Raise money for the Great Barrier Reef by downloading OPPO’s AR app

Smartphone manufacturer OPPO has launched an educational AR app that demonstrates the trajectory of the Great Barrier Reef's health without intervention. The app was created in partnership with Australia's Reef Restoration Foundation (RRF) to educate Australians on cumulative stressors, like global warming and pollution, and their impact on the Great Barrier Reef.  Most importantly, OPPO is donating $1 to the Reef Restoration Foundation for every single app download throughout March and April 2021. So even if you check the app out once and never use it again, you'll be doing your small part in aiding the restoration of the Great Barrier Reef. You can download the Recolour The Reef AR app here for iPhone and iPad and here for Android smartphones and tablets.

The app itself is straightforward. By accessing your smartphone's camera, the Recolour the Reef app places a 3D render of the Great Barrier Reef in your home. A slider at the bottom of the display allows you to increase or decrease the level of cumulative stressors, reducing the vibrant and bustling render of the Great Barrier Reef to a grey and withered shell. The app also details gives a little more context to the Reef Restoration Foundation's mission and dispels the myth that the Great Barrier Reef is beyond recovery.

The 3D render of the reef was built using photographs taken with the new OPPO Find X3 Pro.

To assist in reef recovery, the Reef Restoration Foundation (a not-for-profit organisation) is establishing a network of "ocean-based coral nurseries" that help build the reef's resistance and expedite its recovery in the event of ongoing cyclone damage and coral bleaching.

For more information on the initiative, head over to the Reef Restoration Foundation website where you can make a standalone donation to the cause.