HoloKit X turns your iPhone into a $129 AR headset

With Sony’s PSVR 2 set to cost more than a PS5, you might be feeling a little trapped in this reality right now – but the HoloKit X makes extra dimensions affordable.

Powered entirely by your iPhone and its cameras, this stereoscopic AR headset reflects the screen a bit like a periscope, so you can see virtual 3D objects right in front of your eyes. You can play games with it through the HoloKit app, moving around virtual items placed in the real world and hearing exactly where things are using Spatial Audio, plus if you’ve got an Apple Watch it can even be used as a Wii-style motion controller.

HoloKit’s website includes a video showing headset-wearing wannabe wizards firing spells at each other on the streets of New York, while another shows somebody interacting with an ethereal hologram using just their hands.

Pricing is in US dollars, with each HoloKit X headset costing $129, but HoloKit will ship one to the UK for a pretty reasonable fee of $16.90, and it’ll work with any standard or Pro iPhone (including the Max versions) from the XS onwards, although you’ll get the best performance from the ones with Lidar sensors. Who needs Apple to announce its long-rumoured mixed-reality headset when you’ve got stuff like this for the price of a pair of AirPods?

Tom Wiggins Contributor

About

Stuff's second Tom has been writing for the magazine and website since 2006, when smartphones were only for massive nerds and you could say “Alexa” out loud without a robot answering. Over the years he’s written about everything from MP3s to NFTs, played FIFA with Trent Alexander-Arnold, and amassed a really quite impressive collection of USB sticks.

Areas of expertise

A bit of everything but definitely not cameras.