Adoption rates for both augmented and virtual reality continue to climb. The biggest pain point for this technology has always been convenience and hardware, but headsets are getting lighter, and smartphones are getting more capable. This has led to room in AR/VR innovation for smartphones, and a willingness from the public to try it.
Android's AR/VR ecosystem in 2025
Android's AR/VR technology can mostly be explained by its mature SLAM algorithms and AI integration for contextual understanding. Though, by far the leading reason for the high download figures is speed and accessibility, which is made possible by the AI-forward chipsets.
This capability of even mid-tier Android phones has led to a boost in developer activity. While demand in the market exists in some areas, it’s a new technology, and so virtual reality development services are creating solutions to real problems rather than toying with glossy VR exhibitions or demos. After all, there still isn’t a mainstream appetite for VR yet, but the technology can be profoundly useful as a commercial tool and in creating immersive experiences (and we’re on the verge of widespread AR usage).
Top augmented reality apps for Android in 2025
An important application of AR, particularly within Android smartphones, has been to offer personalized user experiences within retail. Both IKEA Place and Houzz continue to lead in AR-driven retail, helping show home furnishings before committing to big interior design decisions. This means using your camera to view your room, with object or interior overlays that sit realistically within it. From here, saving the image and sharing it is possible on both apps.
Both apps have had improvements in 2025 that revolve around improved object occlusion and lighting responsiveness. Each update continues to add more high-fidelity 3D assets to the libraries too. With sophisticated room scanning, layout suggestion engines within both apps now use AI to analyze spatial dimensions and user style preferences to offer relevant product placements. For example, see: IKEA AI assistant.
Google Lens remains the leading use of AR on Android. Its visual search capabilities continue to be more sophisticated and nuanced through AI, as it can perform translations, object identification and information overlay features in real-time. Its advantageous power comes from its integration with Google's Knowledge Graph and its ability to provide contextual actions based on recognized items. A great use of this app is when travelling, you can point the camera at a menu and it will overlay the translation.
For your own 3D content creation, Polycam and Scaniverse are useful tools, with both apps now offering enhanced LiDAR (where available) and photogrammetry processing. The idea is to achieve near-photorealistic PBR texture capture, all from your smartphone. Their value comes in the advanced on-device mesh simplification, and cloud-based collaboration for larger projects is available with both apps. The end result is to directly export these assets to professional 3D formats, making it easier for those involved in game development, architecture and e-commerce.
Top virtual reality apps for Android in 2025
Standalone VR headsets are the flagship vehicles for VR technology, and rightly so. But their weight and size remain a barrier for many people, and it’s why Android phones still have something to offer with their phone-as-a-display solution. For lightweight VR applications, the improved chipsets are enough, but demanding VR apps can be made possible through cloud streaming.
YouTube VR remains an Android VR staple, and it recently received a boost in resolution, with 8K 360-degree content now available along with a more intuitive virtual cinema environment. Its strength, of course, lies in the sheer volume of content. This is from user-generated vlogs to professionally produced cinematic VR. Social co-watching features are trying to create an Android VR environment, but we’re yet to see if this really takes off culturally.
Google Earth VR is often associated with PC VR, yet it’s currently at a stable and high-performing state on Android. Its enduring appeal is with its ability to explore the world immersively, using satellite views and street-level POV.
In the fitness domain, FitXR is offering an engaging way to work out for Meta Quest users. The Android app is a companion app, but the primary VR experience is to provide various types of workouts in motivating virtual environments.
Currently, a lot of Android VR is centered around consuming content, which is why the most downloaded apps are the likes of Within VR, Netflix VR and Discovery VR. This is, in part, due to the lack of controller, wearables and motion sensors when the phone is being occupied as the screen. However, this isn’t a technological barrier, and we may see more development of low-cost wearables integrating with Android devices to open the door to more VR experiences.
Is this just the start?
The Android ecosystem for AR and VR is relatively divided, with AR seeing a lot more problem-solving use cases for everyday users, like retail customers. This is where we will likely see the majority of development efforts, and the ceiling for its uses is far from being touched.
As touched on with the limited use of VR without extra accessories, one development that may arise is the implementation of AI-driven voice assistance. By communicating with apps over voice, which is increasingly common and sophisticated, we will likely see an improvement in hands-free VR app navigation.
