Snap AR
The one we build that does need an app.
Everything else on this site runs in the plain phone browser with nothing to download. A Snapchat Lens does not — and there are good reasons to choose it anyway. Here is the honest trade.
app required — Snapchat, and we say so before you ask
weeks from brief to a published, live Lens
to build and publish one Lens
Reach travels.
Proof converts.
A Lens buys you an audience with the camera already open and a sharing habit already formed. A WebAR build buys you anyone with a phone, and a number you can report. Pick by which one the campaign actually needs — or run both.
The audience is already there
WebAR asks a stranger to point a camera at something and trust it. A Lens runs where people already have the camera open and already share what they make — the behaviour exists, you are borrowing it.
Sharing is the whole point
A Lens is built to be sent to a friend. If the goal is reach rather than a measurable tap-through, this is the format that travels and WebAR is not.
Face and body effects WebAR can't match
Try-on, face filters, full-body tracking and world effects are far stronger in Lens Studio. If the idea depends on the person being in the shot, it belongs here.
Snapcodes work on print too
A Lens can be opened from a printed Snapcode on a poster, a pack or a shelf-edge — so it can still attach to a physical placement, just through Snapchat rather than the browser.
Where the audience already is
Built to be sent to someone.
A Lens runs where the camera is already open and sharing is already a habit. If reach matters more to the campaign than a countable tap-through, this is the format that travels.
See scope and pricing →What we build
Face & try-on lenses
Makeup, eyewear, headwear, merch.
World & place-based lenses
Effects anchored to a venue, landmark or event.
Event & festival lenses
Geofenced to the site for the run of the event.
Shareable brand lenses
Built for people to send on, not to click through.
Straight answer
We will talk you out of this one where it is the wrong fit. If your audience is the general public walking past a placement, or the goal is a countable tap-through to your own site, a no-app WebAR build will beat a Lens and we would rather say so up front than deliver something that under-performs.
Questions we get
Before you brief it in.
So a visitor does need Snapchat for this one?
Yes. This is the one thing we build that requires an app, and we would rather say so on the page than let you find out on the call. Everything else we make runs in the plain phone browser.
When should we NOT choose Snap AR?
When your audience is a general public walking past a wall, when they skew older than Snapchat's user base, or when the goal is a measurable tap-through to your own site. In all three cases WebAR will out-perform it, and we will tell you that rather than take the brief.
Can we run both?
Often the right answer. The printed placement carries a QR for everyone and a Snapcode for the audience already on the platform. The two do different jobs — reach and measurement — and they do not compete.
Who owns and hosts the Lens?
A Lens lives in Snapchat's ecosystem and is published through a Snapchat account, so hosting works differently from our web builds — it is not something we can host indefinitely on your behalf the way we do the rest. We will walk through exactly who owns what before you commit.