What’s new in Lens Studio? The Latest Updates From SnapAR

With the launch of Snap Spectacles, a growing AR Creator community, hundreds of millions of Snapchat users, dynamic advancements in generative AI and more brands embracing AR, Lens Studio continues to evolve. The Snap AR Team stays busy making sure the platform meets every need, making it more intuitive and accessible as technology advances.

With each update—especially the integration of GenAI—Snapchat lowers the barrier to entry for new creators while offering more advanced tools for experienced ones, opening the AR world to everyone.

Explore the latest updates to Snapchat’s AR software and see what you can create.

Snapchat Spectacles 🕶️

Launched less than a year ago, the 5th generation of Snapchat Spectacles continues to set the new standard in wearable technology. Snapchat’s AR Glasses, a device that brings digital content out of the smartphone’s screen and into the real world, didn’t stop making its impact after the launch.

Snapchat Specs to Launch in 2026

At AWE US 2025, Snapchat unveiled Specs: A powerful wearable computer built into a lightweight pair of see-through glasses, launching next year – not as a dev kit, but a full on consumer product. Designed to break free from the limitations of smartphones, Specs bring advanced machine learning and AI into 3D space, enabling immersive, shared experiences like multiplayer AR games, real-time assistance, and intuitive content interaction.

Specs are meant to reimagine how we interact with technology, taking digital content out of the smartphone frames, freeing us to live hands-free and still enjoy interacting with technology.

As AI grows more humanlike, Specs offer a platform ready to match its potential, bringing intelligence into the world around us through augmented reality and opening new ways to express, explore, and connect.

June Spectacles OS Update

The June update for Spectacles OS introduces powerful new features, including native integrations with OpenAI, Gemini, and Snap-hosted LLMs.

Now, Depth Caching maps 2D spatial responses to 3D environments, while SnapML tutorials help Developers build real-time object trackers. Snap3D also enables AI-generated 3D objects, and a new LLM-based speech recognition API supports 40+ languages.

Other additions include an experimental BLE API, a Navigation Kit for GPS-guided experiences, system UI improvements, and the ability to apply for Spectacles via the mobile app. New community-made AI Lenses, like Wisp World, Cookmate, and Pool Assist, highlight the creative power of this update.

See the full list of updates here.

Snapchat x Niantic Partnership

Continuing the idea of digital content coming out of the smartphone frames into the real world, Snapchat announced a groundbreaking partnership with Niantic at AWE USA 2025. The long-term collaboration is said to revolutionize the idea of AI Assistants, connecting geospatial AI, VPS, and AR glasses as Dots: intelligent agents for navigating the world around the user.

For developers, the partnership between Snapchat and Niantic will bring an opportunity to anchor their AR experiences to millions of real-world locations with centimetre-level precision. That means not just layering effects on top of the camera view, the experiences truly live in the world.

For AI-led experiences, VPS will unlock spatial intelligence, giving AI agents an understanding of the real world with always-on localization, precise navigation, and contextual awareness of their surroundings. This gives AI the power to perceive and reason about the world more like a human than a GPS system, becoming a companion rather than a digital presence, recognizing not just places, but the qualities of those places, like the comfiest bench, the sunniest sidewalk, the hidden courtyard.

Lens Studio 🤳

With hundreds of millions of active users, Snapchat remains a social media giant alongside platforms like Instagram and TikTok. Strongly relying on the AR Content, Lens Studio is crucial to the platform’s success.

Every day, creators around the world upload a wide range of Lenses, driven by entertainment, pop culture trends, and aesthetics, giving users fun, interactive ways to engage with content. Regular updates to Lens Studio are essential, empowering creators with new tools, improved performance, and advanced capabilities that keep the AR experience fresh and relevant.

Lens Studio Mobile App

In early June 2025, Snapchat released a surprising yet widely welcomed update: Lens Studio is now officially available on mobile devices. This marks a major step toward making AR creation more accessible, especially with built-in GenAI tools.

With this update, developing AR Lenses is no longer limited to experienced coders. Users can now generate interactive experiences using simple text prompts and publish them to Snapchat almost instantly.

Source: Snap

Lens+

With over 15 million active Snap+ subscribers, Snapchat is introducing a new premium AR feature: Lens+. This gives users access to exclusive AR experiences from Snapchat and select creators, including AI-powered video Lenses, a new Bitmoji Game Lens, and fresh content added every week.

Dual Camera Feature

The Dual Camera feature lets you use both front and rear cameras simultaneously, opening up new creative options in your Lenses. With the Tracking Scope update in Lens Studio 5.8+, you can now apply face and body tracking to custom textures—including the reverse camera, images, or saved videos—enabling effects on both camera views at once or even on pre-recorded content.

To encourage AR Creators to play with the feature, together with the Snap AR team we made the Dual Camera the subject of our next Challenge Tag. It’s a chance for creators to push boundaries and explore what’s possible when using both cameras at once, and get monetized for it!

Submit your Lens and see how others are using this powerful new tool. See the details.

Source: Snap

Lens Studio Version 5.11.0

While the Lens Studio 5.11.0 brings powerful new features and improvements for AR Creators, Spectacles Developers should stick with version 5.10 due to compatibility issues.

New tools include depth-sorted VFX Particles, a Turn-Based Player Info Component for displaying user data, and a Camera Controller with presets for game-like views. Animation generation from text or video is now available for Bitmoji and avatars via the GenAI Suite. Temporal Anti-Aliasing has also been added.

Performance upgrades speed up lens publishing and improve handling of large projects. Bug fixes address asset previews, RAM leaks, and Face Swap issues.

See the full list of updates here.

Bitmoji Suite

Snapchat’s new Bitmoji Suite brings powerful personalization and animation tools to Lens Studio. Creators can now design custom outfits, generate stylized props, and animate Bitmoji using a built-in library—all fully compatible with the updated Games components in the Asset Library.

New tools include a turn-based gameplay component, a modular Character Controller, and enhanced Leaderboard templates.

To highlight these features and inspire Creators to experiment, we teamed up with Snap AR to launch a dedicated Challenge Tag for Bitmoji-powered Lenses.

Source: Snap

Create the Future of AR

As Snapchat advances, focusing on the expansion of wearable tech, generative AI, and spatial computing, Lens Studio evolves right alongside it. Whether you’re building your first Lens on mobile, designing AI-powered Bitmoji games, or experimenting with real-time Spectacles integrations, now’s the time to get involved.

Dive into the latest features, join the global Creator community, and help shape what’s next for AR.
Together with Snap AR, we invite you to dive into the world of augmented reality, explore powerful tools, and grow your skills through a variety of Challenges, like the Bitmoji Challenge or our monthly Spectacles Community Challenge.

Each one highlights a different feature or theme, offering a creative space for everyone, whether you’re a seasoned creator or just getting started. It’s not just about inspiration—it’s also a chance to monetize your work while sharpening your craft.

⭐ Explore the current live challenges on our website.