Kassandra: AR for all macs, now in Public Beta

With Kassandra, Nreal Air Mac users will finally get desktop AR support for Intel and M-Series (and it was built with Swift).

Kassandra is a new macOS application written entirely with Swift using SceneKit and native Apple APIs for the Nreal Air.

We wrote this app out of love for the quality of the Nreal Air experience, and frankly, out of a strong sense that the potential of this device has been slipping away without full official support for ALL Macs, and without the ability to leverage Apple\’s amazing frameworks.

It is my hope (@gigabitedan) that Kassandra helps to reverse that feeling, and to enable the Nreal Air to live up to its potential as one of the best of the first-wave of AR devices for the Mac.

Checkout the announcement here:

Join the Public Beta

Join the Public Beta via TestFlight, from the Mac App Store: https://testflight.apple.com/join/ktzRtcfF

Note: M-Series Mac users will need to run with Rosetta: https://beebom.com/force-apps-to-run-with-rosetta-m1-mac/

Release Notes:

What to Expect from Public Beta v1:

Kassandra is still in beta (as noted in the video), and is only optimized at this point for theses main experiences:

– Launch and detect Nreal Air connection / disconnect
– Connection confirmation message on Nreal Air device screen
– Enable Virtual Desktop feature if device is connected
– Launch and run virtual desktop AR experience entirely using native Apple frameworks like SceneKit
– UI connection indicator updates, automatic enable and disable of sidebar features


Known Issues / Under Development:

Virtual desktop \”drifting\” issue
The desktop AR screen will drift from left to right little by little until it is not centered anymore. This is a software issue related to the underlying sensor calibration drivers. Development in-progress, will be partially or fully addressed in the next release

Memory Leaks
Jumping back and forth from the device connection panel and the virtual desktop panel may cause memory leaks due to retain cycles preventing the SceneKit elements from being released.

Other Feaures Not Enabled
Everything on the sidebar is disabled in this release because I needed to focus on the core features first.

Found a bug? Report it via TestFlight!
Simply click the button that says \”Send Beta Feedback\”: