Ikea's Place app is now out for the latest Android phones
The furniture retailer has also added 'Visual Search' to its apps.
Ikea's Place app is heading to Android. The augmented reality application gives you access to 3,200 items from Ikea's inventory and allows to see what they'd look like in your home by placing their 3D versions over your phone's live view. Think Pokémon Go, but instead of flinging Poké balls, you position couches in the living room. Place used to be an Apple exclusive, because it was powered by Cupertino's augmented reality platform for mobile devices called ARKit. Google's version of the app runs on ARCore, its answer to ARKit that gives Android devices the power to run apps that can superimpose objects over live images even without special sensors or software.
The big G's AR toolkit for mobile graduated from preview phase in late February, and is now compatible with phones other than Pixel devices. You can now download and install it if you have a Pixel, a Samsung Galaxy S7, S8, S9 or Note 8, an LG V30, an Asus Zenfone AR or a OnePlus 5. Actually, you'll have to install it if you want to use any ARCore apps, which are bound to pop up one by one now that the platform works on more devices. That means you won't be able to run Ikea Place or any other ARCore app if you have a non-compatible phone, but Google says it's working to bring the platform to more devices throughout the year.
In addition to launching Place for Android, Ikea has also added Visual Search to its apps. The new feature gives the applications the capability to search for items in Ikea's inventory -- you just need to point your camera towards that piece of furniture that caught your eye. Finally, Ikea has launched a new gameshow series called Matchers Keepers that you can play with friends and family. You'll need to pick pieces of furniture over three rounds for a specific place in your home, and you get points for picking out matching items. All players will need to have access to Ikea Place, though, so any housemate with a non-compatible device will have to sit it out.
