Snap's Lens Fest 2025: Revolutionizing AR with AI-Powered Tools and Smart Glasses

Snap's latest Specs AI updates prove that it's taking smart glasses seriously (but in a different way)

Snap unveiled updates to Lens Studio. Now it is easier to build engaging Lenses (AR experiences). These Lenses will be available in the Specs coming in 2026. Snap has been in the smartglasses space for over a decade and is gearing up to finally launch its first pair of consumer AR/AI glasses, Specs, in 2026. Today, the company launched updates that will enable unique experiences across Snapchat, Spectacles, and, eventually, its upcoming smartglasses. Also: I wore smart glasses with xMEMS speakers and cooling fans - and wished my Ray-Bans had the same On Thursday, Snap celebrated a decade of Lenses in what the company called Lens Fest 2025. The company made Lenses (the AR experiences found on Snapchat), Spectacles (Snap's developer AR glasses), and Camera Kit (Snap's cross-platform SDK for integrating AR experiences in iOS, Android, and web apps) easier to build, resulting in more engaging and realistic experiences. In Lens Studio, which powers Snapchat, Camera Kit, and Specs, developers can now utilize Realistic StyleGen to create scenes with "true-to-life fit, texture, lighting, and perspective," according to the company. Similarly, the company noted that the next iteration of FaceML provides developers with better control over human qualities, including hair, facial geometry, and expression, when creating Lenses. Other upgrades include classic selfie lenses with improved AR placement, a new editor that makes it easier to create face effects such as makeup and sparkles, and AI clips (coming soon), which enable users to create image-to-video Lenses. Also: I tested Meta Ray-Ban Display alternatives, and these are better in several ways for less money Lens Studio AI also makes it easier than ever to build Lenses, allowing users to simply describe what they would like the end product to be and leave the coding and debugging to the AI. Lens Studio AI can also suggest assets and provide step-by-step guides. A new Blocks framework, available in Lens Studio AI, enables users to build directly on the platform layer using modular, AR-ready components. The Blocks users create can then be kept private or published. For on-the-go building, the Lens Studio updates are available on both mobile and web, as are Blocks and the chat-based creation tool. The Camera Kit, despite still being free, no longer includes Snap branding by default, which gives developers more flexibility. Snap is also expanding its Lens Creator Rewards with Lens+ Payouts, which allows creators to earn money based on engagement with their Lenses, regardless of whether they are games, AI experiences, effects, or other content. All of the Lenses built today will be available on Specs, which are set to launch next year. This suggests that Snap is committed to developing smartglasses that provide entertaining experiences rather than functioning as content creation tools, which is more Meta's approach to AI-powered smartglasses. Also: These XR glasses gave me a 200-inch screen to work with - and effectively replaced my monitors One month ago, Snap released Snap OS 2.0, the system currently underlying its Spectacles that will also run on Specs when they release. Some highlights include an overhauled Spectacles Browser with a new minimalist design, a new home screen with widgets and bookmarks, and AR experiences from any WebXR-enabled website. Want more stories about AI? Sign up for AI Leaderboard, our weekly newsletter. Building on the Snap OS 2.0 experience, Snap has now launched Travel Mode, which lets users experience AR on the go, and EyeConnect, which allows users to experience co-located Lenses simply by looking at the person next to them. Snap also announced partnerships with Star Wars: Holocron Histories, Synth Riders, and Paramount's Avatar: The Last Airbender on Spectacles. Other announcements included Snap Cloud, which provides developers with the infrastructure to build Lenses, including instant APIs, secure storage, and more. Additionally, Snap expanded Lens Games in Snapchat through a new Games Chat Drawer and new components for streamlining workflows when creating these gamified experiences.

