Push2AR: Enhancing Mobile List Interactions Using Augmented Reality

Abstract

Smartphones provide convenient access to vast data collections (e.g., online shops, social media) within a compact, portable form factor. While the prevalent infinite scroll lists address the inherently restricted screen space, they also introduce navigation and orientation challenges. Users often lose track of their position within these lists and find it difficult to efficiently access, compare, and filter items of interest. To address this challenge, we introduce Push2AR, a novel interaction concept that extends the phone's high-resolution display and familiar touch interaction with the virtual display space offered by Augmented Reality (AR) headsets. Push2AR enables users to transfer individual list items from their phone to its surrounding AR space, facilitating bookmarking, filtering, and side-by-side comparisons while maintaining orientation through visual links to the original scroll position. Our evaluation shows that our approach enhances user experience and reduces subjective workload involved in locating and comparing list items in contrast to conventional phone-only lists.