When I first wrote about augmented reality in 2009, I saw it as a crude but attractive technology with a promising future. That judgment was exactly right. ­Unfortunately, it still is. And while the latest software from Apple Inc. is bringing the technology closer to the mainstream, AR is still swimming against the current.

AR is supposed to be virtual reality’s smarter brother. Like VR, augmented reality uses computers to generate immersive three-dimensional images. But VR uses bulky goggles and headphones to saturate users in a simulated world divorced from reality. AR is reality-plus. It layers digital images on top of the sights and sounds of everyday life. It’s well suited for use on mobile devices like tablets and smartphones.

After last year’s AR smartphone game “Pokemon Go’’ became a massive hit, we were all supposed to become AR addicts. But what really matters isn’t the first successful AR app, but the second and the third. When the hits start coming in bunches, we’ll know AR has arrived. And this hasn’t happened yet.

One reason is the primitive AR capabilities of our smartphones. To do AR right, the phone must scan its surroundings and create a digital map of the area. Today’s phones do this well enough to make the cartoon image of a Pokemon monster appear on the sidewalk before you. But really good AR would do considerably more, like have the spitting image of John Adams appear on the steps of Faneuil Hall, to talk about the Boston Massacre.

That’s the sort of thing we may someday see from Microsoft and its remarkable HoloLens system. But HoloLens is basically a $3,000 head-mounted PC — not exactly a mainstream product.

Alphabet Inc., parent company of Google, has a costly and complex Tango system that requires a completely new kind of smartphone with infrared cameras. It hasn’t caught on with phonemakers—only one, Asus, has built a Tango phone.

Apple decided to keep things simple. Its newest iPhone software includes a mapping system that uses standard iPhone cameras. Though the new software was announced the same week as Apple’s latest iPhones, it works on older hardware; I’ve been running it on my two-year-old iPhone 6s and am getting decent results.

But that’s all they are —decent. Several programs provided fleeting amusement or practical benefit, but others leave you wondering why the programmers added an AR capability in the first place. The lovely astronomy app Night Sky, for instance, has a feature that lets you project the solar system onto your desk. You can see the rings of Jupiter up close, or see how the sun would appear if you were standing on Neptune. Seeing the cosmos projected into your living room is a nice gimmick, but I’m not sure I learned any more about Jupiter’s rings from the augmented reality version.

I tried several “digital ruler’’ apps that project a digital tape measure and tell you how wide a door is or how high a table stands. I found them inaccurate to the point of absurdity; there are no 12-foot-high conference tables at the Globe.

On the upside was a kiddie app featuring Thomas the Tank Engine. Small children can build a virtual railway layout, project it onto the living room floor, and even get photos of themselves next to their creations. My daughters would have liked this 20 years ago.

Better yet is a free furniture shopping app from Ikea. A user can pluck items from the digital catalog and plop them down in his living room to see if they fit and if they match. It’s a smart app, and the local Web retailer Wayfair has one, too.

So that makes a few useful apps amid a pile of dross. It’s too early to despair; more apps based on the new Apple software are coming. But even if apps improve, AR will remain a hard sell. The current software consumes battery power at a murderous rate. And even today’s bigger smartphones offer a narrow view of the virtual world. For truly immersive AR, we’ll need wearable viewscreens, something like the ill-fated Google Glass. Apple is reportedly working on it, but how many nongeeks will give it a go?

I’m still convinced there’s a killer application for AR, just waiting to be invented. I’m just not smart enough to figure out what it is. And so far, it doesn’t seem anyone else has, either.

Hiawatha Bray can be reached at hiawatha.bray@globe.com. Follow him on Twitter @GlobeTechLab.