Lens Fest 2025: Building the Next Decade of AR Together

2025 marks a defining year for our global developer community. We're celebrating a decade of Lenses, witnessing the incredible power of AI to transform how we interact with the world, and preparing to launch Specs publicly next year. Since the very first Lens, our vision has been simple: to build technology that brings people closer together by helping them express themselves and connect with friends. Over the last 10 years, our developer community - 400,000 people who have built more than 4 million Lenses - have turned this idea into one of the largest and most advanced ecosystems for creative expression. Our goal is to be the most developer friendly platform in the world, and our commitment has never been stronger. Today we're excited to announce major updates focused on three core areas: making Snap the best place to build, helping creators turn passion into business results, and giving developers world-class tools to push AR forward. Over 175 million people play Lens Games on Snapchat every month, and the number of Snapchatters sharing them has more than doubled - up 130% since just last year. We're doubling down on giving you the resources to build fun, social games that bring friends together. We're excited to integrate Lens Games directly into Chat with our new Games Chat Drawer, placing games closer to where friends connect. We've also expanded the Games category in the Asset Library with components designed to streamline your workflow: We introduced Turn Based gameplay and leveled up the Leaderboard with cleaner friend highlights and notifications. Next year, we'll introduce live multiplayer matchmaking, a new foundation for real-time social play that makes Snap the most natural place to find and share games with friends. We've added powerful new capabilities to Lens Studio that transform how people see themselves and the world around them, allowing you to create even higher-fidelity, personalized, and more engaging Lenses. Here are some of the updates designed to give you more expressive power: Building on the success of Challenge Tags and Lens Creator Rewards, we're excited to roll out major updates to our monetization offerings. After a successful pilot, we're expanding Lens Creator Rewards with Lens+ Payouts, allowing creators to make money based on engagement from Lens+ and Snapchat Platinum subscribers. Whether you create games, AI experiences, or effects, you can now build a portfolio of monetized Lenses. Beyond Snapchat, Camera Kit extends Snap's leading AR technology to apps, websites, and AR mirrors across the globe, reaching more than 68 million monthly active users in Q3. Starting today, Camera Kit remains free, but now it's fully yours. In response to developer feedback, we've removed mandatory branding, giving you the freedom to create flexible, professional, and zero-cost AR experiences that wow your clients. We're excited to announce Lens Studio AI that makes building a Lens as easy as having a conversation. Just describe what you want, and Lens Studio AI helps you bring it to life. It can write code, guide you step-by-step, generate full Lenses, debug, and even suggest assets. Whether you're a beginner or a seasoned pro, Lens Studio AI meets you where you are to get you from idea to published Lens faster than ever. We're also launching a new framework called Blocks, allowing you to build directly at the platform layer for the first time ever. Blocks are modular, AR-ready components, like scripts, assets, and effects, that come together to build a Lens, all accessible through Lens Studio AI. You can create your own custom, private Blocks, or publish them to share your innovations with the community. We're also making sure you can create on the go with the updated Lens Studio Mobile & Web, which now leverages Blocks and includes a powerful chat-based creation tool so you can remix a Lens or create from scratch with a simple AI-powered request. One year ago, we introduced our fifth-generation Spectacles, a new kind of computer featuring real-time AI-powered experiences that invite people to interact naturally with the world using their hands and voice. As we prepare to launch Specs publicly in 2026, we've introducedSnap OS 2.0, which includes a revamped operating system for faster performance, a native browser with WebXR support for immersive experiences, plus a new UI Kit and Mobile Kit to simplify interface design and development. Everything you're building today for the current version of Spectacles will be compatible with the new Specs, ensuring your work is future-proof from day one. We've also added new system-level features that make Spectacles more seamless and easy to use. Travel Mode lets you enjoy AR experiences as a passenger on the go, whether you're in a plane, train, or car, without tracking interruptions, while EyeConnect allows instant setup of shared, co-located Lenses by simply looking at the person next to you. For developers, we're unlocking new ways to grow your business with Commerce Kit, enabling select creators to accept payments directly inside Lenses. Whether it's digital goods or premium features, this marks the beginning of monetization on Spectacles. On the partner front, we're excited to announce that the Star Wars: Holocron Histories experience from Industrial Light & Magic, Synth Riders, and Paramount's Avatar: The Last Airbender are now available on Spectacles. Stay tuned to see more Lens experiences from products like Figma, brands like Tripadvisor, and research from Mastercard coming soon. Lastly, to power this new era of AR and AI, we're introducing Snap Cloud, built in partnership with Supabase. Snap Cloud provides developers with instant APIs, edge functions, secure storage, real-time capabilities, and more in their builds. This makes it easy to offload heavy assets and build richer, more dynamic, and privacy-safe projects. From full-length games to immersive, location-based experiences, Snap Cloud represents our long-term commitment to giving you the infrastructure to build world-changing Lenses. At Snap, our mission is to make computing more human. With more than a decade of AR innovation, a full augmented reality technology stack, and a global community approaching one billion people on Snapchat, we're building the platform where creativity scales. From Lens Studio to Camera Kit, Snap OS to Snap Cloud - and soon, Spectacles - if you can imagine it, you can build it here. We can't wait to see what you create next.