Spatial Systems Inc., a holographic collaboration platform for augmented reality and virtual reality, today announced a native AR app for iOS and Android that runs on almost any current generation of mobile device.

During the COVID-19 pandemic, interest in Spatial’s platform has exploded as an alternative to tools such as Zoom, with usage up over 130 times from before 2019, and now more than a million meetings have been joined. With hundreds of hours spent in Spatial each day, this trend is accelerating, but remote access to AR/VR headsets remains a barrier to many consumers because of expense and availability.

However, billions of AR-enabled smartphones are on the market today, and Spatial makes use of advances in ARKit and ARCore on iOS and Android to take advantage of this to make AR and VR more accessible to everyday people.

Augmented reality works by making a mobile device a window that layers holograms over visible reality adding extra information or 3D graphics. As a result, a sidewalk can have a path of virtual lights guiding a person to a destination, advertisements can appear above a shop door offering nightly specials and the virtual avatars of remote family members can appear to be sitting on the couch even as they’re miles away.

Anand Agarawala, co-founder and chief executive of Spatial, believes this is a turning point for accessibility for interactive 3D spaces and will change the way people connect with their friends, family and collaborate with teammates for years to come.

“This is a huge step for spatial computing and for us in solidifying our leadership as the leading AR/VR collaboration tool on the market today,” said Agarawala. “Previously only people with a headset could experience the true magic of Spatial but we wanted anyone to be able to take advantage of it. Now, you simply hold up your phone and for the first time ever can become an active part of any virtual meeting and see lifelike avatars of coworkers or friends right in your living room.”

The AR/VR market size is projected to gross revenue of $73 billion in 2024, according to Statista, up from $12 billion in 2020, driven primarily by enterprise use for team collaboration and entertainment use in the consumer sector. That said, there’s a lot of interest currently for use on mobile devices for augmented information, such as the platform developed by Spatial.

Earlier this year, Spatial raised $14 million, for a total of $22.3 million in funding, to create collaborative AR/VR technology for teams to do remote work. Given the COVID-19 pandemic and the increased need to maintain separate workspaces, this has become an important new technology to bridge that gap.

In that time, Spatial launched on the Oculus Quest store and introduced an auditorium environment, a VR space that can seat more than 40 people at once for collaboration as if they were in a lecture hall.

With virtual reality, even as people are forced to be socially distant, work from home or stay in their offices, sit in front of computer screens, and eschew human contact, it doesn’t mean that they can’t see faces all day long.

“Our mobile and web apps offer the perfect gateway experience for those that want to try out the benefits of connecting more deeply with remote friends, family or colleagues but without the upfront financial commitment of a headset,” said Jinha Lee, co-founder and chief product officer of Spatial. “The Quest 2 is projected to sell up to 6 million devices in its first year but we can bring Spatial to billions of users on mobile. The phone is where AR will thrive first and we’re capitalizing on this trend today.”

Spatial hopes that by adjusting its platform to the broadest cross-section possible, including enterprise users, college students, families in need of getting together for the holidays and even church groups, it will show the power that AR/VR technology has in the human experience.

Spatial is now live for iOS and Android.

Image: Spatial