AR after a shutdown

Your 8th Wall projects have a date on them.

8th Wall hosting is decommissioned on 28 February 2027, and every live link stops with it. Projects have been locked since 28 February 2026 — no login, no editing, and no export — so if you did not export before that date, you are not migrating a project, you are rebuilding one from whatever source files you kept. Which route is right depends entirely on what your campaign actually did.

The timeline

Three dates, from Niantic’s own migration FAQ.

Checked August 2026. If any of this has changed, trust 8thwall.org over this page.

28 February 2026 — the platform retired

Paid subscriptions ended. Logins, the cloud editor and project export all stopped that day. This is the one that catches people out: export is not something you can still go and do.

Until 28 February 2027 — live but locked

Already-published projects keep serving, so your QR codes and links still work today. They cannot be edited or exported in that state. Anything printed in the meantime is running on a clock.

After 28 February 2027 — gone

Hosting is decommissioned and remaining project data is deleted under Niantic’s retention policy. Links stop resolving. Anything printed with an 8th Wall URL on it points at nothing from that day.

Which route is yours

Two honest answers, and they are not both us.

The right choice is decided by what your campaign did, not by who is writing the page.

Self-host the open-source release

The right answer if you exported before February 2026, or if your experience had rules — games, scoring, physics, custom interaction — or used face or world tracking. Most components are MIT; the XR Engine is a binary under a limited licence that permits commercial use. You keep what you built and you now own the hosting, the domain and the maintenance.

Rebuild it on a no-code platform

The right answer if the campaign was video, images, text or 3D pinned to a printed thing — packaging, a poster, a card, a flyer — and especially if you no longer have the project files. That work rebuilds from the artwork and the video, not from the code, and it does not need an engine or a developer.

Neither, if the print run is finished

If the campaign is over and nothing is still in circulation, the deadline costs you nothing but the archive. Save the source assets somewhere you control and move on. We would rather say that than sell you a migration you do not need.

Choosing a platform to land on? The three questions that predict survival is the checklist we would use, and it is not written to flatter us.

Side by side

Self-hosted 8th Wall, or a hosted no-code tool.

For the print-AR case specifically. For a game or a face filter the left column wins and the rest of this page does not apply to you.

Self-hosted 8th WallInterart
Do you still have your project?Only if you exported before 28 Feb 2026Not needed — you rebuild from the artwork and the video
Who runs the hostingYou do: servers, domain, TLS, uptimeWe do. One link and one QR code per design
Skills assumedWeb development and devopsDrag and drop
LicenceMostly MIT; the XR Engine is a binary under a limited commercial licenceHosted service, commercial use included on every plan
What it is good atGames, custom logic, face and world tracking — anything with rulesVideo, image, text and 3D layers pinned to a printed piece
Changing it after printingRedeploy your own buildRepublish; existing codes show the new version on the next scan
Cost to find outFree to download, then your infrastructure and your timeFree — 3 published designs, 100 scans a month, commercial use included
If you are rebuilding

A print campaign takes an afternoon, not a sprint.

This is the path for the second row above — the campaign was layers on a printed piece and the project file is gone.

  1. 1

    Gather the sources, not the project

    The artwork or print file, and the video or 3D you laid over it. Those are almost always still on someone’s drive even when the 8th Wall project is unreachable.

  2. 2

    Rebuild the composition

    Upload a photo of the printed piece as the target and drag the layers back on. The artwork itself is the tracking marker, so nothing new gets printed on the design.

  3. 3

    Publish, and print the new code

    You get a fresh link and QR code. Anything still in circulation with an 8th Wall URL on it cannot be redirected — that is the part worth starting early, before the February deadline rather than after it.

Walkthroughs by artefact: an AR poster · an AR card · what no-code AR covers and does not.

Rebuild one and see how far it gets.

Start from a photo of the printed piece — the first reveal takes minutes.

FAQ

Questions, answered.

When exactly does 8th Wall stop working?

Hosting is decommissioned after 28 February 2027, when live links stop resolving and remaining project data is deleted. The platform itself retired earlier, on 28 February 2026: subscriptions ended and logins, editing and export stopped that day. Published projects have been serving in a locked state in between.

Can I still export my 8th Wall project?

No. Export ended with the hosted platform on 28 February 2026. If you exported before that date you can self-host what you have; if you did not, the project cannot be retrieved and rebuilding from your original artwork and video files is the only route.

Is 8th Wall really open source now?

Partly. Most components were released under the MIT licence, but the XR Engine is distributed as a binary under a limited licence that permits commercial use rather than as MIT source. It is free to use and genuinely capable — it is just not accurate to call the whole thing MIT.

Should I self-host 8th Wall or move to something else?

Self-host if you exported in time, or if the experience has rules — games, scoring, physics — or uses face or world tracking, because those need an engine. Move to a no-code image-tracking platform if the campaign was video, images, text or 3D pinned to a printed piece, particularly if the project file is gone.

Will my printed QR codes keep working after the move?

Not the old ones. A printed 8th Wall URL cannot be redirected once hosting is decommissioned, so anything already in circulation stops on 28 February 2027 whatever you do. Rebuilt experiences get a new link and QR code, which is why starting before the next print run matters more than starting before the deadline.

Does the viewer need an app?

No, and that is the same property 8th Wall was built on. The experience runs in the phone browser already on the device — viewers scan the QR code beside the piece and point the camera at it. A browser is not a store listing, which is why the doorway survives even when a vendor does not.