Google and SEAT: Find your friends by Wildbytes

'Seat Lost&Sound’ enables users to locate friends in a crowd using augmented reality.

In a crowded music festival setting, losing sight of friends is a common problem – but now there’s a solution. Spanish car manufacturer Seat and experiential innovation agency Wildbytes, in collaboration with Google, have created an essential app for festival-goers. ‘Seat Lost&Sound’ enables people to locate their friends using augmented reality. The app was unveiled yesterday at Primavera Sound in Barcelona, which is expected to be attended by more than 220,000 people this year.

To be reunited with their friends, people simply need to open the app and scan the festival space with their camera lens. Provided all parties have installed the app, the icon for the chosen individual will appear on their screen, helpfully indicating their position within the crowd and their distance from the finder. Users can send out a signal to let their friends know where they are, in addition to requesting that their friends share their signal. If the user is inactive at the time, they will receive a notification, so they can access their friend’s location when they open the app next.

Intuitive touches of personalisation enhance this core functionality. Users can customise their personal signals (the 3D elements that hover over their location with AR to allow friends to locate them). For example, users can choose from a variety of fun options including a giant pointing hand, a slice of pizza, a gummy bear, and a bunch of balloons.

The ‘Seat Lost&Sound’ app is available in Europe on Apple and Android.