Above: The Android game Ingress comes to iOS.
If you have an iOS device, you can finally discover that your local post office or famous landmark isn’t what it seems … with the help of Google’s mobile game Ingress.
Google’s Niantic Labs released Ingress on iPhone and iPad this morning; it’s the first time that a Google-created game has appeared on another platform — although the company releases nearly all of its productivity and other apps on iOS. The free app uses game-style quests and GPS so that players can interact with real-world landmarks that the game refers to as “portals.” The iOS version comes after 4 million people have downloaded Ingress for Android.
The idea of Ingress is to get people out and exploring their cities with an interactive mobile game. Gamers play for one of two sides in a battle for control over portals, and the story of Ingress evolves depending on the actions of the players. That narrative unfolds in a number of live-action, news-style report videos that players can watch in the game.
Google and Niantic released a new trailer as part of the iOS release, and you can watch it below:
Ingress already has thousands of players. Niantic held a global event earlier this year that had 12,300 people come out to gathering spots in 65 cities around the world. Google also revealed a number of other milestones.
During the 65 live events, players walked more than 74,000 miles. Throughout the first half of 2014, gamers have interacted with real-world sites more than 22.4 million times.
While this is Google’s first game to appear on iOS, the company isn’t afraid of supporting Apple’s platform. Google’s Play Games Services, which is its Xbox Live-style gaming service, works with iOS (and other) games. This enables iOS developers to support leaderboards, achievements, and more. It even is capable of enabling cross-platform online multiplayer that works with Android versions of games.
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