With IKEA Place, the iPhone and iPad have perhaps the best ARKit app yet. Because everyone knows IKEA, but we have never seen how you can test furniture in this app.
IKEA Place now available in the Netherlands
When Apple unveiled ARKit, it didn’t take long until IKEA promised to come up with a new iPhone app. This appeared at the same time as iOS 11 in the US last week, but can also be picked from the Dutch App Store from today. IKEA Place does exactly what its name suggests: placing furniture in your living room. In the menu, for example, you can choose a bed and nightstand, which you then give a digital place in your bedroom via your screen.
Thanks to ARKit, these furniture are portrayed lifelike. Realistic shadows and location determination show objects convincingly and in the correct scale.
Before you start putting away digital furniture, the IKEA Place app will ask you if you can scan the room around you. You do this by simply moving your iPhone around the room until the selection menu appears.
Once you have put an IKEA cupboard away, you can walk in and around it. Even if the piece of furniture disappears from view for a moment, the position is remembered. As soon as you turn the camera back, the digital bed is still exactly where you left it.
Does that sofa match your wall?
With IKEA Place, the retail chain wants to help customers choose their next new furniture. Instead of going to a store, you can use the app to immediately see what that green sofa looks like in your living room. It does not stop at one product, however. In the app you can easily place multiple objects in augmented reality at the same time.
The Place app is completely free to download and use. You do need iOS 11 and a device that supports ARKit. Since the arrival of this major iOS update, new augmented reality apps have been popping up every day. We have bundled our favorites for you in the overview below.
Also read: The 7 best ARKit apps in the App Store right now