An example of the new multipeer AR effects for Messenger. Image courtesy of Facebook
Reality Check
facebook ar/vr

Facebook and Snap Vie for New AR Developers

By
Mathew Olson
 |  June 2, 2021 11:00 AM PDT
Photo: An example of the new multipeer AR effects for Messenger. Image courtesy of Facebook

Here’s a figure that Facebook and Snap more or less have in common: 2 million AR effects. Just last month, Snap announced that its community of AR creators had produced nearly that many AR Lenses—Snap’s term for an AR effect. And today Facebook announced that the total number of AR effects made for its apps (chiefly Instagram and Messenger) has crossed the 2 million mark.

How many enterprising AR developers did it take to rack up those millions of effects? During today’s F8 Refresh keynote, Facebook announced that over 600,000 people have now used its Spark AR development platform, up 50% from December 2020. Snap says it has attracted just over 200,000 people to use its comparable Lens Studio platform. Does having more developers on Spark give Facebook an edge over Snap?

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