Changes

! Year !! Milestone !! Key details !! Sources

| 2016 || Launch overlay || Basic camera passthrough; optional toggle for battery savings. || <ref name="Launch2016">https://niantic.helpshift.com/hc/en/6-pokemon-go/faq/28-catching-pokemon-in-ar-mode/</ref>

| 2017 || [[AR+]] (iOS) || Surface detection, proximity ‘‘stealth’’ meter, and ''Expert Handler'' bonus on ARKit devices. || <ref name="ARPlus2017">https://pokemongolive.com/post/arplus/</ref>

| 2018 || AR+ on Android || Requires ARCore-compatible phones running Android 7.0+. || <ref name="ARPlusAndroid2018">https://9to5google.com/2018/10/11/pokemon-go-ar-plus-android/</ref>

| 2019 || [[GO Snapshot]] || Stand-alone photo mode for any stored Pokémon; supports social sharing and Smeargle photobombs. || <ref name="Snapshot2019">https://pokemongolive.com/post/go-snapshot-announce/</ref>

| 2019 || [[Buddy Adventure]] || Let Trainers interact with and photograph buddies together in Shared AR. || <ref name="Buddy2019">https://pokemongolive.com/post/buddyadventurelaunch/</ref>

| 2020 || Reality Blending & AR Mapping || Depth-based occlusion and crowd-sourced PokéStop Scan tasks. || <ref name="RealityBlending2020">https://pokemongolive.com/post/realityblending-announcement/</ref>

| 2024 || [[Pokémon Playgrounds]] || VPS-anchored, persistent AR that other players can see. || <ref name="Playgrounds2024">https://nianticlabs.com/news/pokemon-playgrounds/</ref>

* **AR+ mode** (2017 iOS / 2018 Android) anchors Pokémon to detected planes, renders them at canonical scale, and introduces an *awareness meter*—approach too quickly and the target may flee.<ref name="ARPlus2017"/>

Players can choose any caught Pokémon, place it on a detected surface, reposition it, and capture photos. Smeargle and special-event photobombs may appear after a snapshot session.<ref name="Snapshot2019"/>

In **Play Together**, Trainers feed, pet, and walk with their [[Buddy Pokémon]] rendered in real space; Shared AR syncs up to three buddies for group photos.<ref name="Buddy2019"/>

Supported devices use depth APIs to let Pokémon move *behind* furniture or trees, improving realism through occlusion.<ref name="RealityBlending2020"/>

Field Research labelled **AR Mapping** asks Trainers to record short, anonymised videos of PokéStops; these scans refine Niantic’s 3-D maps and unlock in-game bonuses such as powered-up PokéStops.<ref name="RealityBlending2020"/>

An experimental feature that lets Trainers anchor Pokémon persistently at real-world landmarks for others to discover and photograph, enabled by Niantic’s [[Visual Positioning System]].<ref name="Playgrounds2024"/>

! Layer !! Implementation !! Sources

| Device frameworks || [[ARKit]] plane-finding on iOS 11+ devices<ref name="ARKitDoc">https://developer.apple.com/documentation/arkit/tracking-and-visualizing-planes</ref> and [[ARCore]] Plane APIs on Android 7+ phones<ref name="ARCoreDoc">https://developers.google.com/ar/reference/java/com/google/ar/core/Plane</ref> || Niantic Lightship ARDK || Cross-platform SDK adding meshing, depth, semantic segmentation, and multiplayer.<ref name="Lightship">https://lightship.dev/docs/ardk/release_notes/release3.11/</ref> || Visual Positioning System || Cloud-hosted anchors power Playgrounds and future persistent content.<ref name="Playgrounds2024"/> || Networking || Peer-to-peer sessions synchronise transforms for Shared AR.<ref name="Buddy2019"/> |

Pokémon GO’s mainstream success validated mobile AR design, inspiring titles such as *Harry Potter: Wizards Unite* and *Jurassic World Alive* and driving developer interest in Unity’s [[AR Foundation]]. The game has been credited with popularising inside-out, marker-less tracking for consumer devices.<ref name="InsideOut">[https://vrarwiki.com/wiki/Inside-out_tracking</ref>inside-out, marker-less tracking] for consumer devices.

Niantic has signalled plans for richer occlusion, weather-aware behaviours, and eventual headset support, leveraging its Large Geospatial Model and continued Lightship ARDK updates.<ref name="Lightship"/>