AirTouch vs Gestoos: Camera Gesture Software

Here is the short answer. Gestoos was one of the few companies that shared our thesis: gesture control should be software on cameras, not proprietary sensors. The Barcelona team built camera-based gesture recognition for digital signage and automotive, with no-code authoring tools ahead of their time. In January 2023, Gestoos was acquired by PreAct Technologies, a flash-LiDAR maker, and the team and platform were folded into PreAct's sensor stack. As of this writing, the standalone Gestoos platform is no longer purchasable, and its public developer docs still list Windows 10 and Ubuntu 16 era requirements. If Gestoos is on your evaluation list in 2026, you are evaluating a memory.

What was Gestoos?

Gestoos offered an SDK plus visual tools (Creator and Calibrator) that let teams train and deploy gesture interactions for signage, retail, smart spaces, and in-cabin automotive, with audience analytics built in. It leaned on depth cameras for much of its life and later added RGB detection. The vision was right, and the EU-backed research pedigree was real. The acquisition redirected all of it toward PreAct's LiDAR products for automotive and industrial OEMs, which is a different business than deployable gesture software for screens.

What is AirTouch?

AirTouch is patented gesture control and hand tracking software from Neural Lab, actively shipping today. It reads hands through any standard RGB camera and maps gestures to mouse, keyboard, and touch input at the operating system level, so any app becomes a touchless interface with zero integration. Through our partnership with Orbbec, it also takes advantage of 3D depth sensing and IR cameras when a deployment calls for them. Windows, Linux, and Android today, macOS on the way, roughly 50ms latency, patented intent detection for crowded spaces, and per device per month pricing with a free trial.

How do they compare in 2026?

• Availability. Gestoos is no longer sold standalone; its technology lives inside PreAct's LiDAR roadmap. AirTouch is a product you can download today.

• Integration model. Gestoos was an SDK and authoring toolchain: powerful, but your apps had to be wired to it. AirTouch needs no integration at all, because it speaks the input language your apps already understand.

• Hardware. Gestoos grew up on depth cameras and later added RGB. AirTouch covers both directions by design: RGB-first on the camera you already own, plus Orbbec 3D depth and IR cameras through our partnership where a deployment wants them.

• Sensor range. AirTouch's range is limited by the camera, not the software: a webcam covers a room, and deployments run at 20 feet and beyond.

• Sterile and soiled environments. AirTouch tracks gloved hands including surgical glove colors, works through protective glass, and adds nothing to disinfect at the point of interaction. Signage-era gesture stacks were never validated for that world.

• Support and roadmap. One platform is frozen in its 2022 form. The other ships updates continuously and is deployed with partners including Sony's spatial reality ecosystem.

What did Gestoos get right?

Gestoos deserves respect: no-code gesture authoring and signage analytics were smart ideas, and being early is not a flaw. Its acquisition also proves the point buyers should take away, which is that platform continuity matters. When gesture control is a feature inside someone else's pivot, your deployment inherits their strategy. When it is the company's whole product, your deployment inherits the roadmap.

Which should you choose?

If you are migrating a signage or in-cabin gesture project, we will show you AirTouch running on your hardware: book a demo, or start a free trial and test it on a webcam in five minutes.

Related: gesture control and hand tracking software, what is a touchless interface, the touchless kiosk, and immersive displays.