Apple’s new AR endeavour, ARKit, a new development suite designed to enhance augmented reality (AR) on iOS devices, was announced only hours ago at the Worldwide Developers Conference (WWDC), San Jose. Following a live on-stage demo, Epic Games has now made available early-­access support for ARKit in Unreal Engine 4.

ARKit uses the iOS device’s camera for positional tracking, potentially bringing millions of new consumers into the world of AR. The showcase at WWDC today included Pokemon GO and a new experience designed by director Peter Jackson and powered by Unreal Engine 4, featuring a highly detailed spaceship battle scene.

“High-quality AR experiences truly demand the power and performance Unreal Engine provides: Realistic lighting and shadowing that match the real world. High-end cinematic tools. Filmic post-processing. Physically-based rendering with advanced materials. A solid engine foundation that scales,” states Tim Sweeney, CEO Epic Games, over on the official Unreal Engine blog.

Unreal Engine 4’s early­access support for ARKit is now available to download via GitHub. The download includes the complete source code that’s ready to compile and run immediately.

Further to this, Epic Games has confirmed to VRFocus that binary support will arrive with the Unreal Engine 4.17 preview in July 2017, followed by launch in early August. VRFocus will continue to keep you updated with all the latest details on ARKit and Epic Games’ endeavours in AR.