Ingress iOS

Over the years Google and Apple have had an interesting relationship, both as a company and as a user base.  In the past Google has been quick to provide iOS users with most of their core apps, and slower to slugggish on others. Then there was that debacle with Google Maps. Apple tried to build a better product, initially failed and even sent users to Google Maps for iOS.

There’s one app that Google has been holding out on and that is Ingress.

Ingress is an augmented reality, team based, capture the flag style game which was originally introduced to Android users in 2012 as a beta. The early adopters in the Android community caught onto Ingress like wildfire. The developers at Google behind the Ingress project wanted to optimize the experience for their current user base.

Ingress is a community game that divides players up into two teams. Players are either part of The Resistance or the Enlightened and they going after control of ‘Exotic Matter’.

If you’re totally confused, it’s very similar to capture the flag. One time is the red team. The other team is the blue team. The ‘Exotic Matter’ is the flag.

This is played similar to a geocaching game and in real life. Google and individual Ingress user groups have even held meetups across the country allowing members of each team to meet each other face to face and battle it out for ‘Exotic Matter’ in a closer knit, but more adventuresome field.

Ninatic Labs, the Google owned company that created and runs Ingress, has now made the game available for iOS. The app is optimized for both iPads and iPhones.

To date it’s been more of a techie and early adopter game but now with iOS users on board it could end up with much broader appeal. TheNextWeb reached out to Google for comment and they are waiting for a response.

Will you play Ingress, sound off in the comments and find it in the iTunes store here and Google Play here.