Integrate iOS device camera and motion features to produce augmented reality experiences in your app or game using ARKit.

ARKit Documentation

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I need to troubleshoot Transform Drift in ARKit
Hi all, I'm currently developing a real-time object reconstruction app using ARKit. The goal is to scan large objects using ARKit’s depth and transform data, and generate a point cloud. However, I’m facing a major challenge - Transform Drift / World Alignment Issues The localToWorld transform provided by ARKit frequently seems to drift or become unstable across frames. This results in misaligned point clouds even when the device is moved slowly or kept relatively still. In some cases, a static surface scanned over a few seconds results in clearly misaligned fragments. This makes it difficult to accurately stitch a multi-frame point cloud. I have experimented with various lighting conditions and object textures, but the issue persists in all cases. At times, the relative error between frames reaches up to 20 cm, while in other instances the error is minimal; however, the drift gradually accumulates over time, leading to an overall enlargement of the reconstructed object. I have attached images of both cases here. Questions: Are there specific conditions under which ARKit’s world transform is expected to drift? Is there a way to detect or recover from this drift during runtime? Any best practices for maintaining consistent tracking during scanning or measurement sessions?
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Jun ’25
Possible contradiction between ARKit's definition of UIDeviceOrientation.landscapeRight and the actual definition of UIDeviceOrientation.landscapeRight
So it seems to be that there is a contradiction between how ARKit defines UIDeviceOrientation.landscapeRight, and the actual definition of UIDeviceOrientation.landscapeRight in the UIKit documentation. In the ARKit documentation for ARCamera.transform, it says the following: This transform creates a local coordinate space for the camera that is constant with respect to device orientation. In camera space, the x-axis points to the right when the device is in UIDeviceOrientation.landscapeRight orientation—that is, the x-axis always points along the long axis of the device, from the front-facing camera toward the Home button. The y-axis points upward (with respect to UIDeviceOrientation.landscapeRight orientation), and the z-axis points away from the device on the screen side. Going through the same link, we see the definition of UIDeviceOrientation.landscapeRight given as: The device is in landscape mode, with the device held upright and the front-facing camera on the right side. There seems to be a conflict in the two definitions, that has already been asked and visualized in this StackOverflow thread The resolution of that answer says that ARKit landscapeRight, unlike what is given in UIDeviceOrientation.landscapeRight, has home button on the right, as stated in the ARCamera.transform documentation. It says that more details are given in this StackOverflow thread, but this thread talks about the discrepancy between the definitions of landscapeRight in UIDeviceOrientation and UIInterfaceOrientation, and not anything related to ARKit. So I am wondering, why does ARKit definition of landscapeRight contradict with that of UIDeviceOrientation despite explicitly mentioning it? Is it just a mistake by Apple developers that hasn't been resolved even after so long?
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Jun ’25
VisionOS 26 - threadsPerThreadgroup limit causing crash on device (but not in simulator)
Hi all, I'm running into an issue with an app that previously worked fine on device using visionOS 2.0. After updating to visionOS 26, the same code runs fine in the simulator but crashes on the device with the following error: -[MTLDebugComputeCommandEncoder _validateThreadsPerThreadgroup:]:1330: failed assertion `(threadsPerThreadgroup.width(32) * threadsPerThreadgroup.height(32) * threadsPerThreadgroup.depth(1))(1024) must be <= 832. (kernel threadgroup size limit)` Is there any documented way to check or increase the allowed threadsPerThreadgroup size on Apple Vision Pro? Or any recommended workaround for this regression? Thanks in advance!
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Jun ’25
ARKit camera transform orientation vector doesn't match physical device heading (despite `.gravityAndHeading`)
Hi all, I'm working on an ARKit-based iOS app where I need to accurately determine the direction the device is facing to localize objects in the real world. I'm using: let config = ARWorldTrackingConfiguration() config.worldAlignment = .gravityAndHeading Thus, I would expect the world alignment to behave as given in the gravityAndHeading page. The AR session is started after verifying that CLLocationManager.headingAccuracy <= 20, and the compass appears to be calibrated. However, I'm seeing a major inconsistency: When the rear camera is physically pointed toward true North, I would expect: cameraTransform.columns.2.z ≈ -1 // (i.e. ARKit's -Z pointing North) But instead, I'm consistently seeing: cameraTransform.columns.2.z ≈ +0.97 // Implies camera is facing South Meanwhile, the translation vector behaves as expected: As I physically move North, cameraTransform.columns.3.z becomes more negative, matching the world’s +Z = South assumption. For example, let's say I have the device in landscapeRight (or landscapeLeft for UIDeviceOrientation). Let's say the device rear camera is pointing towards True North, and I start moving towards True North. I get something like this: Camera Transform = simd_float4x4( [ [0.98446155, -0.030119859, 0.172998, 0.0], [0.023979114, 0.9990097, 0.037477385, 0.0], [-0.17395553, -0.032746706, 0.98420894, 0.0], [0.024039675, -0.037087332, -0.22780673, 0.99999994] ]) As you can see, the cameraTransform.columns.2.z is positive despite the rear camera pointing towards True North, while cameraTransform.columns.3.z is correctly positive as the device is moving towards True North. So here is my question: Why is cameraTransform.columns.2.z positive when the rear camera is physically facing North? Any clarity would be deeply appreciated. I've read the documentation and tested with different heading accuracies and AR session resets, but I keep running into this orientation mismatch. Thanks in advance!
