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Frequently Asked Questions

Content Creation and Upload

Q: What is the process to create new Lenses via Lens Studio?

For information on how to get started in Lens Studio, please review the Lens Studio documentation. There you’ll be guided through getting started building Lenses via a series of helpful guides and templates targeting various skill levels.

Q: What is the relationship/dependency between Camera Kit and a Lens Studio version?

Typically, each release of Lens Studio requires a new version of the Camera Kit SDK. We aim to release the SDK updates in advance to provide adequate notice. See our guide on Lens Studio compatibility.

Q: Are Lenses available to use during development?

To assist in testing your integration, several sample Lenses are provided that showcase different features of Camera Kit. To locate these Lenses, navigate to the Lens Scheduler and click on "Camera Kit Mobile/Web Sample Lenses". To further your integration, additional Lenses can be created in Lens Studio, Lens Web Builder, or acquired via the Creator Marketplace.

Pre-built groups of Lenses built by top Lens developers, called Lens Packs are also available through the Creator Marketplace. Lens Packs are designed to accelerate your time to market with AR by enabling you to easily purchase high quality Lenses from a range of categories including beauty, professional, utility, and games. To access, visit Snap's Creator Marketplace located at business.snapchat.com and select Creator Marketplace under the Business tab, select the ‘Lens Pack’ dropdown and filter by category or select ‘All’ to view creator profiles with featured packs. Click into a profile and toggle to the ‘Lens Packs’ tab to view available groups of Lenses, Snapcodes, and video previews. Click the ‘Contact Email’ to connect with the creator and purchase!

Q: Do you have a list of top Lens creators?

Yes, the Creator Marketplace, which exists to connect you to our top Lens creators. You can access Creator Marketplace through Business Manager, by toggling into the main dropdown and selecting Creator Marketplace under the 'Business' category. From here, you can select the parameters that matter most and sort through the creators, their pricing, examples of their work, and the Lens categories that they have experience in. From there, you can contact the creators directly to kick off the Lens creation process.

Q: I can’t find Lens Packs in the Creator Marketplace. Why is this?

Lens Packs are currently in Beta, so we need to allowlist your organization for the Lens Pack feature within the Creator Marketplace. Please reach out to us if you don’t see the Lens Pack option, and we will allowlist your account.

Q: Can we use Lenses from Snapchat in addition to Lenses we’ve created?

You can include Lenses acquired from Lens Packs in addition to Lenses built in Lens Studio and Lens Web Builder. Snap does not provide additional Lenses for your integration beyond the test Lenses in the "Camera Kit Sample Lenses" group.

Q: Are Lens hints localized?

Yes, there are 37 languages included. The language served is decided based on the user's phone locale and language settings. If a language is not supported then English will be used.

Q: Can I combine two Lens effects into one Lens?

Camera Kit supports one active Lens at a time, however many features and effects within Lens Studio can be combined to create a robust experience all within one Lens.

Q: What are Lenses, Lens Folders, and Lens Groups?

Lenses are AR experiences built in Lens Studio or Lens Web Builder. When a Lens is uploaded, it can be submitted to a user's individual profile or a Lens Folder. Lens Folders are containers of Lenses which are owned by the Organization. Uploading Lenses to a Lens Folder is the recommended approach when creating content for your integration. Lens Folders, in addition to Public and User Profiles can be added as a source for your Camera Kit integration, meaning the Lenses uploaded to them will become available to be included in your app or website. Once these Lenses have been made available, they can be added to Lens Groups. Lens Groups are collections of Lenses within Lens Scheduler which are ready for delivery to your application or website. When you are pulling in Lenses into your application, you are directly referencing a Lens group.

Q: How do we set up a Public Profile?

You can find instructions on how to set up a Public Profile on our Business Help Site.

Q: Can multiple Lens Studio accounts upload into Lens Scheduler?

Yes, multiple accounts can upload and manage Lenses within one or more Lens Folders. Lenses in Lens Folders can be made available to your Camera Kit application via the Lens Sources tab in Lens Scheduler.

Q: I can't add new Lenses or create a new Lens Group. Every button appears disabled

In order to add new Lenses or create a Lens group within Lens Scheduler, you need to be an admin. You can edit member permissions and add new members through Business Manager.

Q: Will our community be able to submit Lenses to our Camera Kit app?

With Lens Folders, you are able to add additional members as Lens Creators, giving them the ability to upload Lenses directly into the Lens Folder. This allows third-parties to upload Lenses for use within your Camera Kit app.

SDK Specifics

Q: What is the size increase to the final size of your app download size?

Optimizing the impact for your app is always very important to us. We have been managing to control a ~12MB increase on your iOS app in the final build published to the App Store. With Play Feature Delivery on Android, the impact of the app size can be down to ~400kB and have our Snap AR downloaded on-demand content until your control. More information can be found here. If you choose to bundle the full modules to your app on Android, your end-user downloaded app will have ~14MB increased.

Developers are also encouraged to split the APKs for different architectures.

Q: What is the process when a new SDK is shipped?

When a new SDK is shipped, the Snap team will reach out directly with any additional information about the update.

Q: What are Camera Kit feature release stages?

Features within each SDK version release will pass through the following stages:

  • Beta: Beta features are ready for broader use and testing but may be feature-incomplete or contain several known or unknown bugs. There may be limited product support and documentation.

  • General Availability (GA): General Availability features are released to all customers, ready for commercial and production use.

  • Deprecated: Deprecated features are scheduled to be shut down and removed. For more information, see the “Terminated” section of Snap Camera Kit’s Terms.

Q: Does the SDK include the shutter button lock for hands free video capture?

The SDK does not currently contain this feature.

Q: How should we use the vendor specific metadata (vendor data)?

Once you have access to the Lens Scheduler tool in My Lenses, you can add any arbitrary key/value pairs to a Lens. You can interrogate the vendor data via the Lens object in the SDK.

Q: How do I know if a Lens is activated?

  • iOS - you can be notified when a Lens is applied by SCCameraKitLensProcessorObserver.didApplyLens. You can then be notified when a Lens is active/ready by firstFrameDidBecomeReadyForLens
  • Android - you can be notified by subscribing to events via LensesComponent.processor#observe

Q: What is the "Camera Kit Staging" text that appears on-screen?

When testing your integration with the Staging API token, a watermark is automatically applied over-top of your active Lens. Once your integration is ready, you can submit the app for release approval. The watermark will not apply on builds using the Production API token.

Data and Metrics

Q: What information is Snap collecting using the TrueDepth API?

The TrueDepth camera is only used for certain Lens types. The camera is only active when a Lens specifically requests depth data and at no other time.

No data is collected, stored, or transmitted off the device. All data is only used on the device during runtime of specific Lenses.

Q: What should we expect for organic Lens engagement?

We do not have benchmarks for Lens engagement within Camera Kit integrations because this data will vary greatly based on your app, user base, and specific Lens experiences, etc. We would like to know how you define and measure success.

UI/UX

Q: Is it possible to download the Lens image icon without the surrounding border?

No. This border is added automatically by Lens Studio when the icon is attached. If you want to customize the Lens icon you have the option to build a custom Lens Carousel and apply any image you wish.

Q: How should we think about using Snap's Ghost logo in our app?

Please review our design guidelines. There is also an overview of best practices and links to UI assets.

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