# ARCore 64-bit requirement In August 2020, *Google Play Services for AR* (ARCore) removed support for 32-bit-only apps on some 64-bit devices. Support for 32-bit-only ARCore enabled apps on the remaining 64-bit devices may be removed without notice in an upcoming ARCore release. 32-bit-only ARCore enabled apps running on 32-bit devices are unaffected and continue to be supported. If you published a 32-bit-only (e.g., `armeabi-v7a`) version of your ARCore-enabled app without publishing a corresponding 64-bit (`arm64-v8a`) version for 64-bit devices, you must update your app with a compatible 64-bit version for 64-bit devices. **32-bit-only ARCore-enabled apps that aren't updated will fail to create an ARCore session and might crash when attempting to start an augmented reality (AR) session on affected 64-bit devices**. If you set the `android:use32bitAbi="true"` attribute in your app's `AndroidManifest.xml`, your app will only use 32-bit libraries. Any AR experiences in your app will attempt to use ARCore in 32-bit mode. However, the 32-bit libraries will not be present in the *Google Play Services for AR* service on some 64-bit devices. Without these libraries, your app will fail to create an ARCore session and might crash when attempting to start an augmented reality (AR) session on those affected 64-bit devices. This affects both native AR experiences and WebXR-based AR experiences inside a WebView component. ## Google Play Store 64-bit requirement The ARCore 64-bit requirement described in the preceding section applies to all 64-bit devices, regardless of Android version and API level. This requirement is separate and not related to the Google Play [64-bit requirement](https://android-developers.googleblog.com/2019/01/get-your-apps-ready-for-64-bit.html) that went into effect on August 1, 2019, which is [evaluated at the app release level](https://developer.android.com/games/optimize/64-bit#multi-apk-compliance) and applies only to APKs or app bundles that are distributed to devices running Android 9 Pie (API level 28) or later. ## Understanding ARCore ABI support ARCore lets you build apps that support the following [Android ABIs](https://developer.android.com/ndk/guides/abis): - 32-bit (e.g., `armeabi-v7a`) and 64-bit (`arm64-v8a`) apps that target physical [ARCore supported devices](https://developers.google.com/ar/devices) - 32-bit (`x86`) and 64-bit (`x86_64`) apps that run inside an [Android Emulator](https://developers.google.com/ar/develop/java/emulator) When you build an ARCore-enabled app, the Android build system includes one or more ARCore native libraries (`lib/.../libarcore_sdk*.so`) for the Android ABIs targeted by your app. 32-bit-only ARCore-enabled apps were previously able to run on both 32-bit and 64-bit devices. In August 2020 *Google Play Services for AR* (ARCore) stopped including 32-bit native libraries on some 64-bit devices, at which time 32-bit only ARCore-enabled apps were no longer able to run on affected 64-bit devices. In a future release, support for 32-bit-only ARCore-enabled apps may also be removed without notice from the remaining 64-bit devices. **32-bit-only ARCore-enabled apps that aren't updated will fail to create a session and might crash when attempting to start an augmented reality (AR) session on affected 64-bit devices**, specifically: | ARCore SDK | Session creation failure details | |---|---| | **ARCore SDK for Android (NDK)** | [`ArSession_create`](https://developers.google.com/ar/reference/c/group/session#arsession_create) and [`ArSession_createWithFeatures`](https://developers.google.com/ar/reference/c/group/session#arsession_createwithfeatures) will return `AR_ERROR_FATAL`. | | **ARCore SDK for Android (Java)** | The Session constructors, [`Session(Context)`](https://developers.google.com/ar/reference/java/com/google/ar/core/Session#Session-context) and [`Session(Context, Set)`](https://developers.google.com/ar/reference/java/com/google/ar/core/Session#Session-context-features), will throw a [`FatalException`](https://developers.google.com/ar/reference/java/com/google/ar/core/exceptions/FatalException). | | **ARCore SDK for Unity** | When you enable the [`ARCoreSession`](https://developers.google.com/ar/reference/unity/class/GoogleARCore/ARCoreSession) component, which is usually found on the [ARCore Device](https://developers.google.com/ar/reference/unity/prefab/ARCore_Device) prefab, ARCore will fail to create an ARCore session and [`Session.Status`](https://developers.google.com/ar/reference/unity/class/GoogleARCore/Session#status) will be `SessionStatus.FatalError`. | | [**AR Foundation (Unity)**](https://unity.com/unity/features/arfoundation) + [**ARCore XR Plugin**](https://docs.unity3d.com/Packages/com.unity.xr.arcore@latest) | The app will stop rendering (black screen) when the app tries to start an AR session, due to a crash on the main thread while trying to load non-existent 32-bit ARCore native libraries. | ## Determining whether your app must be updated To check whether your published app includes the required native ARCore libraries to support 64-bit devices: 1. Open the [Google Play Console](https://play.google.com/console). 2. Select your ARCore-enabled app. 3. Expand the app's active release to verify that the **Native platforms** includes 64-bit (`arm64-v8a`) support. ## Updating your app to support 64-bit devices To update an existing 32-bit-only ARCore-enabled app to include 64-bit native libraries: 1. Update your project to use the latest [ARCore SDK](https://developers.google.com/ar/develop/downloads). 2. Build your app and publish it using the [Google Play Console](https://play.google.com/console). Google Play will verify that your app meets the Google Play Store [64-bit requirement](https://android-developers.googleblog.com/2019/01/get-your-apps-ready-for-64-bit.html) that previously went into effect on August 1, 2019. To ensure that your ARCore-enabled app includes 64-bit (`arm64-v8a`) support for all 64-bit devices, regardless of Android version or API level.