Immerse - AR in Education

What is Immerse app?

Immerse is probably the most impressive augmented-reality educational app we've seen so far. Teachers and parents can use it to demonstrate and explain to kids.

Kids can use it to browse, go deeper into a topic, and have competitive fun as they earn points and coins in the app.

Whether you have an iOS, Android, or Windows device, as long as it has the requisite AR technology and most reasonably modern tech does, you are good to go. You don't even need to pay for the app for personal use!

What we love about Immerse.

New technology rarely gets used to its full potential from its inception. Augmented Reality (AR) has been no exception. If you've tried AR already, there is a good chance it felt bolted on and was more gimmick than education-enhancing. Immerse is different.

At last, a substantial learning platform has been built from the ground up to use AR to enhance and support learning.

Immerse concentrates on STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Mathematics) topics which will be especially welcome to schools. Science, in particular, can be a difficult subject for teachers to bring alive in the classroom or for parents to introduce to their kids.

Classrooms and homes aren't fully equipped labs, well-stocked zoos, or expertly curated museums, but with Immerse, they almost can be. Today's kids take the application of visual technology to enhance their entertainment for granted, so slideshows of internet-scraped images don't inspire them.

Seeing an artefact in their hand, a creature rear before them, or the structure of their vital organs overlaid on their body will. Exploring the (almost) real thing is more memorable and explanatory than looking at a photo. These visual marvels might have been 'just' graphical eye candy if high quality supporting resources and information did not accompany them, but they do.

What skills does it improve?

Immerse provides general coverage of STEM subjects, emphasising science and technology with an extra helping of geology. Sections on animals, biology, continents, space, plants, and more ensure that all kids can find something to interest them.

What age is it appropriate for?

Immerse has various packages suitable for use in different contexts and differently aged students. The app's website recommends the app for kids aged 3+ while it has an age rating of 4+ on the App Store.

The upper end of the age range for institutions depends upon the package to which they subscribe—the most comprehensive rated as 'Year 4 and beyond'.

Whatever their age and ability, kids will find the content of Immerse fascinating and enjoyable to explore.

Is Immerse easy to use?

Immerse has built-in tutorials to guide users through their first time with the app.

These explain how the app works and what all of the icons and options do. It helps to ensure that new users don't miss out on anything, but the app's interface is intuitive, and most users would be able to work it out quickly.

How will students benefit?

Immerse is superb for browsing generally or going further into what kids have learned at school. AR is a great way to get kids interested, but there has to be something of substance behind it to hold that attention once they have experienced the novel tech a few times.

Reading facts, playing games, exploring the models, and answering quizzes to earn points make using Immerse a varied experience and one that can really inspire kids' interest.

Kids for whom literacy is challenging needn't worry as the supporting information has an accompanying narration.

How will teachers benefit?

It is challenging to do justice to science in a classroom. Still images rarely bring across the wonder and detail of the subject and don't promote exploration. AR in Immerse does this wonderfully.

Instead of explaining to kids how a pelican catches fish or navigating back and forth through a video, teachers can play the animation repeatedly. As the pelican will appear to be sitting on a child's desk, it is even more attention-grabbing.

Terrain features like Death Valley are difficult to appreciate from map contours. Travelling around it and zooming in to a virtual model on a desk is an excellent aid to the teacher's explanations.

Locking the AR to a surface was consistently straightforward during this review of Immerse, even in an artificially lit room that was not especially bright. Once the AR is visible, there is no load on teacher's as they need only wave their device around to show the 3D model in all its detail and movements to kids.

Schools can create admin accounts to manage student profiles and change passwords.

How will parents benefit?

Immerse encourages kids to keep progressing as when they complete a task, they earn coins. They can then spend the in-game currency on new knowledge bundles to go further. Kids earn points that position them on the app's leaderboards alongside the coins.

The inspiring content, coins and points will make it much easier to get kids to engage with Immerse and learn more without parents' nagging. As the app is full of content and free for personal use, cost-conscious parents are strongly advised to download the app.

What can Immerse improve on?

Immerse is crammed full of 3D models, information, and quizzes. If the app tried to preload everything, it would take ages and fill your device's storage. Instead, Immerse streams the content as needed, which causes a delay and builds in some dependency on the internet connection. This is not a criticism, just something to know ahead of time. 

The app's marketplace where kids can buy avatars uses only a single tap to spend coins. A confirmation button would be appreciated to avoid kids being upset at accidental purchases.

Immerse does itself a small injustice by not making it more clear that the in-app currency is not a consumable in-app purchase. App buyers are wary of getting apps for kids that require constantly spending money on coins to gain more content and aesthetic upgrades.

Users of Immerse can spend coins, but they never purchase them with real money. New avatars and further learning bundles are bought with coins earned by accomplishing educational tasks. Immerse should clarify this so that parents don't avoid it as a kneejerk reaction to in-game currency.

How much does Immerse cost?

You can get free access to Immerse for personal use just by downloading the app. It does not have all of the institutions' premium package features, but it still includes progress tracking and a tremendous amount of content.

Institutions choose various packages that cover different age ranges and feature sets. You can look at the general features of each option on the Immerse website and contact the publisher for further details.

Is Immerse safe to use?

The free version of Immerse contains advertisements that, in line with an app aimed at kids, uses untargeted ads with only coarse geotracking (i.e. it only logs the user's country) and does not employ user tracking. The ads are not shown regularly, only being triggered at certain points in the app. It is quite possible to use the free app for a meaningful session and not see any ads at all - a commendable and responsible approach by the developers!

A few places in the app encourage users to share achievements or screenshots with their contacts. It would be preferable if a lockable setting could disable this feature for parents who do not want their kids to do this.

The premium package for educational institutes has a bullet point showing that it has 'best security'. It is unclear which way it is best, but this point makes it feel like the lower tiers have security that is not so good. Kids' apps should not grade data or safeguarding security according to the cost to the subscriber.

Overall rating of the app.

Immerse is a very impressive app not just for being one of the first to use AR effectively but also for its content's sheer breadth. Whether you want to use it like you would a reference book or to teach a specific science topic, chances are Immerse has something useful and fascinating to show. Parents and teachers should download the free version for personal use to see why we were so impressed during this review of Immerse app. Immerse is a five-star app.