Skip to main content

This new travel app uses AR to keep kids entertained on layovers

kids travel app at heathrow around the world with mr  adventure launches
Heathrow
Augmented reality can do a number of different things, from turning selfies into animals to creating virtual scavenger hunts, but now one more feature can be chalked up to the emerging tech — entertaining kids on an airport layover. On July 14, London’s Heathrow Airport announced the new kids’ travel app, Around the World with Mr. Adventure, a kid-friendly game that hides digital badges throughout the terminals.

In the game, players use any iOS or Android device’s camera to explore the airport, discovering hidden digital badges. When users discover a badge, the app plays a 3D animated video. Kids (or kids at heart) can then take a photo with a digital character based on the Mr. Adventure series, including Mr. Adventure himself and Little Miss Explorer.

Recommended Videos

Five badges are hidden around the terminals — when kids find all five badges, they can trade the digital badges for the real thing with iron-on badges available from information desks. The app, the airport says, is designed to keep kids entertained while waiting for flights.

Please enable Javascript to view this content

“As summer sees a greater number of families visit Heathrow, we want to ensure they receive the best possible start to their holiday adventures,” said Iona Harper, Heathrow’s senior experience manager. “The Mr. Adventure app is a great, fun experience for Heathrow’s tiniest travelers, encouraging discovery for the next generation of explorers.”

Through the peak of travel season, costumed characters Mr. Adventure and Little Miss Explorer will also add to the experience, helping kids find the badges with appearances until September 10. The airport also has kids’ activities and workshops planned for the busy travel season, along with continuing to offer perks like free play areas and Kids Eat Free menus.

The Mr. Adventure characters are based on the Mr. Men Little Miss series, a storyline that launched over 45 years ago with a popular TV show added in the 1990s. Today, the story includes over 90 characters and has sold over 250 million books.

Heathrow expects 365,000 passengers will be traveling with children during just the summer travel season alone. Friday, July 21 is slated to be the airport’s busiest day of the season with over 130,000 passengers expected to travel through Heathrow.

The Around the World With Mr. Adventure app is available as a free download on the App Store and Google Play.

Hillary K. Grigonis
Hillary never planned on becoming a photographer—and then she was handed a camera at her first writing job and she's been…
This new Canon photo app will help you decide which pics are worth keeping
this new canon photo app has a neat trick up its sleeve culling

With smartphone cameras now so advanced, most of us ditched our compact cameras long ago. The ease with which we can fire up a smartphone camera and take a snap means many of us are now taking a lot of photos. That's all well and good, but unless you’re a stickler for photo management, you can quickly end up with masses of subpar images that take up a large chunk of your phone's storage space.

With that in mind, Japanese camera giant Canon has come up with a new app for iOS designed to automatically whip your photo library into shape.

Read more
Amazon’s new AR app lets you have fun with all those Prime Day boxes
amazons new ar app offers interactive fun with its boxes amazon augmented reality

Try a spooktaculAR experience this Halloween

The online shopping frenzy that is Amazon Prime Day is pretty much upon us again, with customers around the world gearing up to splash the cash on all manner of cut-price goodies.

Read more
Amazon’s new AR tool lets you fill a room with multiple virtual items
amazons new ar tool makes furniture shopping easier amazon room decorator

Shoppers who go online in search of furniture may be interested in a new offering from Amazon.

The e-commerce giant is rolling out a new augmented reality (AR) tool, currently available only on iOS, that lets you virtually place multiple furniture items in a room in your home so you can see how they look.

Read more