is mixed reality the same as augmented reality?

No. Both let you see the real world, so they look similar at first. The difference is that mixed reality builds a map of your room, so digital objects sit on real surfaces and can be hidden behind real furniture. In plain augmented reality the layer usually floats on top of everything.

do I need a headset to use AR?

No. Most augmented reality today runs on an ordinary phone. The camera sees the room, the motion sensors track how you hold the phone, and the extra picture is drawn on the screen. Headsets and glasses give a hands-free view, and they are not required.

why does virtual reality make some people feel sick?

Your inner ear feels your head move while your eyes see a picture that has not caught up yet. The two signals disagree, and your body reads that as sickness. Faster screens, quicker tracking and a stable horizon all reduce it. Short sessions help while you get used to it.

XR stands for extended reality. It is an umbrella term that covers augmented reality, virtual reality and mixed reality together. People use it when they want to talk about the whole family without picking one.

AR, VR and MR: what is the difference?

Stand at your window and look at the street. Now picture three changes to that window.

Someone sticks a paper note on the glass. It shows the bus times. You can still see the street behind it. That is augmented reality, or AR. Next, someone covers the whole window with a screen showing a beach. The street is gone. That is virtual reality, or VR.

Now a cat appears on your windowsill. The cat is not real. Even so, it walks behind your flowerpot, and it sits down when it reaches the ledge. It acts like it belongs in the room. That is mixed reality, or MR.

What separates the three?

One question sorts them out. How much of what you see is real?

In AR the real world is still the main view. The computer adds a thin layer on top. In VR the real world is hidden. Everything you see is drawn by a computer. MR sits between the two. The real room stays, and the digital objects are aware of it.

That word carries the meaning. Aware is the test for MR. A digital object that knows where your table is, and that can be hidden behind your chair, is mixed reality. A flat label that floats in front of everything is augmented reality.

All three sit under one umbrella term. That term is extended reality, or XR.

Term	What you see	Typical hardware	Everyday example
AR	The real world plus a flat layer	A phone, or light glasses	Arrows drawn over the camera view in a maps app
VR	Only a computer scene	A sealed headset	A nurse training without a real patient
MR	The real room plus objects that fit it	A headset with cameras and depth sensors	A digital screen pinned to your real wall

How does augmented reality work?

AR needs three things. It must know where you are. It must know what is in front of you. Then it must draw the extra layer in the right place.

Your phone already has the parts. The camera sees the room. Motion sensors feel the phone tilt and turn. Software picks out flat surfaces and sharp corners, then follows them frame by frame. The added picture is drawn on the screen on top of the camera view.

This is why AR spread through phones first. Most people already carry the hardware. You do not have to buy anything new. For more detail, read our guide to augmented reality.

How does virtual reality work?

VR takes the opposite path. It shuts the room out.

A VR headset holds two small screens, one for each eye. Each eye sees a slightly different picture, and that is how your brain reads depth. Sensors track your head. When you turn, the scene must turn with you at once.

Speed decides everything here. If the picture lags behind your head, your eyes and your inner ear disagree, and you start to feel sick. Therefore headsets redraw the scene many times a second and work hard to cut every small delay. Our guide to virtual reality covers the trade-offs.

How does mixed reality work?

MR starts by making a map of your room.

Cameras and depth sensors build a rough model of the floor, the walls and the furniture. The headset then places digital objects inside that model. Because it knows where your sofa is, it can hide part of a digital ball when the ball rolls behind the sofa. That hiding has a name. It is called occlusion, and it is what makes an object feel present.

Most headsets sold now can switch between modes. Cameras on the outside send a live view of the room to the screens inside. This is called passthrough. Turn it up and you are in mixed reality. Turn it off and you are in virtual reality. Read more in our guide to mixed reality.

Where do you already meet them?

You have probably used AR without naming it. A phone filter that puts animal ears on your face is AR. A shop app that shows a sofa standing on your own floor is AR. A car that paints your speed on the windscreen is AR.

VR turns up where practice is costly or risky. Pilots, welders, miners and surgeons all train in headsets. A trainee can fail ten times before touching a real machine.

MR is the newest and the least common. It is used most at work. A technician sees repair steps pinned to the machine in front of him. A designer walks around a full-size model of a part that has not been built yet.

What is each one bad at?

AR is limited by its display. Bright daylight washes out a thin layer of light. Glasses that draw a wide, bright image are still hard to build, and they must stay light enough to wear all day.

VR cuts you off. You cannot see your desk, your cup, or the person next to you. Most people keep sessions short, and headsets press on the face.

MR asks for the most. It needs the room map, the head tracking and the drawing, all at once, all running off a battery. That costs power, weight and money.

All three share one problem. Battery life. Anything worn on the head has to be light, and light means a small battery.

How do you tell them apart in a shop?

The words on the box are loose. Many products are sold as one thing and behave like another. So ask three questions instead.

Can you see the real room at all? If you cannot, it is VR.
Do the digital objects rest on real surfaces and hide behind real things? If they do, it is MR.
Does the digital layer just float on top of everything? Then it is AR.

Those three questions beat any label.

What is coming next?

Two changes matter most. Displays and weight.

Camera passthrough keeps getting sharper, which pushes VR headsets towards MR. At the same time glasses keep getting smaller, which pushes AR off the phone and onto the face. The middle ground is where the three are heading.

A second change is quieter. Drawing a rich scene is heavy work. Some systems now do part of it on a nearby phone or on a server, then send the finished picture over. That keeps the headset cool and light, and it needs a fast, steady connection to work.

Try this today. Open a maps app on your phone and switch on the walking view that draws arrows over the camera picture. Hold it up in the street. You are using AR. Then ask the second question. Do the arrows know where the kerb is? If they do not, you have just felt the line between AR and MR.

Just Out Tech explains new research in plain language. This article was drafted with AI assistance and checked by a human against the original source.