How to publish an Instagram Story Filter to your profile!

In this step-by-step guide, I will show you, how you can upload an Instagram filter to Spark AR, to publish it under your name.

Photo by Brett Jordan on Unsplash

Before you can upload an Instagram Effect, you have to get your filter as a .arexport file first!

There are 3 ways to get one:

• Create a filter on your own with the Spark AR Studio
• Get a filter created and let you send the files
• Buy a ready made filter and just download the files.

Nevertheless, which option you choose to get your filter, you will end up with an .arexport file! This file you have to upload to the Spark AR Studio and I will show you how!

To publish an Instagram Filter, it is necessary to have a Facebook and Instagram account!

When you have your .arexport file and the login data to your accounts, we can start!

1. Go to sparkar.facebook.com/ and click on “Get Started”

Login to your Facebook account. To the one which is connected to your Instagram account where you want to publish the filter.

2. Click on “Publish Effect”

After the login, you will see your Spark AR dashboard. Here just click on “Publish Effect” in the left upper corner.

Before we move on, there is something important I want to share!

The filter can be updated at any time, so if you upload the filter and you notice something you want to change, this is no problem. You can just update it with an updated file.

That also applies to all the meta data you will set, such as Name, Icon, Test Video, Categories, Keywords, Platforms…

So no worries if, you can nothing to wrong. And if you forget something you can add it later!

3. Upload the .arexport file of the filter.

4. Create a test link

Every filter needs a test video for the upload. This test video will be reviewed by Instagram. To create a video, you have to create a test link to access the filter.

To do this click on “Save”(this might take a while) and afterward on “Test on Device”.

Now you can send a notification to your Instagram notification center, or copy and paste the link to your browser’s phone to test the filter.

Important: This video will be public on Instagram.
But you have the option to change it later.

5. Give your Filter a name

This will be the public name of your filter. Every time someone uses your filter it will be shown on the screen under the name of the user who posted a story with the filter!

6. Choose the platforms you want to publish the effect on

I prefer to publish it on all platforms to get the most reach.

7. Set the publisher of your effect

If you have more than one Instagram account connected to your Facebook account, you can choose on which of those the effect should be published.

8. Categories and Keywords

You are able to set categories and Keywords for your effect, to make it easier to find.

9. Upload a testvideo

If you haven’t created a test video yet, now it is time.

Just access it with the link you have generated and upload it!

10. Set an Icon

Spark AR makes it very easy to create an icon for you because you can just use a frame of your uploaded video.

If you don’t want this, you can create your own Icon.

Just make sure it is in a squared format.

11. Check everything and hit “Submit”

Check everything again and when you are happy hit the “Submit” button!

DONE 🎉

Congrats! You have successfully submitted your filter!
Now Instagram will review your filter within 24 hours. If everything is okay it will be visible on your profile.

But it could be that your filter not follows the Spark AR policies and gets denied! Then adjust the filter and try it again!

Have fun with your filter! 😊

If you want to know how you can create your own Instagram filters, check out my YouTube channel!