About six months ago, Snap, the brains behind Snapchat, brought us the fifth generation of their Spectacles AR glasses. Now, they’re rolling out some exciting new features aimed at enhancing geo-located AR experiences.
Even though these Spectacles, which hit the scene in September 2024, are essentially still in the developer kit phase, they’re already shaking things up. With only 45 minutes of battery life on their own, Snap is one of the few companies actively encouraging developers to craft the kind of lasting content that might soon be commonplace in everyday consumer AR glasses.
While we’re not quite there yet, Snap has announced that developers can now dive into building Lenses (or apps) by leveraging data from GPS, GNSS, compass heading, and custom locations. This grants them access to geo-location data, which is crucial for enhancing outdoor AR experiences.
To showcase this new integration, Snap has highlighted some sample Lenses. There’s Utopia Labs’ NavigatAR, guiding users with Snap Map Tiles, and Path Pioneer, designed to let users create AR walking courses.
Geo-location data also played a crucial role in allowing Niantic to introduce multiplayer features in Peridot Beyond, their AR pet simulator made specifically for Spectacles. This recent update even connects these AR glasses with the mobile version of Peridot, ensuring progress on the glasses transfers smoothly to mobile devices.
Snap didn’t stop there! They teamed up with Wabisabi to incorporate their SnapML model into Doggo Quest, the gamified dog-walking AR app. This lets users overlay digital effects on their pups while tracking metrics like routes and step counts.
With today’s update, Snap’s platform is getting even more upgrades. You can now easily add leaderboards to Lenses, use an AR keyboard for text input hand-tracked, and enjoy improved opening of Lens links from messaging threads.
The update also brings three new hand-tracking capabilities: a phone detector to identify when users hold their phones, a grab gesture, and fine-tuned targeting intent to reduce typing errors.
Starting April 1st, Snap is launching a ‘Spectacles Community Challenges,’ giving teams exciting opportunities to win cash prizes for new or updated Lens submissions. Each month, Snap plans to award over $20,000 to the top five new Lenses, the top five updated ones, and the best open-source Lens—all judged on engagement, technical excellence, and quality.
This move comes after Snap’s recent efforts to extend the reach of Spectacles beyond developers. In January, Snap revealed plans to make the fifth-gen device more affordable for students and teachers, lowering the price to $594 for 12 months of subscription-free access and $49.50 monthly thereafter for continuous use.
Though Snap’s Spectacles are currently developer-centric, these updates clearly reflect the company’s bigger vision for the future—mainstream AR adoption. With giants like Meta, Apple, and Google in their sights, enhancing geo-located experiences is undeniably crucial to transforming AR glasses from niche tech into everyday essentials.
