NBA AR App Turns Your Driveway Into a Basketball Court
The 2017-2018 NBA season is soon to begin, but maybe you've been hooping it up at the courts for weeks already. If you want to play some basketball in your backyard or driveway, but don't have a hoop, there's no reason to rush out and buy one. Instead, just get you and your friends together, install the NBA AR App, and turn your own place into an NBA half-court.
When you first launch NBA AR App, you'll need to give it access to your iPhone's camera. This is because the app uses ARKit to turn any flat space into a basketball half-court.
Once you've granted the access, you can play a game. Scan your phone left and right along the area you want to turn into a court. After a few swipes, the boards and lines of the basketball court will appear.
There doesn't seem to be much rhyme or reason as to where it places the hoop, unfortunately. One time, the app put the hoop directly in front of me, and on another play behind me.
Once you figure out where the hoop is, you just tap on "Let's Play" to get started. Tap the screen to pick up a ball, and then flick your iPhone forward to shoot the ball.
It takes practice, obviously, but I was actually able to shoot six shots during one game. Unfortunately, the "Record Game" feature doesn't save the video to your Photos Library; you have to watch the replay and then share the footage if you want to keep it.
Get in your free throw practice with help from ARKit
The NBA AR App makes terrific use of augmented reality, and Apple's ARKit, to bring basketball to you. You can walk right up to the hoop, move around the court, and take shots. If you're already skilled in basketball (I'm not), it's probably going to quickly become second nature to score field goals with ease.
The app isn't perfect, of course. Then again, neither is my yard. The court laid out by the app ignores angles, it seems, placing a court that appears to float in midair at one side. You can see that by the way the hoop is halfway up a bush. Perhaps that's a limitation of ARKit, but it certainly doesn't take away from the fun of the game.
I also found that a ball would pop up to throw when I hadn't tapped on the screen a few times. This makes it more difficult to see how your shots land, so be very mindful of this and try to see around the ball if you need to. It's definitely a challenge, trying to make as many shots in 30 seconds as you can.
Of course, NBA AR App has buttons to take you to buy tickets or a League Pass, but the game is still loads of fun. You don't have to buy anything at all, just keep tapping on "Let's Play." Then you can enjoy endless games of 30-second basketball, challenging your friends to beat your high score.