While augmented reality (AR) has been around for a few decades, the technology to power its widespread use is still fairly recent. What once required a huge mechanical system that had to be mounted to a ceiling because it weighed so much can now be delivered via the billions of smartphones and tablets owned worldwide. The ways in which we are utilizing AR to improve and enhance our lives are still emerging, and its use within the insurance space is most certainly still being largely defined and explored.

According to Dictionary.com, augmented reality technology superimposes a computer-generated image on a user’s view of the real world, thus providing a composite view. In other words, AR overlays virtual features onto the user’s real environment by way of a device, commonly a smartphone, thereby combining the two together.

Perhaps the first widespread use of augmented reality was the advent of the Nintendo gaming phenomenon Pokémon GO. Utilized by a staggering 147 million monthly active users by May 2018, Pokémon GO took the world by storm and fueled the excitement that can only come from searching for, finding and capturing fantastic creatures in a fantasy realm overlayed with the real world.