On August 27, Tuesday, Meta released an announcement saying that it will shut down Meta Spark, the AR studio offering third-party tools and content, and it will be effective on January 14, 2025.
The blog post revealed that after the studio is shut down, the augmented reality (AR) effects built by third parties, including brands and the wider community of AR creators, will no longer be available.
However, the AR effects owned by Meta will be available to users across the Meta apps, such as Instagram, Snapchat, Facebook, etc. It also said that the users who use Spark and its tools can continue to use it till January 14 across the apps.
Though the users won’t be able to use the third-party effects, their posted content on Meta apps that use the effects won’t be affected.
In the post, the company said, “This decision is part of our larger efforts to prioritize the products we believe will best serve the future needs of our consumers and business customers alike.”
“With the decision to shut down the Meta Spark platform, we’re also shifting resources to the next generation of experiences, across new form factors like glasses.”
Meta says that it’s still committed to AR through its “long-term investments in new computing platforms that will bring us beyond today’s 2D experiences on mobile.”
To get more updates about the next steps and recommended actions regarding the Spark shutdown, visit the FAQs at Meta Spark.
