The first Audio AR beta apps are here

Over the past year, we have been talking about the promise of audio augmented reality (AR) to keep us more engaged with the world around us and with each other, heads up and hands free, and less distracted by our small screens. We have discussed the opportunity to augment your world with audio content for your ears instead of the typical approach of using visual content for your eyes. We call this audio-first approach to augmented reality, Bose AR.

As we are gearing up for South by Southwest (SXSW) 2019 in Austin, Texas this weekend, I wanted to share an update with you on the (1) first set of Bose AR-enhanced apps, (2) the latest Bose AR-enabled hardware products, and (3) an update on tools for developers and creators to build their own Bose AR-enhanced apps.

Bose AR-enhanced Apps

As of this week, our very first application partners have just released their first set of Bose AR-enhanced apps for iPhone that allow for heads up hands free experiences in areas like gaming, physical activity, entertainment, and travel. Together with our developer and creator partners, we’re excited to give you a chance to try out these early Bose AR applications in their initial beta form and share your feedback.

Feedback from the community will shape the future, so I’d encourage you to try these apps with your Bose AR-enabled device and let us and our application partners know what you think. (I'll update this post with a link for feedback soon)

I’ll highlight some of the first apps that are being published for SXSW and available for you to try broadly.

Komrad AR by Sentient Play - Komrad AR is a gaming app that puts you in the middle of an immersive, interactive adventure where “The Cold War Didn’t End — It Just Moved into Cyberspace.” With Bose AR-enabled headphones or glasses, you can play heads up and hands free, using gestures and voice to perform virtual missions in the real world.

Golfshot - Golfshot is an app that helps you play your best golf. With Bose AR-enabled glasses, golfers can hear hole information and accurate GPS distance to the green on over 45,000 golf courses worldwide just by tapping on the side of their Bose Frames. Keep your phone in your pocket and your head in the game.

Otocast – Otocast provides audio tours of a variety of locations. By leveraging Bose AR devices, users can tap on their headphones or glasses to learn more about points of interest in the world around them without having to access their phones, keeping their heads up and hands free while learning about amazing places in our world

Traverse FM by Vrai Pictures – Traverse changes the way we experience audio. By leveraging the heading direction from a Bose AR-enabled device, Traverse makes listening physical. Whether it's walking around a 1969 studio session with Elvis Presley or completing a mission on Mars as the InSight lander, Traverse delivers immersive audio experiences that transport you so that you feel like you're there, all from the comfort of wherever you are.

Head Games by Earplay - Head Games is a feature-filled interactive audio adventure made by Earplay, exclusively for Bose AR-enabled devices. The first Bose AR title is a sci-fi thriller where players determine the outcome of the story by using gestures like nodding, head shaking, ducking, and turning, as well as their voice. The fate of the world depends on how you interact with NSA agents and even extraterrestrial life forms.

Audiojack - Audiojack is an audio-based movie for your imagination with no words, no video and no music. It’s 100% sound design. While wearing Bose AR-enabled headphones or glasses, Audiojack senses how you physically react to the story; creating a uniquely individual experience each time you listen that’s never the same twice.

Naviguide AR by Navisens* - NaviGuide AR by Navisens uses your Bose AR-enabled headphones or glasses to understand what restaurant you are looking at. By tapping on your Bose AR-enabled device, Naviguide AR provides you with key facts to simplify your decision making, including its Yelp! rating and total number of reviews with a simple double tap on your device. Additionally, Naviguide AR incorporates other points of interest to help you explore heads up and hands free. (*available for preorder only)

Radar by Bose – Radar is an app from Bose that plays experiences from Bose AR creators. The first experiences available in Radar include personal stories from Hip Hop legend Darryl “DMC” McDaniels, original content from Dave Willis (Aqua Teen Hunger Force, Squidbillies) and Tim Heidecker (Tim and Eric, Nathan for You, On Cinema), and 3-d immersive audio from select up and coming artists.

These initial Bose AR-enabled apps provide a glimpse into how heads up hands free experiences can get people re-engaged with the world around them and with each other by using an audio-only approach to AR.

You can find these and others by going to the Bose Connect app. You must go to the Bose Connect app with a Bose AR device, update your firmware, and then look for the Bose AR logo. The logo will not show up until you update your firmware. You can watch for new Bose AR-enhanced apps by checking the Bose AR App Showcase on the Bose Connect app.

Bose AR-enabled Products

Last December, we announced and began shipping our first Bose AR-enabled product line, Bose Frames. While the primary focus for Bose Frames was delivering great audio performance in a new, open-ear form factor, we also mentioned that we were incorporating Bose AR technology into the device. Those sensors can tell your applications how your head is moving and how you are interacting with your device, providing a new level of control and interaction.

Bose Frames are off to a great start and we are excited about their potential as our newest Bose consumer product. However, we also wanted to ensure that customers for some of our signature solutions could experience Bose AR. To that end, we have started embedding Bose AR technology into our acclaimed Bose QC 35 II headphones. And we did this without changing our price to provide additional features and benefits to our QC 35 II customers.

As I mentioned earlier, you can find out if your Bose QC 35 II headphones are enabled with Bose AR by going to the Bose Connect App, connect to your QC 35 II’s, and update your firmware. If they are enabled with Bose AR you will see a Bose AR logo appear below the image of your headphones.

In an earlier blog, I committed to delivering at least 1 million Bose AR-enabled devices to customers in 2019. With QC 35 II now incorporating Bose AR technology and Bose Frames off to a strong start, we are well on our way.

Bose AR Tools for Developers and Creators

Finally, we have invested significantly in the Bose AR platform and have updated our Bose AR tools for both developers and creators. For developers who are focused on building or enhancing their own apps, we have expanded beyond iPhone to include Android. We now have a Bose AR Native SDK (beta) as well as a Unity SDK (beta) for Android in addition to the iPhone versions we have previously announced. All of these get regular updates as developers request new capabilities and provide feedback.

Also, we are now previewing our Bose AR Creator Tool. The Creator Tool is the first audio AR visual programming tool allowing artists and creatives to build AR experiences without having to code. Whether it’s spatial audio or interactive audio: just upload the content and script interactivity with an easy to follow visual interface.

Both the developer and creator tools can be accessed at developer.bose.com.

It’s an exciting time for our industry, and I’m thrilled to see the response we’ve had to Bose AR. I’m personally motivated by seeing the experiences that are coming from these leading innovators. As we continue to learn, now with your feedback, we hold the potential to create richer, more meaningful audio AR experiences for everyone.