Performance Optimization Guide
Article Summary
Snap's AR Lenses reach millions, but performance issues can kill engagement before users even see your creation. Here's how Snap ensures their AR experiences work across every device.
Snap published a comprehensive performance optimization guide for Lens Studio developers building AR experiences. The guide covers everything from meeting the strict 650ms activation time requirement for sponsored lenses to optimizing across low-end Android devices.
Key Takeaways
- Sponsored lenses must activate in under 650ms on benchmark devices
- Target 30 FPS minimum, keep RAM under 150MB, lens size below 8MB
- Performance texture compression reduces RAM usage by 4-6x compared to standard
- Wrong render target order causes visual lag that most developers miss
- Breaking lenses into scenes with lazy loading dramatically improves startup time
Critical Insight
Snap provides specific thresholds and optimization techniques that directly impact whether AR lenses achieve wide distribution in their carousel or get rejected from ad campaigns.
