Snap’s Camera Kit streamlines the development process for creating AR enhanced live streaming experiences through an Amazon IVS integration

A new Amazon IVS integration makes it possible to enhance live streaming experiences with Snap AR

Augmented reality (AR) is transforming modern communication, with over 250 million Snapchatters using augmented reality to communicate with their friends every day on average. Even more telling, around 75 percent of the global population and nearly all smartphone users will frequently interact with AR by 2025, according to a 2022 report commissioned by Snap. The company’s cross-platform software development kit (SDK), Camera Kit, allows partners to leverage Snap’s AR technology in their applications and websites. Now integrated with Amazon Interactive Video Service (Amazon IVS) from Amazon Web Services (AWS), which delivers high-quality, low-latency live video at scale, developers can quickly build compelling, AR-powered live stream experiences and reach a global audience.

Leveraging Snap’s Camera Kit, developers can easily bring augmented reality to their Amazon IVS-powered applications. By integrating Camera Kit and building AR Lenses in Lens Studio, Snap’s advanced AR development platform, AR can enhance video frames in real time. It does this by tapping into a host of cutting-edge features, including face and body tracking, background segmentation, and voice and sound recognition. Moreover, it offers an array of gesture triggers, allowing for a richly interactive user experience that redefines engagement. By merging these technologies, developers can open up a world of innovative and immersive possibilities for their live streaming apps.

When broadcasting, creators’ streams are augmented with Snap’s AR technology and then distributed through Amazon IVS servers, ensuring the highest quality and lowest latency experience supported by the viewer’s connectivity. AR Lenses help content creators express themselves in different ways, whether by augmenting visuals for a story or altering their background to increase confidence on a live stream. AR is a powerful tool to help developers quickly create a more enjoyable live streaming experience and interaction capabilities for content creators and viewers alike.

Camera Kit unlocks a diverse set of creative and useful possibilities in live streams that range anywhere from background alterations to showcasing your mood through AR to effects that enhance viewer/streamer interactions through components such as polls, trivia, and gamified experiences.

With its growing influence and the accessibility provided by platforms like Snap, augmented reality is positioned to continue reshaping the way we communicate and interact with technology and with one another. Augmented reality has proven to increase tangible engagement metrics while improving the overall user experience and driving audience growth.

“Together, Snap and Amazon have focused on streamlining the integration process, ensuring smooth onboarding, and pushing the boundaries of AR technology within streaming. Snap’s collaboration with Amazons IVS aims to empower developers to integrate Camera Kit efficiently and seamlessly into their streaming applications, unlocking the full potential of immersive AR experiences. Integrations between Amazon IVS and Snap’s Camera Kit SDK can be completed in as little as one day.” – Michael Mase, Snap Partner Engineer.

To learn more about streaming live video with Amazon IVS, check out this technical blog or visit: https://aws.amazon.com/ivs/

A live-hosted demo that allows users to try out Snap Lenses with IVS is available here: https://snap.ivsdemos.com/