Hacker News Reader

I doubt they expose an API since it's part of the security feature.

They are going to expose some of this functionality as part of their AR libraries. We know this from their Snapchat demo, as well as the gaming demo (though that used the rear camera, not front one).

So... yes, developers will be able to get their hands on some of this tech, but how much can we do with it?

If room mapping was truly possible, I would imagine they would have done more in their demo with this, e.g. see the Hololens game where robots come flying out of walls, and hide behind your couch. That demo was more substantial than seeing a flat tabletop with a projected 3d game, or a projected 3d robots standing on a flat basketball court.

I think you guys are talking about two different sensors. The 3-D sensor (the one that works like Kinect) is only on the front of the phone and I assume only for short range. That's the one the Snapchat demo used in the one that Face ID uses.

The AR demos of games use the normal cameras on the back of the device. That stuff will be available to any device 6S and up.

https://developer.apple.com/documentation/arkit/arpointcloud

Reply on news.ycombinator.com