Snapchat’s feature for creating custom augmented reality lenses is called Lens Studio.
Lens Studio is Snap’s creation platform for building interactive AR experiences that can run inside Snapchat. Creators can use templates, 2D and 3D assets, face tracking, body tracking, hand tracking, and scripting to design effects for photos and videos.
Snap released Lens Studio publicly in December 2017 as a desktop tool for Mac and Windows. Before that, Snap’s own teams used internal tools to develop Lenses. The public release opened AR creation to developers, artists, brands, and hobbyists rather than limiting Lens production to Snap.
The feature is often confused with Snapchat’s Lenses themselves. A Lens is the finished AR effect users apply in the Snapchat camera; Lens Studio is the software used to create and publish those effects. “Snap AR” describes Snap’s broader augmented-reality organization and technology, not the canonical name of this creation tool.