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    Anchors platform support

    The AR Foundation XRAnchorSubsystem is supported on the following platforms:

    Provider plug-in Anchors supported Provider documentation
    Google ARCore XR Plug-in Yes Anchors (ARCore)
    Apple ARKit XR Plug-in Yes Anchors (ARKit)
    Apple visionOS XR Plug-in Yes N/A
    HoloLens Yes N/A
    Unity OpenXR: Meta Yes Anchors (OpenXR Meta)
    Unity OpenXR: Android XR Yes Anchors (Android XR)
    XR Simulation Yes Anchors (XR Simulation)

    Check for support at runtime

    Your app can check at runtime whether a provider plug-in supports anchors on the user's device. This is useful in situations where you are unsure if the device supports anchors, which may be the case if you are using AR Foundation with a third-party provider plug-in.

    Use the following example code to check if the device supports anchors:

    void Start()
    {
        if (LoaderUtility
                .GetActiveLoader()?
                .GetLoadedSubsystem<XRAnchorSubsystem>() != null)
        {
            // XRAnchorSubsystem was loaded. The platform supports anchors.
        }
    }
    
    Note

    This example code assumes that your app has already initialized XR.

    By default XR initializes automatically when your app starts, but this is configurable via Project Settings > XR Plug-in Management > Initialize XR on Startup. Refer to the XR Plug-in Management End-user documentation for more detailed information about managing the XR Plug-in lifecycle.

    Optional features

    The following table lists the optional features of the anchor subsystem. Each optional feature is defined by a Descriptor Property of the XRAnchorSubsystemDescriptor, which you can check at runtime to determine whether a feature is supported. Refer to Check for optional feature support for a code example to check whether a feature is supported.

    Tip

    Check the API documentation to understand how each API behaves when the provider doesn't support a feature. For example, some properties throw an exception if you try to set the value when the feature isn't supported.

    Feature Descriptor Property Description
    Trackable attachments supportsTrackableAttachments Indicates whether the provider implementation supports the ability to attach an anchor to a trackable via TryAttachAnchor.
    Synchronous add supportsSynchronousAdd Indicates whether the provider implementation supports the ability to synchronously add anchors via TryAddAnchor.
    Save anchor supportsSaveAnchor Indicates whether the provider implementation supports the ability to persistently save anchors via TrySaveAnchorAsync.
    Load anchor supportsLoadAnchor Indicates whether the provider implementation supports the ability to load persistently saved anchors via TryLoadAnchorAsync.
    Erase anchor supportsEraseAnchor Indicates whether the provider implementation supports the ability to erase the persistent saved data associated with an anchor via TryEraseAnchorAsync.
    Get saved anchor IDs supportsGetSavedAnchorIds Indicates whether the provider implementation supports the ability to get all saved persistent anchor GUIDs via TryGetSavedAnchorIdsAsync.
    Async cancellation supportsAsyncCancellation Indicates whether the provider implementation supports cancelling async operations in progress using a CancellationToken.

    Optional features support table

    The following table lists whether certain XR plug-in providers support each optional feature:

    Feature ARCore ARKit visionOS HoloLens OpenXR Meta Android XR XR Simulation
    Trackable attachments Yes Yes Yes Yes
    Synchronous add Yes Yes Yes
    Save anchor Yes Yes Yes
    Load anchor Yes Yes Yes
    Erase anchor Yes Yes
    Get saved anchor IDs Yes
    Async cancellation Yes

    Check for optional feature support

    Your app can check at runtime whether an anchor provider supports any optional features on the user's device. The XRAnchorSubsystemDescriptor contains boolean properties for each optional feature that tell you if they are supported.

    Refer to the following example code to learn how to check for optional feature support:

    void CheckForOptionalFeatureSupport(ARAnchorManager manager)
    {
        // Use manager.descriptor to determine which optional features
        // are supported on the device. For example:
    
        if (manager.descriptor.supportsTrackableAttachments)
        {
            // Trackable attachments are supported.
        }
    }
    

    Apple and ARKit are trademarks of Apple Inc., registered in the U.S. and other countries and regions.

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