No, the Apple Vision Pro didn’t prove to be the iPhone of AR, but augmented and virtual experiences got a fresh jolt of energy in 2024 all the same. Software and hardware developers continued to push the boundaries of UX, and build the entire scaffolding of technologies needed to make the next era of interactivity possible. So as the next wave of headsets hit in 2025 and 2026, the world will be more ready.
Headspace
For building a high-tech way to calm down
Meditation is magic for your mental health. Ironically, though, it’s harder to meditate if you’re stressed. Headspace XR offers more than a dozen guided, mindfulness exercises in AR/VR—leading you through movement and breathing patterns in the largest open world experience on the Quest platform outside of gaming. You can practice self-care inside 7 million pixels of ethereal landscape, filled with bubbles, sparkles, and even other people if you don’t want to be alone, learning lessons you can take back to manage stress in the real world.
Niantic
For making it easy to digitize our world
As promising as augmented reality is, there’s a pretty big bottleneck: We don’t have a 3D map of every place on our planet for developers to craft high-end immersive experiences. Not only is Niantic trying to construct this map, it’s built a tool for people to help draw it. Scaniverse is an iOS/Android app that takes detailed 3D scans of spaces in just a few minutes without special tools like lidar. Better yet, this scan can be exported directly to Unity to help developers craft AR experiences.
PGA Tour and Work & Co
For bringing golf a transformative new dimension
Golf can be an exciting sport to watch, but it’s easy to lose the scale and nuance of the game on television. Work & Co developed a PGA Tour app for the Apple Vision Pro which transforms golf into a real time, 3D model placed right in your living room. Instead of just watching a shot from the tee, the experience tracks the flight of the ball across the hole. It’s almost like golf has been turned into a living board game.
PxE Holographic Imaging
For adding depth to digital images
Cameras capture images in 2D, but PxE argues we’ve been wasting their potential. By adding what they call a “holographic encoder” to otherwise typical CMO semiconductor sensors—essentially a thin transparent film backed by some clever algorithms—the company claims to transform waveforms of light into the sorts of depth maps needed for everything from AR to self-driving vehicles. PxE is currently in talks with 25 companies, including many top camera chip manufacturers, about adopting the technology.
The Walt Disney Company
For making us feel like superheroes
While most of us await the radioactive blast to awaken our latent superpowers, Disney has built an impressive Apple Vision Pro app called What If…? – An Immersive Story that gets us close. The experience begins in the real world, as Marvel characters drop in through AR to lure you into an adventure. Moments later, you’ll be making the signs of Dr. Strange, and transporting yourself across VR dimensions during this hour-long interactive adventure—one that’s more entertaining than at least some of the films across the Marvel Cinematic Universe.
The companies behind these technologies are among the honorees in Fast Company’s Next Big Things in Tech awards for 2024. See a full list of all the winners across all categories and read more about the methodology behind the selection process.
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