The goal of this study is to encourage meaningful non-immersive augmented reality (non-iAR) experience. A sense of presence (SoP) is deemed instrumental to a meaningful interactive digital reality experience. Nevertheless, in contrast to SoP, a sense of object presence (SoOP) is more pertinent for ascertaining non-iAR experience, as it concerns the connection of users with visual cues and the physical setting to access the theme content. However, there is a paucity of research on SoOP regarding non-iAR interactions. Relevant studies emphasize a feeling of ‘being there’ in the interactive process and indicate that visual realism is the main factor affecting SoP for users; studies often associate such experience to immersion. This present study argues that correspondence between visual cues and the physical setting is the primary factor influencing SoOP, which is equivalent to neither visual realism nor immersion. This argument was attested via examinations of three case studies of non-iAR apps in a museum and a university campus in Taiwan: Time Corridor, AR Book, and D Zone. Since the three apps were by nature conceptually related to physical places, Tim Cresswell’s (2009) tripartite component of understanding place (materiality, practice, and meaning) was adopted for integration with visual cues and the physical setting; the two key elements constitute context correspondence to analyze the three apps through mixed research methods: qualitative evaluation and statistical analysis. The result of the analysis shows that AR Book has the best agreement on the affordance to facilitate understanding and navigation of the theme content. Time Corridor, in contrast, has the lowest agreement. The findings inform the central assertion of the current study: context correspondence is key to encouraging SoOP in non-iAR interactions, which facilitates meaningful non-iAR experience.