Packaging ARCore Unity Projects for distribution

Question

I have just picked up the Unity ARCore project and have been having a bit of a play around with it. Very exciting stuff for AR on Android devices!

I am interested however in how developers in Unity are meant to package the applications for distribution through the Play store if it is also necessary for users to install the arcore-preview.apk ?

What is it exactly? And is there a way of bundling its contents in a Unity build?

Exciting stuff!

O.

Answer 1

Yes, the arcore-preview has to be installed on your target device (this is not only necessary for the Unity export but for the others as well).

As soon as the project matures I am sure the ARCore service will be downloadable from the Playstore as well. For now you could ship the APK in your own app's asset folder or download it as first step in your application but be aware that the handling of apps installing apps has changed in Android O

Answer 2

The current release of ARCore is intended only for developers to start exploring possibilities of AR on Android. We'll share more specifics about distribution at the end of the developer preview.