Mastercard announced launching a new augmented reality (AR) app that brings card benefits to life. Consumers with a credit card backed by Mastercard can see, explore and access their card benefits through a photo-realistic AR experience.
“By leveraging an intuitive AR design, cardholders can now easily find and fully explore their benefits that otherwise might have been overlooked,” Raja Rajamannar, chief marketing and communications officer at Mastercard, said in the press release.
App users will be transported to a 360-degree virtual environment, where a series of interactive portals brings their card benefits to life. Everything from Priceless experiences to safety and security benefits can be viewed via the app.
How the Mastercard AR Card Benefits Experience app works
Upon launching the app, cardholders will be prompted to scan their Mastercard to start the session.
Using their phone to scan the area around them, cardholders will see three portals, each one representing a different category: experiences, everyday value and peace of mind.
To explore a benefit area, cardholders can tap the related portal to launch a fully immersive 360-degree experience which brings that category to life. For example, peace of mind is represented by a spa and everyday value is a stylish home.
After clicking the portal, cardholders can use their phone to look around the virtual room and discover their benefits, which are each represented by a relevant item. Tapping on a set of golf clubs prompts a pop-up screen where a user can learn about and access the Priceless Golf benefits.
The app will be available in the app store (for iPhones) in the U.S. in the second quarter of 2020, with additional region and device availability coming later in the year.
Currently, Mastercard is the only card network with this capability — Visa, American Express and Discover don’t offer a similar feature. Mastercard backs cards from Citi, Capital One and Bank of America, the statement reads.
By
