The new Sports Illustrated Swimsuit issue lets you view the set in AR, among other virtual reality and augmented reality experiences that are included to bring the “most immersive experience ever” to come from the publication. To view the content that’s being offered with the 2018 issue of this magazine series, users will need the Life VR mobile app installed on their phones, which can be downloaded from either the Play Store or the App Store for iOS users. The content is also viewable through two different methods if the user chooses, which include the Life VR channel on Samsung’s Gear VR platform through the Samsung VR app, as well as the Life VR app for Windows Mixed Reality headsets.
In regards to the content, it’ll be possible to go behind the scenes of certain Sports Illustrated Swimsuit issue photo shoots all through VR in 360-degrees, so as the viewer you’ll be able to look around and see different parts of the set and the people that make everything come together. In addition to the VR behind the scenes content, Snapchat users are getting a special nod as the issue will let them use a special, custom world lens and face lens to put themselves on the cover of an SI Swimsuit issue.
As for the augmented reality experiences, there isn’t a whole lot of detail on them but they include the above-mentioned opportunity to walk onto the set of an SI Swimsuit photo shoot and a few other experiences as well. For example, there are video experiences to be viewed through AR too which are described as launching off the pages of the issue. This could mean that you see pages of the issue in front of you with video content being made to look more in focus and jump out at you. It’s also possible to view a 3D hologram of the cover model. Since this is viewable through a few different methods it shouldn’t be too hard for most people to experience the content, though you will need a headset to make it all work, which means you’ll either need a Gear VR, or a Google Cardboard or comparable headset or viewer before you can use the Life VR app.