Setting up your Android Device for AR in Unity

When you create an AR project in Unity that you wish to test on an Android device, there are certain steps that you need to take. I’m assuming that you have basic knowledge of the Unity editor and know how to make Android your Build Platform.

The first thing you’ll need to do is enable Android Developer Options on your device. You’ll want to look up your specific device for instructions on how to do this.

On most Android devices you can go to Settings -> About Phone -> Software Information and then tap on the Build Number several times. I currently have a Samsung Galaxy S21 and my instructions said I had to tap on it seven times. After I tapped it seven times, it asked me if I wanted to enable Developer Options. I, of course, selected Yes.

Now, you should have a Developers options section under Settings.

The next step is to enable USB debugging inside the Developer options menu.

Now you are ready to select your Android device. Select File -> Build Settings. Under Run Device, your Android device should show up as an option.

Click on the Player Settings… button and under Player -> Other Settings, change the Minimum API Level to API level 24. This is the oldest version of Android that supports AR.

Below that, change the Scripting backend from Mono to IL2CPP.

Below that, change the Target Architectures to ARM64.

Back up to the top of Other Settings, you need to remove Vulkan from the Graphics APIs by clicking on the — button.

You are now ready to build your project and test it on your Android device. (I’m assuming you know how to build a project and copy the .APK file to your android device.)