Augmented Reality, or AR, is arguably one of the fastest-growing trends in mobile app development. Meanwhile, in web design, Virtual Reality (VR) has gained more traction, since it’s not feasible to create a website that truly interacts with the physical world around us. That’s why AR technology has found its place primarily in mobile apps.
Still, it's fascinating that many of these apps offer inspiration for all kinds of creativity and industries. When it comes to web design, we’ve already covered how artistic works like paintings can inspire layout and color combinations, what Street Art can teach us, interior design, and more. We even discussed websites featuring VR and panoramic 360 ° projects (and working with them in Photoshop).
So now it’s time to talk about augmented reality and mobile applications. Each year, Apple invests heavily in AR technology (ARKit), continuously expanding the possibilities and features. But what’s most impressive is that AR works on nearly all iOS and Android devices, making it truly widespread and accessible. Whether it appears in mobile games or more general apps, AR is both exciting to explore and use.
So what exactly is AR?
The mobile game Pokémon Go is one of the most vivid and familiar examples (at least from the news headlines during the summer of 2016 ) of how AR can be implemented. Users were encouraged to find and track digital creatures in real-world cityscapes. Players responded with enthusiasm, truly “leaving their couches” to explore the streets.
In essence, AR is a kind of blurring between the real and virtual worlds through digital space. These apps use your actual location to make digital objects behave realistically and interact meaningfully.
But games are just the tip of the AR iceberg. We shouldn't overlook educational tools, learning experiences, or the ability to explore places a person might never reach in real life. And yes, of course—there’s also use in medicine, science, and beyond.
Nearly all apps are available for both iOS and Android, so you can easily find them in your favorite app store.
World Brush
Designers will love this small app that blends creativity with play. World Brush allows you to paint virtual graffiti in open spaces or on almost any surface. You'll have access to a variety of brushes, colors, and extra tools.
You can see it in action in the video below.
As a result, designers can explore new ideas for color combinations on backgrounds, experiment with text layout and composition, or even incorporate playful elements into web design. Imagine animated trails following a cursor, parallax effects, and other features inspired by AR games. In short, you can sketch layout ideas while walking outside, finding inspiration on the go.
If you take a look at projects like expedition-wilde-welten, womenscancerfoundation, wowtapes, epicmoleskine, you’ll notice clever page loading animations—where it feels like you're drawing a line and the app rushes to fill it in—or playful cursors simulating a finger tap on touchscreens, or smooth transitions that feel like motion in AR. Some designs even feel like they were inspired by a walk outdoors or natural surroundings.
IKEA Place
This app perfectly demonstrates how AR can be applied in e-commerce. It’s not only fascinating from a design standpoint but also from a marketing one. IKEA Place allows users to “try on” furniture in their own space—seeing how it would look in full size before purchasing. Plus, it includes 360-degree views of every item.
Again, here’s a clear video demonstration.
One of the brightest real-life examples is gathersystem, which offers stylish gadget stands and organizers—visually arranged using subtle AR cues. Or take redbox, which illustrates an object disintegrating (the emotional sting of realizing that chair doesn’t fit in your room... ouch). That hurts... There's also the modular furniture project modulosdesk with interactive configurators and massive customization potential.
Star Chart
A fascinating app for astronomy lovers or anyone curious about the universe. Just point your device toward the sky, and the app tells you what’s hidden behind the clouds—stars, constellations, nebulas, and more. It can even show how the sky looked 10,000 years ago!
It’s a technically complex app, with information presented via floating AR tooltips—but that’s what makes it so compelling.
As always, check out the video.
A similar concept in design is seen in lstore.graphics, where you can configure and export device mockups. Or explore bipolarstudio (definitely visit it yourself), daydreamdesigns, ceremonycoffee. These interactive designs let users explore on their own terms—choosing whether or not to click the arrow, close a message, or discover more.
TapMeasure
Another advanced AR app that interior designers will appreciate. TapMeasure lets you measure distances between objects in a room, check for wall alignment or distortion, see if a fridge or stool is perfectly level, and even generate full 3D floor plans.
It’s a powerful and convenient way to plan everything with a level of precision that was unthinkable before. All data can be exported to CAD and 3D modeling software.
You can see it in action in this video.
In web design, similar concepts include VR-inspired effects, interactive tooltips, and floating elements. The core goal of AR is to enhance the real world with more meaningful and detailed digital content. And websites can do the same—either dryly delivering information or actively engaging users.
One example is tsh.io, with a clean modern design, gradients, and animations. But all its content is static—even the “What’s inside” blocks are non-clickable, despite their hover animations.
Now compare that with the immersive experience of hotel-frida, nomos-glashuette, comanage, toakchocolate—projects that let users decide whether to reveal more info or just browse freely.
Final Thoughts
Augmented reality in mobile apps is a powerful and exciting way to blur the lines between physical and digital worlds. It can transport us to distant places, bring childhood dreams (like space travel) closer, and offer designers and users a tool for creating new experiences.
Apple’s ARKit is a great place to start—Apple keeps supporting and updating it, and the developer site has plenty of examples and resources to explore.
In web design, we often crave more dimensionality—more “life”—in what’s essentially a flat canvas. While VR is used in some desktop sites (think museums or 360° tours), AR ideas are more often translated into little interactive touches—tooltips, added info, product previews. And those enhancements make websites far more engaging.
The more content you have, the harder it is to fit everything neatly on one page. But smart use of floating elements and microinteractions (like in vinzi-studio, trigema, ciklum) lets you present more while showing less. Just pay attention to modern interfaces—they’re full of AR-inspired behavior.
And mobile apps? They can spark forgotten ideas—those hidden creative impulses. Sometimes we just need the right moment, or the right app, to bring them back to life.