How to install ARCore and AR Stickers on Android Nougat running devices

Google has been working on ARCore for the past few months, and a developer preview was also available for the same to let app developers get an early access to Google’s augmented reality platform for Android devices. Earlier this week, the company officially released ARCore into the Play Store along with an accompanying app AR Stickers which was first showcased during the launch even of Google Pixel 2.

However, both ARCore and AR Stickers are currently supported on Android 8.1 running Pixel devices only. If you own a Nexus 6P or 5X running on the official Android 8.1 update, you still cannot download the new AR services from Google. While it’s understandable for the AR Stickers app to be Pixel exclusive but ARCore is the platform upon which app developers will be developing AR based apps for Android devices, and Google should make it available for download on more devices in near future as OEMs begin to roll out Android 8.1 update.

If you own an Android device with Android 7.0 Nougat on-board, there’s hardly any possibility to get ARCore for your devices officially from Google. The company will probably keep the service exclusive to newer hardware and Android versions specifically optimized for good AR performance. But thanks to the massive community of third-party developers, it has always been easier to get the latest from Google on any Android device, without any restrictions.

Developer Arnova8G2 over at XDA has shared modified versions of ARCore, AR Stickers, and the Google Camera app (where all AR action is currently), for Android 7.0 Nougat running devices. The modified apps have been tested to be working fine on OnePlus 3/3T and Xiaomi Mi 5, and they should work on more devices powered by similar hardware and Android Nougat.

You need ROOT access to your Nougat running device to be able to add a certain value to build.prop file and also to add calibration_cad.xml file to your phone’s system partition. This is required to be able to use ARCore and AR Stickers on your phone.

Let’s get started..

Downloads

ARCore: ar.core_0.91.171127093.apk
AR Stickers: vr.apps.ornament_1.0.171127163-V1.1.apk
GCam (modified Google Camera): GCam5.1.018-Arnova8G2-V1.2.apk
calibration_cad.xml

How to install ARCore and AR Stickers on Nougat

Download and transfer all files from the downloads section to your phone.
Install the modified ARCore, AR Stickers, GCam APK files to your device.
Get any good file explorer app with root access from Play Store. We recommend the free MiXplorer app.
Open the file manager app on your phone, give it root permissions, and then copy the calibration_cad.xml file to /system/etc directory.
Download and install build.prop editor from Play Store.

Add the following line to the build.prop file and save it:

 ro.config.calibration_cad=/system/etc/calibration_cad.xml

Reboot your device.
Once it reboots, open the modified Google Camera app (GCam) we installed in step 2 above, and select AR Stickers from the slide-in menu.