every once in a while, I run into a situation where shopping using AR actually makes sense. [/news/use-ar-to-try-on-warby-parker-glasses-virtually/ Trying on Warby Parker glasses], momcheap.pageride.com for example, or [/news/how-ios-11-arkit-will-overshadow-apple-iphone-8/ test-driving virtual Ikea furniture]. Usually, it's more like casual window-shopping or browsing. Apple's ARKit is aiming to move past that and make the experience turn into more buying, too.
Home Depot, Wayfair, Bang & Olufsen and 1-800-Flowers are the first companies to build extra links and buttons into Apple's pop-up AR tools on iOS. The added features were announced last June at Apple's WWDC conference as part of one of many improvements to [/news/apple-doesnt-have-an-ar-headset-yet-but-its-ar-toolkit-is-paving-the-way/ Apple's iOS augmented reality toolkit], but shopping experiences hadn't started incorporating these extra features until now.

These AR shopping tools don't require an app. They show up in Safari and link out to tools that use the camera viewfinder in a mode called AR Quick Look, which lots of apps already use. The added buttons in AR amount to links that are a faster shortcut to a shopping cart, or a store locator, or in the case of Home Depot, to chatting with customer service. It also allows anyone to [ drop Apple Pay buy buttons] into an AR window.