In‐field visual inspections have inherent challenges associated with humans such as low accuracy, excessive cost and time, and safety. To overcome these barriers, researchers and industry leaders have developed image‐based methods for automatic structural crack detection. More recently, researchers have proposed using augmented reality (AR) to interface human visual inspection with automatic image‐based crack detection. However, to date, AR crack detection is limited because: (1) it is not available in real time and (2) it requires an external processing device. This paper describes a new AR methodology that addresses both problems enabling a standalone real‐time crack detection system for field inspection. A Canny algorithm is transformed into the single‐dimensional mathematical environment of the AR headset digital platform. Then, the algorithm is simplified based on the limited headset processing capacity toward lower processing time. The test of the AR crack‐detection method eliminates AR image‐processing dependence on external processors and has practical real‐time image‐processing.