In the past few weeks there’s been a lot of big news around augmented reality, and specifically mobile-based AR. In a single day (April 18th), Snapchat introduced World Lenses and Facebook launched its augmented reality Camera Effects developer platform. With these two announcements, the augmented reality industry took an instantaneous leap forward. Snapchat set another standard for what mobile AR should look and feel like, while Facebook put its weight behind AR, potentially advancing the industry the same way their Oculus acquisition did in 2014.

Despite the gravity of these announcements and the resulting excitement, those planning to dive into mobile AR development should take heed — the platform is extremely limited. Don’t get me wrong, mobile augmented reality, when done right, is undoubtedly cool. Snapchat is a terrific example of that. Their filters and lenses make sending selfies 10x more fun. But, and this is a big but, mobile AR only works when it enhances an experience that already involves our phones.

Let me explain what I mean by this. Smart phones were built specifically for a certain set of mobile interactions. A 6-inch screen is perfect because it allows millions of useful apps to run smoothly while still fitting into your pocket. Today’s smart phones were designed perfectly for this type of everyday use. What this generation of smart phones was not designed for is pass-through AR. The screens are simply too small. Face it — it sucks to see the world through a 6-inch screen and nobody is going to do it no matter how great it would be for advertisers.

This type of thing has been around for a while — there’s a reason nobody uses it

For example, at F8, Zuckerberg talked about leaving a virtual note for a friend next to a menu at a local restaurant. In theory, this is an awesome application. I’d love to see friend’s recommendations floating around my local diner. But realistically, this would only work with true headset-based augmented reality. Am I really going to pull my phone out in front of the people I’m eating with, open the camera app, and wait for my phone to scan the menu in the hope that — best case scenario — I have to squint through my screen to see that a kid I went to lower school with thought the chili was “meh”? No! If I really need a review of the restaurant I’m at, I’ll quickly check the top review on Yelp or text a specific friend.

This is just one example of an AR experience that will one day be amazing, but should not be pushed out for mobile AR. Ultimately, AR should only be incorporated when it enhances an experience. AR should not be incorporated just for the sake of AR. For the most part, mobile AR will be only be additive in situations where we are already using our phones (a la sending Snapchats). The standard becomes much higher once you need to whip out your phone specifically to complete the action. Mobile AR for interior design is an example where this could work, but it’s definitely rare.

My point is not that mobile AR isn’t necessary or exciting (it’s undoubtedly both), but that the AR industry needs to be careful about getting ahead of itself for fear of turning the public off of the technology. Companies like Wikitude and many others, laid the groundwork for today’s augmented reality. Right now, Snapchat is introducing the rest of the world to AR and opening up people’s minds as to what our future might look like with digital additions. This is ideal and the excitement that Facebook has drummed up for mobile AR is a blessing as well.

We just need to make sure that people design mobile AR experiences with an understanding of the inherent limitations of mobile AR. Let’s continue to create prototypes and demo’s with grand ambitions and less functionality, but while we await the impending technological advances of the Microsoft’s and Meta’s of the world, let’s show the public the best mobile AR experiences — those that involve interactions where we already use our phones.