8th Wall’s mission to make the web a powerful place for augmented reality has never been stronger than it is today, 1 year on from our acquisition by Niantic, Inc. 

We set out in 2018 to make augmented reality for everyone - bringing to market a complete set of tools for developers, brands, and agencies to create web-based augmented reality experiences for mobile devices, no app required. Since then, 8th Wall developers have more than doubled the number of created web apps using the platform with over 100,000 web apps, including thousands for top-tier brands. We support billions of devices globally, including 5 billion smartphones across iOS and Android as well as computers and head mounted devices. And we’re only just getting started. 

Within the last year, we’ve delivered three first-for-browser products that changed the game for WebAR, including Lightship VPS for Web, Lightship Maps for Web and Sky Segmentation with even more to come. We’ve also made developing easier with enhancements to our Cloud Editor, including intelligent code completion with Intellisense and features like Code Peek and Go To Definition. We also wanted to accelerate WebAR development by creating reusable components - like code, assets and files - for teams to use across projects in our Workspaces which we delivered through 8th Wall Modules.

8th Wall experiences have been enjoyed by users around the world with over 2,500 commercial experiences launched to date. This demonstrates the value that WebAR is bringing to brands and consumers. We’re seeing adoption across industries, but especially strong growth in categories where brands want to capture customer engagement and create more long lasting connections.

An example of this is the Coca-Cola Halloween Collection experience which transformed vending machines on the University of Southern California (USC) campus into spooky virtual treat dispensers using web-based augmented reality. This phygital experience let students fill their trick-or-treat bags with digital and physical items found in the vending machines including AR masks, NFTs, PUMA apparel, Coachella passes and more. Created by Virtue in collaboration with Unbound and powered by 8th Wall, this campaign is one of the first commercial experiences to use VPS for Web and Maps for Web.

“We’re honored to have been 8th Wall’s first agency partner, launching Sony’s ‘Into the Spider-Verse’. Even in those early days, we knew their technology would improve the AR industry for developers and end consumers. Since then, we have collaborated on 65+ projects with premium clients like AT&T, Disney, Molson Coors, Pepsi, and Verizon. They are constantly improving technology, which makes 8th Wall the clear industry leader and an essential partner as we push for AR at scale and campaign performance into 2023 and beyond.” Jason Yim - Founder and CEO at Trigger. 

Niantic and 8th Wall together want to power AR everywhere. To celebrate our amazing partnership, and the ongoing work to be done, we’ll be at SXSW this week with the Niantic AR Garden. Join our teams to celebrate the magic of AR through new games like NBA All World and beloved favorites like Ingress, powered by Niantic technologies including 8th Wall. 

Niantic AR Garden is in Austin this weekend, March 10-12, from 10am to 7pm. For more information, visit SXSW.com.