Apple Inc. next week will debut tools to let two iPhone users share augmented reality while limiting the personal data sent to its servers, two sources reported.
Augmented reality (AR) allows viewers to see virtual structures superimposed on their surroundings via their smartphones or other devices. It is the technology used in mobile game Pokemon Go, and by industry, such as factories seeking to map new assembly lines.
Apple and rival Google are racing to release AR tools to attract software developers to their platforms.
Both are seeking to allow two people to share data so they can see the same virtual object in the same space via their individual devices.
According to Reuters, however, that has sparked privacy concerns, if AR apps become commonplace, people will be scanning their homes and other personal spaces routinely, developers say.
One of the sources said that Apple designed its two-player system to work phone-to-phone.
The approach, which has not been previously reported, differs from Google’s, which requires scans of a player’s environment to be sent to, and stored in, the cloud. Apple declined to comment.
Bloomberg previously reported that Apple would announce multiplayer AR at its developer conference, which begins on Monday.
On the other hand, Apple has approved an updated version of the Telegram messaging service, a day after Telegram complained that it had been prevented from getting software improvements into the hands of iPhone owners worldwide.
Telegram Chief Executive Pavel Durov announced the turnabout on Twitter, thanking Apple and CEO Tim Cook for getting the latest Telegram version “to millions of users, despite the recent setbacks.”
On Thursday, Durov said Apple had refused to allow updates in its App Store since April. Apple has thus far resisted a Russian order to remove the application from the store entirely, and the update delay sparked concern that Apple was moving to appease authorities there. Neither Apple nor Telegram explained the reason for the prior lack of approval or for the reversal. Apple did not respond to requests for comment.
Apple’s control over the applications in its store enables it to inspect and approve or disapprove of every new version. “Russia banned Telegram on its territory in April because we refused to provide decryption keys for all our users’ communications to Russia’s security agencies,” Durov said Thursday. Russia’s Federal Security Service (FSB) said it needed to guard against security threats.
