Facebook's new iOS app will let you make and share your own AR filters

Facebook wants to give creators the power to filter their own reality.

At the social media giant's virtual 2021 Connect conference, it unveiled plans for a free iOS app currently codenamed "Polar" that would empower creators without coding experience to share augmented reality filters of their own creation.

AR filters, first popularized by Snapchat and then heavily adopted by Facebook-owned Instagram, have become a commonplace addition to creators' social feeds, showing up in stories and posts, with big brands even getting in on the action. Instead of handing creators a predetermined set of filters, Polar would let creators choose from a variety of templates to build an effect for specific occasions, like Halloween, or personal branding purposes.

This move by Facebook to release an easily accessible AR creation app should come as no surprise. Augmented reality, alongside virtual reality, is now a major focus for Facebook, even beyond the Quest platform.

Its own in-development Aria headset is currently being tested by employees in the wild and gathering real-world mapping data. Rival tech outfits Sony and Apple are also said to be prepping their own mixed reality headsets, with rumors pointing to a 2022 release.

DIY AR filters for the creator generation. Credit: facebook

Further details on Polar are scarce at the moment, but Facebook did say it will invite select applicants to a beta version of the app later this year.