Snap Announces Major Brand Partners for AR Glasses Ahead of Consumer Launch

• Snap announced that Lenses from Paramount, ILM Immersive, Tripadvisor, and Figma will be available for its AR glasses, Spectacles.
• The company also debuted new developer capabilities to make it easier to create more complex Lenses and include monetizable features inside Spectacles experiences.

Snap is ramping up for its public debut of its AR glasses, Specs, in 2026. Ahead of this, it made some significant announcements at its annual Lens Fest event today, including new and upcoming experiences from well-known brands, and new tools aimed at helping developers build more complex apps that they can monetize.

Those looking to game with Snap's AR glasses will be happy to hear that Star Wars: Holocron Histories by ILM Immersive, Paramount’s Avatar: The Last Airbender, and XR darling Synth Riders are now available on the device. Users of the fifth-generation glasses, which are available now through the Spectacles Developer Program, will already be able to access these experiences today. Snap also announced upcoming experiences from Figma, Tripadvisor, and Mastercard.

“We’re thrilled to expand our partnership with Snap. Building on our existing integration into Snap Maps, partnering with Snap on Spectacles allows us to reimagine how travelers experience the world. Tripadvisor’s trusted insights will now appear in real time, right where discovery happens - in your line of sight. It’s a powerful step toward smarter, more connected travel, powered by the voices of real people who’ve been there before.” Ariella Morik, Director, Strategic Partnerships, Tripadvisor, in an official news release.

Spectacles developers are getting new tools aimed at helping them build more complex Lenses and include ways to monetize their experiences on the device. Today, Snap introduced Snap Cloud, a ready-to-use backend platform where developers can instantly connect a frontend, store data, run logic, and sync updates in real time, all built on top of a scalable Postgres database by Supabase. This capability aims to take care of the complex backend so developers can focus on building great experiences, such as full-length games or location-based experiences.

In addition, Snap introduced Commerce Kit, which, for the first time, lets developers in the US accept payments inside Lenses on the glasses. Commerce Kit encourages developers to think about digital goods and premium features for their experiences and provides a direct path for revenue ahead of the consumer rollout of the device next year.

These updates build on Snap's recent debut of its revamped operating system for its AR glasses, which brought performance improvements, a new UI system, and a WebXR-enabled browser. Snap confirmed that all Lenses built for the fifth-generation Spectacles will be compatible with Specs next year.

🌀 Tom’s Take:

Brand partnerships are critical for a consumer rollout of AR glasses, and so Snap's announcement today is a move in the right direction. Consumers will be looking at the content just as much as they will at the device, and well-known names like Tripadvisor and Star Wars can tip the scale for adoption.

Source: Snap