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Discover Star Wars secrets with new AR app on Force Friday

Use the official Star Wars phone app on September 1 to meet a new character from The Last Jedi.

Dan Ackerman Editorial Director / Computers and Gaming
Dan Ackerman leads CNET's coverage of computers and gaming hardware. A New York native and former radio DJ, he's also a regular TV talking head and the author of "The Tetris Effect" (Hachette/PublicAffairs), a non-fiction gaming and business history book that has earned rave reviews from the New York Times, Fortune, LA Review of Books, and many other publications. "Upends the standard Silicon Valley, Steve Jobs/Mark Zuckerberg technology-creation myth... the story shines." -- The New York Times
Expertise I've been testing and reviewing computer and gaming hardware for over 20 years, covering every console launch since the Dreamcast and every MacBook...ever. Credentials
  • Author of the award-winning, NY Times-reviewed nonfiction book The Tetris Effect; Longtime consumer technology expert for CBS Mornings
Dan Ackerman
Watch this: Star Wars secrets to be revealed in AR game on Force Friday

A new augmented-reality element is coming to Disney's  Star Wars app in time for Force Friday.

From September 1 to 3, the app can be used for a "pop-up AR treasure hunt," according to Disney. At 20,000 retail stores around the world, the app will use your phone's camera to find a hidden AR icon. Scan the icon and a new character from the upcoming film "The Last Jedi" will be revealed.

Force Friday is the Sept. 1 quasi-holiday that celebrates all things Star Wars. Just don't confuse Force Friday with Star Wars Day, which is on May 4. (Because "May the 4th be with you" is too good a pun to ignore.)

Note that you need the latest version of the free Star Wars app, so look for version 2.3 or higher.