Configure an ARCore session in Android

Configure an ARCore session to build AR experiences for your app.

What is a session?

All AR processes, such as motion tracking, environmental understanding, and lighting estimation, happen inside an ARCore session. Session is the main entry point to the ARCore API. It manages the AR system state and handles the session lifecycle, allowing the app to create, configure, start, or stop a session. Most importantly, it enables the app to receive frames that allow access to the camera image and device pose.

The session can be used to configure the following features:

Verify that ARCore is installed and up to date

Before creating a Session, verify that ARCore is installed and up to date. If ARCore isn't installed, session creation fails and any subsequent installation or upgrade of ARCore requires an app restart.

Java

// Verify that ARCore is installed and using the current version.
private boolean isARCoreSupportedAndUpToDate() {
  ArCoreApk.Availability availability = ArCoreApk.getInstance().checkAvailability(this);
  switch (availability) {
    case SUPPORTED_INSTALLED:
      return true;

    case SUPPORTED_APK_TOO_OLD:
    case SUPPORTED_NOT_INSTALLED:
      try {
        // Request ARCore installation or update if needed.
        ArCoreApk.InstallStatus installStatus = ArCoreApk.getInstance().requestInstall(this, true);
        switch (installStatus) {
          case INSTALL_REQUESTED:
            Log.i(TAG, "ARCore installation requested.");
            return false;
          case INSTALLED:
            return true;
        }
      } catch (UnavailableException e) {
        Log.e(TAG, "ARCore not installed", e);
      }
      return false;

    case UNSUPPORTED_DEVICE_NOT_CAPABLE:
      // This device is not supported for AR.
      return false;

    case UNKNOWN_CHECKING:
      // ARCore is checking the availability with a remote query.
      // This function should be called again after waiting 200 ms to determine the query result.
    case UNKNOWN_ERROR:
    case UNKNOWN_TIMED_OUT:
      // There was an error checking for AR availability. This may be due to the device being offline.
      // Handle the error appropriately.
  }
}

Kotlin

// Verify that ARCore is installed and using the current version.
fun isARCoreSupportedAndUpToDate(): Boolean {
  return when (ArCoreApk.getInstance().checkAvailability(this)) {
    Availability.SUPPORTED_INSTALLED -> true
    Availability.SUPPORTED_APK_TOO_OLD, Availability.SUPPORTED_NOT_INSTALLED -> {
      try {
        // Request ARCore installation or update if needed.
        when (ArCoreApk.getInstance().requestInstall(this, true)) {
          InstallStatus.INSTALL_REQUESTED -> {
            Log.i(TAG, "ARCore installation requested.")
            false
          }
          InstallStatus.INSTALLED -> true
        }
      } catch (e: UnavailableException) {
        Log.e(TAG, "ARCore not installed", e)
        false
      }
    }

    Availability.UNSUPPORTED_DEVICE_NOT_CAPABLE ->
      // This device is not supported for AR.
      false

    Availability.UNKNOWN_CHECKING -> {
      // ARCore is checking the availability with a remote query.
      // This function should be called again after waiting 200 ms to determine the query result.
    }
    Availability.UNKNOWN_ERROR, Availability.UNKNOWN_TIMED_OUT -> {
      // There was an error checking for AR availability. This may be due to the device being offline.
      // Handle the error appropriately.
    }
  }
}

Create a session

Create and configure a session in ARCore.

Java

public void createSession() {
  // Create a new ARCore session.
  session = new Session(this);

  // Create a session config.
  Config config = new Config(session);

  // Do feature-specific operations here, such as enabling depth or turning on
  // support for Augmented Faces.

  // Configure the session.
  session.configure(config);
}

Kotlin

fun createSession() {
  // Create a new ARCore session.
  session = Session(this)

  // Create a session config.
  val config = Config(session)

  // Do feature-specific operations here, such as enabling depth or turning on
  // support for Augmented Faces.

  // Configure the session.
  session.configure(config)
}

Close a session

Session owns a significant amount of native heap memory. Failure to explicitly close the session may cause your app to run out of native memory and crash. When the AR session is no longer needed, call close() to release resources. If your app contains a single AR-enabled activity, call close() from the activity's onDestroy() method.

Java

// Release native heap memory used by an ARCore session.
session.close();

Kotlin

// Release native heap memory used by an ARCore session.
session.close()

Next steps