I have to be honest with you, I don’t like cockroaches that much, I cringe when I see one. However, my father has no problem holding them. He can just grab one in his hand and show him the door.
I thought to myself maybe there is a way to get over those fears. After all, these little bugs, although look creepy, are harmless, I think.
Today I came across an AR app that presents itself as a horror app, at least that what I understood after reading the warnings in the terms of use of the app when I launched it.
This app AR Cockroach does exactly what its name suggests, users can see cockroaches in augmented reality. After an initial floor scan, the app spawns a black circle on the floor that looks like a portal. From that hole are going to come out many cockroaches.
The funny thing was that I expected some little standard-size cockroaches but to my surprise, some cockroaches were at the size of my cat, seriously. Some huge ones even climbed and walked on my screen—creepy!
Well, there is nothing more to this app, just cockroaches walking around you, some small, others pretty big.
After experiencing the app for a short time, all I can report is that I felt a little scared, but nothing compared to when I see a real one. The cockroaches looked pretty damn real, I mean, the 3D models were detailed and the animation looks very authentic.
I know that there are some therapeutic apps similar to this. I saw one in virtual reality that helps treat people from arachnophobia (fear of spiders). In VR that experience is more realistic because the spiders look like they are walking on your hand and you see it in first-person, not through a screen.
You can also tap on the cockroaches to exterminate them. you can one point for each cockroach you exterminate, however, there is no point to do it because the cockroaches keep coming out from that hole and “the game” never ends, so what’s the point.
Conclusion
Bottom line, kind of a useless app in my opinion. Whether it can help me to fight my fears from cockroaches, I have no idea. I didn’t stay long enough to find out, I got bored and uninstalled it a few minutes later. That being said, it was a different experience, but definitely not a rememberable one.
You can download AR cockroach from the App Store here.