Web Lenses

A Web Lens is a web app that runs inside Snapchat as a Lens. You build it with standard web technology, zip the build output, and upload it through My Lenses. Snapchat publishes it like any other Lens: it appears in the same places, launches the same way, and Snapchatters see no difference.

Web Lenses open Lens creation to web developers. If you can build a web app, you can build a Lens.

Web Lenses are in beta, and details can change.

Games first

The first supported use for Web Lenses is games. Mobile web games are a natural fit: they target portrait touchscreens, they stay small, and web engines such as PlayCanvas already run well on phones. Snap plans to support other kinds of apps later.

How it works

1. Build a web app. Any framework works; these docs use PlayCanvas and Vite.
2. Meet the platform requirements: index.html at the root of the zip, relative asset paths, and the size limits.
3. Zip the build output.
4. Upload the zip to My Lenses with a Lens icon and a preview video.

Snapchat handles the rest. You never open Lens Studio.

What a Web Lens can't do yet

A Web Lens is a self-contained web app. It can't reach the network, use the camera or microphone, or read motion sensors, and its browser storage starts empty on every launch. Capabilities and restrictions has the full list. Leaderboards, Bitmoji, and storage that lasts between launches come through the Web Lens API.

Start here

• Build your first Web Lens: from an empty folder to a Lens running in Snapchat.
• Platform requirements: what the zip must contain.
• Runtime environment: what the Snapchat webview provides and what to design for.
• Capabilities and restrictions: what the webview allows and blocks.
• Web Lens API: calling into Snapchat for leaderboards, Bitmoji, and storage.
• Publishing: submitting through My Lenses and preparing the icon and preview video.
• Developer FAQ: short answers to common questions, and where to get help.