What’s new with ARKit

At WWDC 2024, Apple introduced several exciting updates to ARKit, particularly for visionOS. Here are the key enhancements:

1. Room Tracking: A new feature that allows apps to customize experiences based on the room they are in. This can help in creating more immersive and context-aware applications. Create enhanced spatial computing experiences with ARKit (02:30)

2. Plane Detection: An update to plane detection now includes a new slanted plane alignment, which can detect angled surfaces in addition to horizontal and vertical ones. This can be useful for placing virtual content on various surfaces like tables or walls. Create enhanced spatial computing experiences with ARKit (05:46)

3. Object Tracking: ARKit can now track real-world objects that are statically placed in the environment. This allows apps to anchor virtual content to these objects, enhancing interactive and educational experiences. Create enhanced spatial computing experiences with ARKit (06:46)

4. World Tracking: Improvements have been made to make world tracking more robust under various lighting conditions, ensuring better performance and reliability. Create enhanced spatial computing experiences with ARKit (09:34)

5. Hand Tracking: Enhancements in hand tracking include display-aligned hand anchor updates for gesture detection and smooth drawing experiences, as well as hand predictions for content attachment. These updates are also available in RealityKit for hand anchor entities. Create enhanced spatial computing experiences with ARKit (11:38)

For a detailed example of how these features can be used, you can watch the session on building a spatial drawing app with RealityKit, which integrates ARKit's capabilities. Build a spatial drawing app with RealityKit

Relevant Sessions

1. Create enhanced spatial computing experiences with ARKit
2. Build a spatial drawing app with RealityKit
3. Platforms State of the Union