Final yr Meta introduced the so-called Augments function, deliberate for Quest 3, which might enable persistent mini AR apps to stay on this planet round you. Now, eight months after the headset hit retailer cabinets, Meta’s CTO explains why the function has but to ship.
Augments was announced as a framework for developers to build mini AR apps that might not simply stay persistently within the area round you, but in addition run concurrently alongside one another—much like how most apps work on Imaginative and prescient Professional right now.
And although Meta had proven a glimpse of Augments in motion when it was introduced final yr, it appears the corporate’s imaginative and prescient (and need to market that imaginative and prescient) bought forward of its execution.
This week Meta CTO Andrew “Boz” Bosworth responded to a query throughout an Instagram Q&A about when the Augments function would ship. He indicated the function as initially proven wasn’t assembly the corporate’s expectation.
We have been enjoying with [Augments] in January and we determined it wasn’t adequate. It was too held again by some system structure limitations we had; it ended up feeling extra like a toy and it didn’t actually have the facility that we predict it wanted to ship on the promise of what it was.
So we made a troublesome resolution there to return to the drafting board, and mainly [it needed] a totally completely different technical structure. Ranging from scratch mainly. Together with really a a lot deeper set of adjustments to the system to allow what we needed to construct there. I believe we made the correct name—we’re not going to ship one thing we’re not enthusiastic about.
But it surely did restart the clock, and so [Augments is] going to take longer than we had hoped to ship. I believe it’s price whereas, I believe it’s the correct name. However that’s what occurred.
We’re solely two-and-a-half months out from Meta Join 2024, which might be the one-year anniversary of the Augments announcement. That’s the place we prone to hear extra in regards to the function, however at this level it’s unclear if it may ship by then.