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Jun ’25
UIRequiredDeviceCapabilities values?
I've submitted my first AR app for iPhone and iPad to iTunes Connect. After sending a binary to iTunes Connect, I've received the following warning message. The app contains the following UIRequiredDeviceCapabilities values, which aren’t supported in visionOS: [arkit]. No. 1, my app doesn't support visionOS. No. 2, I don't have the UIRequiredDeviceCapabilities dictionary in info.plist. Why am I receiving this warning? One article related to this issue that I've read suggests that I remove the UIRequiredDeviceCapabilities dictionary. Well, I don't have it in my plist. What can I do with this warning message? Thanks.
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Jul ’25
The participantIdentifier of Shared Coordinate Space invalid in Visionos26 Enterprise api
Visionos26 Enterprise api has the new feature: Shared Coordinate Space, participants exchange their coordinate data by SharedCoordinateSpaceProvider through their own network, when shared coordinate space established with nearby participants, the event: connectedParticipantIdentifiers(participants: [UUID]) will be received. But the Event.participantIdentifier still be an invalid default value(00000000-0000-0000-FFFF-FFFFFFFF) in this time, I wonder when or how I can get a valid event.participantIdentifier, or is there some other way to get the local participantIdentifier? Or If it's a bug, please fix it in later beta release version, thank you.
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Jul ’25
High CPU with ARWorldTrackingConfiguration vs. ARBodyTrackingConfiguration using AREnvironmentTexturing
In a simple test, I'm observing ~30% higher CPU usage with the ARWorldTrackingConfiguration compared to the ARBodyTrackingConfiguration when both configurations have AREnvironmentTexturing enabled. In Instruments, I observe Recon3D consuming ~5.5 seconds of CPU time with the ARWorldTrackingConfiguration vs <0.3 second with the ARBodyTrackingConfiguration in two separate 30 seconds samples. This is on an iPhone 12 Pro equipped with lidar. Is there a reason why two separate configurations, both having the same features enabled would have a different CPU overhead?
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Aug ’25
Current Apple Forum about ARKit and visionOS
Recently, questions about ARKit/visionOS seem to be being asked in the Apple forum by internal Apple engineers. Inexperienced and untested makeshift features are being offered, putting average but experienced developers in a difficult position. They are unable to react and get something useful from the posts. Apple needs to review the situation.
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Sep ’25
RealityView doesn't free up memory after disappearing
Basically, take just the Xcode 26 AR App template, where we put the ContentView as the detail end of a NavigationStack. Opening app, the app uses < 20MB of memory. Tapping on Open AR the memory usage goes up to ~700MB for the AR Scene. Tapping back, the memory stays up at ~700MB. Checking with Debug memory graph I can still see all the RealityKit classes in the memory, like ARView, ARRenderView, ARSessionManager. Here's the sample app to illustrate the issue. PS: To keep memory pressure on the system low, there should be a way of freeing all the memory the AR uses for apps that only occasionally show AR scenes.
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Sep ’25
ARKit with 422 pixel format and Apple Log colorspace
Hi, I’m trying to configure camera feed in ARKit to be in Apple Log color space. I can change Capture Device’s format to one that has Apple Log and I see one frame being in proper log-gray colors but then all AR tracking stops and tracking state hangs at “initializing”. In other combinations I see error “sensor failed to initialize” and session restarts with default format. I suspect that this is because normal AR capture formats are 420f, whereas ones that have Apple Log are 422. Could someone confirm if it’s even possible to run ARKit session with camera feed in a different pixel format? I’m trying it on iphone 15 pro
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Sep ’25
Spatial Computing, ARPointCloud (rawFeaturePoints)
https://developer.apple.com/documentation/arkit/arpointcloud https://developer.apple.com/documentation/arkit/arframe/rawfeaturepoints The point cloud (collection of points/features) main intention is a debug visualization to what the underlying tracking algorithm processes and is not designed for additional algorithms on top of that. But, we are utilizing information contained in the points/features collected by ARKit. Currently, the range of rawfeaturepoints is limited to about 10 meter from the device. We see a great chance if the range is unlock. The global localization will be more robust and accurate. ARPointCloud - Apple ARKit - FindSurface YouTube SIdQRiLj2jY
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VisionPro Enterprise.license file
I have read in the apple documentation and on forums that in order to access the camera and capture images on VisionPro, both an Entitlement and an Enterprise.license are required. I already have the Entitlement, but I don’t yet have the Enterprise.license. I would like to ask: is the Enterprise.license strictly required to gain camera access for capturing images? How can I obtain this file, and does it require an Enterprise account? Currently, my developer account is a regular Developer 99$, not an Enterprise account.
