Back in October, Google gave an early look at AR stickers. Fast-forward to December, it's rolling out the new feature to Pixel and Pixel 2 phones, kicking it off with Star Wars and Stranger Things themes.
Augmented reality isn't new to the Mountain View company. It has launched Project Tango from way back, after all. This time around, it's taking things to the next level with the AR Stickers app that's powered by ARCore.
What Is AR Stickers?
AR Stickers lets users add objects to their pictures and videos via the camera app. In this case, the first selection consists of Star Wars and Stranger Things characters.
Referred to as "The Last Jedi AR Stickers," Pixel and Pixel 2 owners can spice things up with a slew of Star Wars cartoonish stormtroopers, AT-AT walkers, R2-D2, BB-8, and even porgs.
Meanwhile, there's all the kids from Stranger Things — Mike Wheeler, Dustin Henderson, Lucas Sinclair, Will Byers, and Eleven. Of course, the Demogorgon is also included in the mix.
Presumably, these two themes are made to get more user in on AR Stickers, but that's not all in store. Google has a couple of generic objects, from a coffee mug and a donut to an ice cream cone and a burning chili pepper.
How To Use AR Stickers
The thing AR Stickers is it's limited to only the Pixel and Pixel 2. Needless to say, the XL versions are part of the deal too.
That's just the start. Users also need to be running on Android 8.1 Oreo, which began to trickle out to Nexus and Pixel devices sometime during the first week of December.
Last but not least, AR Stickers and ARCore must be up-to-date. This one's easy, though. Just open the Play Store, go to "My apps & games," and update them. If that doesn't work out, head on over to the apps' pages and update from there.
Take note that there's a chance the update isn't available just yet, as Google is releasing it gradually. In other words, just check for it from time to time.
When everything's set up, fire up the camera and pull up the menu from the left side. AR Stickers should be accessible there. That's pretty much it, and all the stickers in the world — namely, Google stickers — including the Stranger Things and Star Wars characters are at the users' fingertips.
