Lauren Goode

Recent Posts by Lauren Goode

Virtual Graffiti App Wallit Now Lets Users Create Their Own Walls

When an augmented reality app called Wallit launched a couple months ago, some users were excited by the possibilities of writing on virtual walls at established locations, such as the Eiffel Tower or an Apple store, but griped that the app was too closed-off.

Only app administrators could create new Wallit walls, and users had to be in relative proximity to a place to properly use the app.

Wallit has now torn down those walls to the app. Starting today, users can create a virtual wall anywhere, from their office to their living room to a party at a friend’s place.

Since the whole idea of writing on virtual walls could be a bit confusing to those who haven’t seen the app, there’s a video below to help show how it works.

Basically, Wallit app users have the option to leave a note on a virtual wall that’s superimposed over a real location. Depending on whether the wall is private or not, users within Wallit’s social network can use their phone’s camera to capture an image of that building or structure — such as the Golden Gate Bridge, for example — and see what people have written around it, as well as other data that might be available.

Augmented reality apps that show contextual info based on your location are hardly new, though Wallit does add an interesting social twist to AR. Mobile apps like Wikitude and Google Goggles display info about your surroundings on a smartphone screen and, of course, Google’s Project X glasses aim to remove the smartphone from the whole equation, and instead show relevant local information through a wearable device.

The Wallit app is free, and right now the 700 existing walls don’t show any ads. However, Wallit creator Veysel Berk says that “value walls” may be a part of the app in the future, where brands will customize certain walls. Whether that means ads will appear on already existing virtual walls, or whether the ad walls will be completely separate, is still unclear.

The app can be found here in the iTunes store. It’s currently only available for iOS devices, though Berk says an Android version is in the works.

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