Halo AR vs TrainAR

Halo AR is a mobile augmented-reality creation and sharing app that works without desktop software or coding. Using a phone or tablet, creators can build experiences in its AI-powered studio and distribute them through QR codes or deep links. Viewers can use phones, tablets, or mixed-reality headsets including Apple Vision Pro, Meta Quest, and Microsoft HoloLens. The app overlays photos, YouTube videos, or 3D models on photographed flat objects. Educational projects can add video, audio, 3D models, voice explanations, and animations to posters, textbooks, worksheets, and flashcards. Museums can create digital exhibits, self-guided tours, interactive artwork, expanded collections, and historic-site visualizations. Catalogues, prints, and souvenirs can link to supplementary educational experiences. Halo AR says experiences work without Wi-Fi. It supports iOS and Android; Android setup requires a camera-equipped phone or tablet with ARCore. Plans include BASIC at free billed annually, PRO at $99 a year billed annually, and ENTERPRISE with no listed price. The company also offers custom collaboration, Discord, and live-chat support.

TrainAR is a free tool for creating procedural augmented reality training for handheld devices. It combines an interaction concept, a didactic framework, and an authoring tool. Authors import 3D models, convert them into TrainAR objects, then use visual scripting to define instructions, user actions, and feedback. The tool includes onboarding animations, tracking solutions, assembly placement, layered feedback, and training assessments. Learners can grab, interact with, and combine objects, as well as answer interface questions. Developers can instead work through the Unity Editor overlay and C# programming. The editor extension works with Unity on Windows, macOS, and Linux; training apps can be deployed to Android and iOS. iOS deployment requires Xcode on macOS after the app is built. The installation guide calls for Unity 2022.3 LTS and relevant platform modules. TrainAR is available under the MIT license for commercial and non-commercial use. It focuses on procedural task understanding, not the associated motor skills.