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Oct ’25
Possible to detect multiple images at the same time on VisionPro?
I'm working on a project that uses imageTrackingProvider through ARKit on VisionPro, and I want to detect multiple images(about 5) and show info at the same time. However, I found that it seems only 1 image could be detected by device at one time. And the api of maximumNumberOfTrackedImages doing this seems not available for visionOS but only iOS. Anyone knows possible ways to detect multiple images at the same time on VisionPro?
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Oct ’25
ARSkeleton3D modelTransform always return nil
I use ARKit for motion tracking. I get the skeleton joint coordinates and use them for animation. I didn't make any changes to the code, but I updated the iOS version from 18 to 26, and modelTransform now always returns nil. https://developer.apple.com/documentation/arkit/arskeleton3d/modeltransform(for:) For example bodyAnchor.skeleton.modelTransform(for: .init(rawValue: "head_joint")) bodyAnchor is ARBodyAnchor. I see the default skeleton on the screen, but now I can't get the coordinates out of it. I'm using an example from Apple's WWDC presentation. https://developer.apple.com/documentation/arkit/capturing-body-motion-in-3d Are there any changes in the API? Or just bug?
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Nov ’25
Request: Option to Disable PSVR2 Sense Controller Low-Power Mode on visionOS (ARKit + Vision Pro Development)
Hi everyone, We’re developing a Unity project for Apple Vision Pro that connects PSVR2 Sense controllers for advanced interaction and input. We’ve encountered a major limitation: when the controller is not held close to the designated hand (e.g., resting on a table or held by the non designated hand), the Sense controller enters a low-power or reduced-update mode. This results in noticeably reduced tracking update frequency and responsiveness until the controller is held again. For certain use cases, this behavior is undesirable. In our case, it prevents continuous real-time tracking of the controller even when it’s stationary or being tracked externally. Request: Please consider exposing an API flag or developer option in ARKit to disable and optionally delay the low-power mode when the app requires full-rate updates regardless of proximity or hand pose detection.
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Oct ’25
ARKit: Keep USDZ node fixed after image tracking is lost (prevent drifting)
0 I’m using ARKit + SceneKit (Swift) with ARWorldTrackingConfiguration and detectionImages to place a 3D object (USDZ via SCNScene(named:)) when a reference image is detected. While the image is tracked, the object stays correctly aligned. Goal: When the tracked image is no longer visible, I want the placed node to remain visible and fixed at its last known pose (no drifting) as I move the camera. What works so far: Detect image → add node → track updates When the image disappears → keep showing the node at its last pose Problem: After the image is no longer tracked, the node drifts as I move the device/camera. It looks like it’s still influenced by the (now unreliable) image anchor or accumulating small world-tracking errors. Question: What’s the correct way in ARKit to “freeze” the node at its last known world transform once ARImageAnchor stops tracking, so it doesn’t drift?
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Oct ’25
RoomPlan CaptureError.exceedSceneSizeLimit on iOS devices
When scanning multiple rooms (10+) in a single structure using ARWorldMap for coordinate space consistency, RoomCaptureSession throws CaptureError.exceedSceneSizeLimit. The instructions here (https://developer.apple.com/documentation/roomplan/scanning-the-rooms-of-a-single-structure) provide exactly what I am doing to keep the underlying ARSession alive (by calling captureSession.stop(pause: false)) and save the results before a user moves to the next room. Scanning 11 or so rooms will cause the user to hit the exceedSceneSizeLimit error. The ARWorldMap is about 58 MB and always is around this size when hitting this issue. No anchors are present and all the data seems to be from tracking data. On iPad devices (where I do not see this issue) the ARWorldMap grows as a significantly slower rate in size. I save the ARWorldMap after each room is scanned and confirmed by the user. If I use the ARMap to initialize the ARSession (as described in the docs) the session will immediately error with "exceedSceneSizeLimit" once the captureSession.run() is executed. Occasionally it will allow me/the user to scan again, but either breaks mid scan or the following. This has been working fine for the past 2 years and users have been able to scan dozens of rooms without issue. It seems only lately that it has been a problem. I would expect the ARWorldMap to be allowed for much bigger sizes. At this point I can just about scan more area of my house with a single scan than I can when I use different captureSessions. Few observations: This happens on my iPhone 15 Pro Max, my iPhone 17 Pro, but not my iPad M4 (maybe memory related?). It is possible if scanning many more rooms it would happen on the iPad too. I have tried things such as resetting the ARConfig on the underlying ARSession to reset some, but this doesn't work. I have tried to create a new ARWorldMap and move the origin to the older map to clear out tracking data. This almost works but causes a mess of issues when a user moves at all due to the unshared coordinate space. I believe there are three active issues regarding this: FB14454922, FB15035788, FB20642944 Could we get an update for this issue? It is a production issue and severely limits my user experience in my production application.
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Oct ’25