Cahokia AR Tour

• Price: $4.99

Last verified 31 Jul 2026

4.2 401 ratings · App Store

1. 5/5Fantastic way to enhance a visit!

   Visited Cahokia while the welcome center is closed, so this app was a fantastic way to get more information and enhance our visit—otherwise we would’ve only had the physical signs to rely on, which would be OK but they do not have as much information as the app. The AR was delightful, and I liked the slider ability to change how much AR I was seeing: from wholly CG to just some AR buildings on the real landscape. The audio tour part was also excellent, and since I was visiting with one other person, we both wore one Bluetooth earbud so we could listen while walking. Overall, I highly recommend this to enhance a visit, but ESPECIALLY if the welcome center is closed or you’re skipping it.

   Oconka · 31 Jul 2026

2. 1/5Complete Joke

   After arriving we learned that the museum was closed, however a virtual reality tour was offered via this app. Mind you, the museum is free, but because it’s closed, you’ll need to shell out $5. Not that big of a deal, but a little irritating to go from free to $5. Only after you download it do you find out that headphones are required. Seriously?!?! I’m literally sitting in you’re parking lot and NOW you tell me that headphones are required? How many people just carry headphones with them? Wasted $5 because there’s no option if you don’t have headphones with you. On top of that, the app is only compatible with certain devices. We wanted to use an iPad for a bigger viewing screen, but my iPad was not compatible, so we had to use the phone. Needless to say, I’ll never be going back to Cahokia, nor will I ever donate money to them ever again. You’re welcome for the $5 donation, and thanks for screwing people over with your useless app. Oh, and if people still want to visit this horribly managed historic site, use the restroom before you go as they failed to put in portable restrooms. Saw a man forced to use the restroom in the wooded area by the back parking lot. Supposed to be a sacred site, but with no portable restrooms, they don’t give people any option but to urinate on this sacred site. Way to go, Illinois!

   Angrier Bird 75 · 31 Jul 2026

3. 1/5Disappointing and Unhelpful

   I was excited to use this app during my visit to Cahokia Mounds, but it ended up being more frustrating than helpful. For starters, the app is almost useless once you’re on the trails — there’s very little signage in the park, and the app doesn’t do enough to fill in the gaps. It lacks a clear, detailed map, which is a huge oversight given how many trails crisscross throughout the area. Staying on the right path is nearly impossible. To make matters worse, the cell service is extremely poor, which made downloading and using the app painfully slow. There was no warning about this at the visitor center or entrance, and no promotion of the app in visible areas like the driveway or main signage. How are visitors supposed to even know it exists before they head out? This could be a valuable tool, but right now it feels like a missed opportunity. I expected better for such a significant historic site.

   cyanmcc · 31 Jul 2026

4. 5/5Very cool and informational

   If you’re visiting Cahokia Mounds, you might wonder if this app is worth the $5. I certainly think it is. It’s cool how it overlays what the city looked like hundreds of years ago over what it looks like now. It does so in a way that was easy to use. You have to have headphones if you want to do the audio tour part, so bring those! Ideas for things to add to the app would be to include guides for elsewhere around the Cahokia site - even if it’s just a simple trail guide with no fancy AR.

   b-demo · 31 Jul 2026

5. 3/5Old tech, mediocre experience on the ground

   Forced into paying for and using this because interpretive center is closed indefinitely for renovations. So no paper tour guides available. I used an iPhone. Huge mistake. You need the bigger tablet screen. Don’t forget your earbuds. Not sure what you get without them but the threats are clear. Before you start, be sure to visit settings and turn brightness all the way up. There is a brightness icon on-screen during the tour. As far as I can tell, all it does is make a ding sound. No change in brightness. The actual AR effects are good for such old technology. Hopefully, the tiny text for the “information points” will be more legible on a tablet. I guess there is no help for the awkward ground scanning at each stop. Between the AR and the teensy text, the app is informative. I did learn a lot. There are two included tours. There is a fair amount of repetition between the two. I learned to back out.

   Disgruntledwrocket · 31 Jul 2026

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• 1.0
• 1.1

  Includes a new tour of the Grand Plaza -- 7 new augmented reality stops -- 4 animated videos on Mississippian sports, culture and more!

• 1.11

  - Minor updates to user experience

• 1.12

  Bug fixes. Increased contrast to make text more visible in brightly lit conditions. Added additional notification to scan ground around markers in order to launch AR scenes.

• 1.13 · 2 Dec 2025

  Bug Fixes