Use the Spark AR Player app to see your effect on a device, test performance and view previous versions of effects. Download the app here.
Note that you can only use Spark AR Player to test effects configured for a sharing experience. If you want to preview an effect designed for a video calling experience, you’ll need to use Spark AR Player for Desktop instead.
To preview an effect in the Spark AR Player app, you'll need:
When you're ready to mirror an effect:
If you’re connecting an iOS device for the first time
You’ll need to adjust settings on your computer so it ‘trusts’ the device.
On a Mac, how to do this will depend on which version of macOS is installed.
For macOS 10.14 and below:
For macOS 10.15 and above:
You'll be asked to enable access to some features, like your camera and microphone. This is because Spark AR effects are played in the device’s camera, and the microphone is used to add sound.
If you're using an Android device you'll be asked to turn on developer mode and USB debugging in your phone settings.
To mirror your project in the Spark AR Player app:
You will now see the effect playing on the device.
If an effect takes a while to send to your device
This could mean Spark AR Studio is compressing textures in your project. You could consider disabling compression on your textures for initial testing.
To do this, with the texture selected, go to the Compression section of the Inspector. To the right of the device type (iOS, Android, Older Android), select None from the dropdown. Make sure you use an appropriate compression setting before exporting and uploading your effect, and test compressed textures on a device during the creation process.
You can view earlier versions of projects you've mirrored on your device without being connected to your computer or the internet. To do this:
You'll see the previous version playing on your device.
When your effect is playing in the Spark AR Player app, you'll see its FPS. This means frames per seconds, and represents how fast or slow your effect is on the device you're mirroring it to. You should aim for an FPS of 30 or more.
To see more detailed information about your effect and its performance, tap FPS.
Learn more about different ways to improve the performance of effects.
To test the effects you build in Spark AR Studio on the Spark AR Player app, you'll need:
To test your effect:
You'll see the effect playing on the device.
Yes. If you're offline, you can still view effects that you mirrored with the Spark AR Player app previously.
You can only use Spark AR Player to test effects that are configured for a sharing experience. You can add and remove experience types in project properties.
If your effect contains multipeer capabilities, it will only work as a video calling experience. You can test these kinds of effects, known as group effects, on Spark AR Desktop Player instead.
The Send button in Spark AR Studio is only visible when a mobile device is connected to your computer via a USB cable.
This usually means Spark AR Studio is compressing textures in your project. You could consider disabling compression on your textures for initial testing.
To do this, with the texture selected, go to the Compression section of the Inspector. To the right of the device type (iOS, Android, Older Android), select None from the dropdown.
If you're having trouble previewing your effect with the Spark AR Player app, make sure:
What to do depends on whether there’s a blue dot next to the Test on Device icon or not.
If there is a blue dot next to the icon, Spark AR Studio can’t detect Spark AR Player. Check that:
If there isn’t a blue dot next to the Test on Device icon
This means Spark AR Studio can’t detect a connection to your phone. Make sure you’ve:
The Spark AR Player app stores a version of your effect whenever you go to the Spark AR Studio Toolbar and click Send under Sharing Experience. This means you can view effects that you've previously mirrored on your device, without being connected to your computer or the internet.
To toggle between versions of your effect: