Your video calls just got a lot more exciting with new interactive AR experiences

We’re thrilled to announce that Group Effects are available on Messenger video calls and Messenger Rooms and will be coming soon to Instagram. Group Effects are new AR experiences that can augment everyone on a video call at the same time, enabling a more fun and immersive way to connect with friends and family. Whether you want to step your competitive game up or have fun with your friend who’s 3,000 miles away, Group Effects make video calls more entertaining.

At the end of this month, we’re expanding access to the new Spark AR Multipeer API to let more creators and developers build Group Effects. With the Spark Multipeer API, all creators and developers can build dynamic, real-time interactive effects for larger audiences while transforming the way people experience video calling.

Group Effects work for everyone on the video call, enabling you to have fun, multiplayer gaming experiences with your friends. In other words, AR effects are becoming a shared experience. Video calls will be more personal and immersive than anything we’ve seen before. You’ll be able to choose from a library of over 70 Group Effects that range from games where you compete to build the best 🍔 the fastest to a cute orange 🐱 entering everyone’s screens. 

To check out Group Effects, head to your Messenger app, start a video call or create a room, tap the smiley face to open the effects tray and select Group Effects. 

For the first time, Group Effects enable creators to bring their creative ideas to the Messenger video calling experience. Until now, many AR effects have been a solo experience or augmented a photo or video for Stories or Reels. With Group Effects, creators like Ross Wakefield who designed the “Blow the Dandelion” effect have a new canvas for creativity: video calling with multiple people and screens. Most importantly, the work of these creators will deepen connections between you and your friends, in real-time. 

Group Effects provide a more engaging and interactive way to connect with your friends. They also support the creator community and give people more ways to express themselves. We all rely on video calls to bridge physical distance and interact with the world around us, especially now. With this new feature, those interactions will become more memorable, intimate, and exciting than ever before.