The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) has used Apple’s ARKit to create a new augmented reality app to show the devastation caused by war.
The free app is called Enter the Room and, seen through the eyes of a child, the idea is you get a close-up view of war from a family’s doorstep.
You enter the child's world via a AR ‘door’ you place in your own room (and can the re-place elsewhere depending on what you want to do).
When you walk into the virtual room it shows you the effects of war on an accelerated timescale so you rapidly see the scene change in front of you.
The app uses the ‘AR portal’ designed by digital agency Nedd. Take a look at the agency’s early work on the portal not long after ARKit was announced at Apple’s Worldwide Developer Conference (WWDC) last June:
The app is simple to use, though we suggest you try it out in a large room since we found we couldn't walk into the room in a smaller space. As with other ARKit apps, you'll need to be running iOS 11.0 or later on an iPhone 6S or later.
Check out the app out here:
The app has been designed to draw attention to the 65 million people fleeing conflict today. The ICRC says battles are increasingly being waged in cities, hence the urban orientation of the app – indeed 75 percent of those affected by conflict today are urban dwellers.
“Conflict has devastating impacts on communities, and especially on children”, saya Peter Maurer, President of the ICRC.
“We hope the story told through this immersive app will give people new insights into the realities of war. It’s a vivid reminder of how urban warfare destroys children’s bedrooms, their homes, and - tragically - their lives.”
You can check out people's reactions to the app here (in portrait, sorry):
Check out lots of other great ARKit apps: 10 best ARKit-enabled apps