Microsoft is bringing one of its HoloLens apps to Android devices, and introducing a new one for iOS, too.
At $5,000 per headset, the HoloLens has been aimed businesses and educational instituitions. However, removing the requirement for the hardware means a lot more people will be able to experience mixed reality.
On Android, Microsoft is porting over its Dynamics 365 Remote Assist, which will be available from April. This tool lets a user with a headset (or now a smartphone) send a video to another person, who can then add annotations that then appear as augmented reality effects on the recipient’s device.
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The Android version won’t be as fully featured, and holding a phone up in front of you is not the same as wearing a headset, but the essential functions will be there.
Apple iOS devices will get a new app named Project Visualize, an AR model displaying tool that’s linked with the rest of Microsoft’s business tools.
Speaking to The Verge, Lorraine Bardeen, Microsoft’s mixed reality business head, says that the company is currently basing its decisions to bring these apps to smartphones on the fact that they’re the devices that makes the most sense for its customers.
A new version of HoloLens could be announced at an upcoming Microsoft event at Mobile World Congress 2019 on Feb. 24, but we also wouldn't be surprised to see the company elaborate on these and possibly other HoloLens apps.
