The popular Ingress game for Android devices has now quietly been released for Apple smartphones and tablets.
Google has now quietly released that its augmented reality game called Ingress will now finally be available to owners of iPhones and iPads, as it has now been launched in an iOS compatible game app.
The Android version of the mobile game has been openly available since December.
Though that release of the augmented reality game had come with an official announcement and quite a bit of excitement – after its invitation only beta proved to be exceptionally popular in a number of markets – this latest release to the App Store was done quietly enough that Google didn’t even make an official announcement at all.
That said, there was a Google+ post from Niantic Labs to mention the release of the augmented reality game.
That post was made by Fevenis Silverwind from Niantic Labs, which is the company operated by Google that was responsible for the very unique AR mobile game. The game, itself, is multiplayer, but it allows individuals to use their smartphones or tablets to decide whether they are a part of a resistance or an “enlightened” team. These teams battle to collect and control what they call “Exotic Matter”, which is a powerful substance that is located virtually in locations within the real world.
The mobile apps are used to play the AR game, but there is also a web based service that allows players to be able to keep on top of the latest statuses in terms of the games and the various locations. The two teams try to be able to take control of the various locations through the collection of the exotic matter.
At first, Ingress was reserved for early adopters and tech geeks, but there have been areas – such as parts of Canada – where the game took off and spread quite wildly, despite the fact that it had previously still been in beta and was available only by direct invitation from another player.
The addition of an iOS version of the augmented reality game could help to determine whether or not the reach of the game will be able to broaden from where it currently stands. As of yet, Google hasn’t released any numbers from its iOS release.
