There was a time when augmented reality was going to change everything.

Phone makers were racing to add AR features. Samsung built an entire suite of them, gave them a home under a menu called AR Zone, and put them in commercials. Draw on the air. Measure your furniture without a tape measure. The pitch was that your Galaxy phone could see the world differently.

Nobody really cared. And now Samsung is admitting it.

Now, two of those apps are getting end-of-service notices. Samsung confirmed it is discontinuing AR Doodle and Quick Measure, with both apps shutting down on Dec. 31, 2026, Android Authority reported.

After that date, the apps will no longer be available for download from the Galaxy Store and will not be supported in future versions of One UI.

What AR Doodle and Quick Measure actually did

AR Doodle let Galaxy users draw in the air using the phone’s camera. Lines, shapes, and messages could be anchored to a face or a surface, making them appear to float in the real world.

On supported devices, a stylus could be used to draw. The feature showed up in Samsung’s promotional materials for years as an example of what Galaxy cameras could do that other phones could not.

Quick Measure did something more practical. It used the camera and augmented reality to estimate the dimensions of objects in the physical world. Point it at a wall, a piece of furniture, or a box, and it would give you approximate measurements without a tape measure.

While useful in theory, in practice, it was one of those features that most users discovered once and rarely revisited.

Related: A $650 smartphone takes aim at Apple and Samsung’s surging repair costs

Both apps had already been demoted before this announcement. When Samsung released One UI 7, it restructured the AR Zone app and made AR Doodle and Quick Measure optional downloads rather than built-in features.

Getting moved out of preloaded into optional is the first step on a slow walk out the door. Dec. 31 is the last step.

Why Samsung is retiring AR Doodle, Quick Measure and what comes next

The honest answer is that AR never became what Samsung hoped it would.

Think back to what the technology landscape looked like around 2020 and 2021. Augmented reality was going to be everywhere. The metaverse was coming. NFTs were the future of ownership. Blockchain was going to change finance.

Samsung, Apple, Google, and Meta all poured resources into AR features and let their marketing teams run with the story.

Consumers used them occasionally at best. AR Doodle made for a funny video once. Quick Measure was genuinely useful in a pinch. But neither became something people reached for every day.

Usage stayed low. The features stayed niche. And when generative AI took over as the technology story with actual consumer pull, the AR moment quietly ended.

Samsung has been building AI into its cameras, messaging, search, and productivity tools. Resources that once went to maintaining AR apps are now going there instead.

Samsung is not framing this as a clean kill, though. Android Central reported that Samsung says it is “committed” to returning these apps “with improved services in the future.”

The company acknowledged the inconvenience but stopped short of giving a timeline or any specifics about what the improved versions would look like.

This fits a pattern of Samsung quietly winding down older software. In July 2026, the company retired its own Messages app, replacing it with Google Messages. AR Doodle and Quick Measure are next.

AR Doodle let Galaxy users draw in the air using the phone’s camera.

GREG BAKER / Getty Images

What happens to your Galaxy device after Dec. 31

The apps will not stop working the moment the clock hits midnight on Jan. 1, 2027. If you have AR Doodle or Quick Measure installed on your device right now, they will likely continue running for some time.

The problem comes with software updates. 9to5Google reported that as Samsung releases new versions of One UI, the apps will lose compatibility. A software update that improves other parts of your phone could be the update that breaks AR Doodle or Quick Measure for good.

Some newer Galaxy devices are already there. The Galaxy Z Fold 8 does not show the apps in the Galaxy Store at all. If you have a newer device, you may not be able to download them even now.

After Dec. 31, the download option disappears entirely. If the apps are not on your device by then, they will not be available to install.

What Galaxy users should do before Dec. 31

If you actually use AR Doodle or Quick Measure, download them now if they are not already on your device. Do not wait. The window to get them is open but is not unlimited, and newer devices are already being cut off.

If you use them and want to keep using them for as long as possible, hold off on major One UI updates. Future OS versions will break compatibility. That is a trade-off most people will not want to make, but for anyone who genuinely depends on Quick Measure for a workflow, it is worth knowing.

For everyone else, the practical answer is to look at what replaces these features. Android and most third-party apps have measurement tools built into camera apps or available separately.

A quick search for AR measurement apps on the Google Play Store will surface alternatives that work across devices and manufacturers rather than being tied to Samsung’s Galaxy ecosystem.

The broader takeaway is one that applies to any app tied to a single manufacturer’s hardware. Proprietary features are only as durable as the company’s interest in maintaining them.

Samsung built these, marketed them, and is now retiring them. If you built workflows around them, the time to find alternatives is before Dec. 31, not after.

Related: Samsung’s $2,100 phone tests how much consumers will pay to fold