8th Wall has closed. Your WebAR has until 28 Feb 2027.

The dates that matter

28 February 2026 — the hosted platform closed. Niantic Spatial ended logins, the cloud editor, editing and exports on this date. If nobody exported your project before then, it cannot be downloaded from 8th Wall now.

28 February 2027 — hosting ends. Projects already published on 8th Wall keep working until this date. After it, hosting is decommissioned and remaining project data is deleted, so every link and QR code pointing at 8th Wall hosting stops working.

Sources: Niantic Spatial's wind-down announcement and open-source announcement.

What still exists

8th Wall did not simply vanish. The engine moved to 8thwall.org in two parts, and the difference between them decides your migration:

• The open-source engine (MIT licence) — core engine, face effects, image targets and sky effects. Free to use commercially. It does not include SLAM, the world tracking that places objects on a floor or table.
• The Distributed Engine Binary — released January 2026, it includes SLAM and is available under a binary-only licence for commercial and non-commercial use. You get the compiled engine, not its source.
• Neither includes VPS, Maps or hand tracking. Projects that depend on those need a different approach.

Step 1: make an inventory this week

Most teams do not know how many 8th Wall experiences they have live. Before anyone quotes you a rebuild, list:

• Every live link and QR code. Anything on 8th Wall hosting is on the clock.
• Where each QR code is printed. Packaging, point-of-sale, catalogues, trade-show stands.
• Who holds the source. You, the agency that built it, or nobody. Ask the agency now; people and laptops move on.
• Which features each project uses. Image targets, face effects, world placement, VPS, hand tracking.

Step 2: find your migration path

You have exported or local source code. This is the cheap case. The project can usually be self-hosted on your own domain with the open-source engine (for image targets, face and sky effects) or the Distributed Engine Binary (if it uses world tracking). The work is hosting, testing on real phones and re-pointing links.

Nobody has the source. The experience keeps running until 28 February 2027, but it has to be rebuilt. Choose the target by feature:

• Image targets or face effects → the open-source 8th Wall engine, or an open library such as MindAR.
• Placing an object in the room → the 8th Wall binary with SLAM, or WebXR on Android plus AR Quick Look with USDZ models on iPhone. iPhone Safari still does not support WebXR, so a WebXR-only rebuild shows iPhone users nothing — see our iPhone write-up.
• VPS, Maps or hand tracking → no 8th Wall option remains. Rethink the experience, or move to a native ARKit and ARCore app.

The printed QR code problem

This is the part that cannot be fixed at the last minute. If a QR code on printed packaging encodes an 8th Wall hosting address directly, it stops working after 28 February 2027 and nothing short of reprinting changes it. If it encodes an address on your own domain that redirects to 8th Wall, you only need to change the redirect.

Scan every printed code you have and look at the address it opens. If it is the first kind, your timeline is set by the packaging reprint cycle, not by the rebuild. For everything you print from now on: always encode a URL on a domain you control and redirect from there. Then no vendor shutdown can break your packaging again.

A realistic timeline

Work backwards from 28 February 2027 and leave room for the things that are not engineering: brand and legal re-approval, testing on the phones your customers actually own, and any reprint. For most teams that means finishing the inventory this autumn and having rebuilt experiences live and tested well before February, so old and new versions can overlap while links are switched.

How we can help

A Plus Games Studio rebuilds and self-hosts WebAR on open web standards, with iPhone planned from day one. We start by auditing your live experiences, source and printed codes, then give you a fixed quote for the migration within 48 hours. Focused WebAR work starts at $999 — see our VR & AR packages, or send us your links.

Common questions

When does 8th Wall shut down?

The hosted 8th Wall platform closed on 28 February 2026: logins, the cloud editor, editing and exports all ended that day. Projects already published on 8th Wall hosting keep working until 28 February 2027, when hosting is decommissioned and the remaining project data is deleted.

Can I still export my 8th Wall project?

Not from the hosted platform. Exports ended with platform access on 28 February 2026. If you or your agency exported buildable code before then, or kept the project source locally, you can self-host it. If nobody did, the live project will run until 28 February 2027 but the source cannot be downloaded from 8th Wall, so it has to be rebuilt.

Is 8th Wall open source now?

Partly. Since 28 February 2026 the engine lives at 8thwall.org. The open-source version is MIT-licensed and includes face effects, image targets and sky effects, but not SLAM world tracking. SLAM is only in a separate Distributed Engine Binary, released in January 2026 under a binary-only licence that permits commercial use. VPS, Maps and hand tracking are in neither.

What is the best 8th Wall alternative?

It depends on which feature your project uses. Image targets and face effects can move to the open-source 8th Wall engine or to an open library such as MindAR. World placement can use the 8th Wall binary with SLAM, or WebXR on Android plus AR Quick Look on iPhone, because iPhone Safari does not support WebXR. VPS, Maps or hand tracking need a different approach, often a native app.

What happens to QR codes that point to 8th Wall?

If a QR code encodes an 8th Wall hosting address directly, it stops working after 28 February 2027 and cannot be changed without reprinting. If it encodes an address on your own domain that redirects to 8th Wall, you only need to change the redirect to point at the rebuilt experience.

Keep reading

How our AR demo behaves on iPhone →ARKit vs ARCore vs WebXR in 2026 →What AR app development costs →Try our browser AR demos →AR app development services →