XR, or extended reality, is the umbrella term for technologies that blend the physical and digital worlds: virtual reality, augmented reality and mixed reality. Here's what each one is, how they differ, and how businesses are using them today.
What is XR?
XR, short for extended reality, covers every technology that merges the real and virtual worlds. It includes three main types:
- Virtual reality (VR) places you inside a completely digital environment, usually through a headset.
- Augmented reality (AR) overlays digital content onto the real world, usually through a phone or tablet camera.
- Mixed reality (MR) goes a step further, letting digital objects interact with your real surroundings.
VR and AR: the core differences
Virtual reality
VR is about immersion. A headset replaces your view of the real world with a simulated one that you can look around and interact with as if you were really there. Because the outside world is shut out, VR is ideal when you want someone's full attention on one experience.
Augmented reality
AR enhances the real world rather than replacing it. Images, 3D models, sound or data appear on top of what your camera sees, so you can interact with physical and digital elements at the same time. Most people can use AR on a phone they already own, with no headset needed.
How VR is used
- Training and simulation: rehearsing high-risk or expensive tasks safely, from emergency procedures to complex equipment operation. Our sister studio ATXR builds VR training simulations for industry.
- Education: taking learners to places they couldn't otherwise go, from ancient sites to inside the human body.
- Product experiences: letting buyers and investors explore a product or facility at full scale before it's built.
- Entertainment: games and immersive stories.
How AR is used
- Product marketing: placing a 3D model of a product in the customer's own space, or showing how it works inside. Read more about AR and interactive apps for product marketing.
- Tourism and heritage: GPS trail apps that bring history and wildlife to life on location. See our guide to AR trail apps.
- Navigation and maintenance: overlaying directions or step-by-step instructions onto the real world.
XR in practice
Imagine a medical training app for trainee surgeons. In VR, they enter a virtual operating theatre and practise procedures on lifelike virtual patients. With mixed reality, holographic instruments and anatomy could appear within their real surroundings instead.
What XR means for business
- Better learning: immersive, hands-on experiences that people remember.
- Safer training: practice without real-world risk to people or equipment.
- Design and visualisation: engineers, architects and clients can review a design at full scale before it's built.
- Remote collaboration: teams in different places can work together around the same 3D model.
- Stronger sales and marketing: experiences that stand out at exhibitions and online.
Getting started with XR
We build bespoke augmented reality and virtual reality experiences, from the 3D content to the finished app. Get in touch to talk about your idea.
