AR view#
The AR view — named character's eyes in the app — is the image from the phone camera, on which the 3D models of finds and routes stand anchored in a real place in the city, not on the map.
When the AR view is available#
| Condition | Details |
|---|---|
| A phone with ARCore | Google Play Services for AR is needed; the app checks them on the start screen (“Checking AR…”) |
| Consents | camera and precise location |
| Place | open space with visible buildings — anchoring uses geospatial coverage |
Missing ARCore does not block the game: instead of the AR view the camera view opens in its 2D version (Camera and photos), so something happens on every phone.
How to start#
- Open the AR view with one of two buttons — both lead to the same screen: the camera tile in the top right corner of the map (“Camera — character's eyes (AR view)”) or Open AR on the find card with a 3D model (Finds).
- Look around slowly: “Show the surroundings to the camera — look left, right, up and down”.
- Wait until “Improving position accuracy…” disappears — the models stand when the position is certain.
- The status says how many metres you are from the nearest model and in which direction.
- Within 12 m Collect the find appears. Tapping it collects the find and returns to the map.
- Exit: the map tile or the system back button — the map comes back in the same place.
Quality indicator in the top left corner#
The AR view watches three things at once: position, geospatial coverage (VPS) and the phone's heading. It shows only what has a problem — a state that is fine leaves no icon behind, and when everything works the indicator does not appear at all.
| Icon | What it shows | When it lights up |
|---|---|---|
| the “my location” control | position accuracy from GPS | yellow — weak position; red — no location consent or location turned off in the system; grey — no position yet |
| the globe | geospatial coverage (VPS) | yellow — no coverage; grey — the check has not come back yet |
| the compass needle | the heading the phone is facing | yellow — heading uncertain; grey — no heading |
Tapping these icons does nothing — this is an indicator, not a button. A screen reader reads the full description of each state (“Heading: uncertain”), because colour alone tells it nothing.
Driving to the target: beeping, vibration and glow#
- Beeping — the closer to the target, the more frequent it is (from a dozen or so seconds at the edge of the range to about two seconds at the target) and the louder. In headphones you hear the side it comes from.
- Vibration and glow — a twitch accompanies every beep, and on the edge of the frame a glow shines from the side the target is on; when the target is behind you, it settles on the bottom edge.
Guidance concerns finds and route starts — route stops in the middle of a route do not beep. A point pointed at with a finger on the mini-map always guides, even when the automatic would stay silent.
Sound and vibration you turn off with tiles in the AR view. The setting is remembered: you turn them off once and after returning to the map, after entering AR again, and even after an app restart they are still off. The same switch works in the camera view — one setting for both views.
Mini-map in the AR view#
At the bottom of the screen you have a full-width mini-map: your character, the guided target and the other points.
- It starts folded — you see just the Map handle; the unfolding is remembered between entries.
- Moving it — drag with your finger; the map stays where you leave it, and tapping your figure restores the “behind the player” view, at your real position.
- Tapping the map turns on guidance to the selected point — a ring pulses around the target, and +/− zooms in and out.
- The guidance trail has the colour of the target: find — gold, route — turquoise, collected — grey.
- The map rotates with the direction of your movement: after a few metres of walking it aligns with the direction you are going, and while you stand it stands still, so it does not shake in your hand.
When anchoring will not work#
- The models only stand with a good position. If you see “Improving position accuracy…” for a long time, walk a few metres away and show the camera other buildings.
- In the debug panel (the text button at the bottom of the screen) there is Place a test block in front of you: the model stands about two metres in front of you on a camera anchor — without GPS and without VPS. You see the block when drawing and models work; then look for the cause in anchoring, not in the scene.
What to do when AR will not start#
| Symptom | What to do |
|---|---|
| The card “To enter AR mode I need the camera and location.” | tap Grant permissions and allow the camera and location (GPS and location accuracy); Close returns to the map |
| The camera tile opens nothing | the ARCore check has a time limit — wait a moment and tap again; after the limit the app opens the 2D camera view |
| A message about a failed AR start | close other apps that use the camera and install or update Google Play Services for AR |
| Models do not stand on the ground | leave the room and look around at the buildings; after a fresh entry give the app a few seconds |
What we do not show with a screenshot and why#
Frames from the AR view come only from the phone — and for now we do not have them. The emulator on our server does not have Google Play Services for AR, so ARCore does not start on it at all, and a screenshot from the emulator would show the 2D camera view, not AR. That is why in place of a frame there is a “frame in preparation” box; we will attach the photos from the phone with the next documentation update.
Documented for app version 0.120.1 (updated 2026-09-26).
Machine translation — the Polish version prevails.