Quickstart Guide

Welcome to the Effect House public beta! We’re excited to share with you all the different ways you can create AR effects for TikTok.

The Learn section of the Effect House website contains a rich library of guides, tutorials, and templates on creating your effect. This quickstart guide provides a summary overview to help you get started. To learn more about using the desktop tool, head over to the How to get started with Effect House guide.

If you have any questions, head over to the “✋ │ ask-a-question” channel in the Effect House Discord server. We welcome any and all feedback to help us improve Effect House. We look forward to seeing what you create!

Effect House Overview

What is Effect House?

Effect House is TikTok’s AR creation tool that makes it easy for our community to create, publish and share high-quality effects on TikTok.

Effect House gives effect creators the opportunity to showcase their effects on a global platform to hundreds of millions of users around the world.

What’s Included in Effect House’s Current Release?

• To see the scope and latest bug fixes, visit our Effect House Release notes.
• We want to open up Effect House for testing and feedback as quickly as possible, which means some key effect creation capabilities are still work-in-progress and that there are still a handful of known bugs and issues. Please bear with us as we iron out the kinks!

What Operating Systems Does Effect House Support?

• We currently only support Effect House on Mac and Windows, but we plan to expand our support to other operating systems. We look forward to sharing more updates with you soon.

How Can I Make Effects for Brands or Become Branded Effect Partners?

• We currently support the submission of non-branded Community Effects (no logos, branding, ads, etc) as well as Branded Effects. To learn more about the differences, see our Comparing Branded Effects and Community Effects guide.

How Do I Report a Bug or Share Feedback?

• As a beta user, you have the opportunity to shape our product roadmap by sharing your feedback! Please share your feedback by following our How to get support guide.

How Do I Ask a Question or Discuss Feedback Live?

• Please use the Effect House Discord server for real-time questions or discussions.

Useful Links

• Effect Guidelines
• Release Notes
• How to get support
• FAQs

A Quick Guide to Using Effect House

For more in-depth details on using the desktop tool, head over to the How to get started with Effect House guide.

Download, Install, and Log Into Effect House

1. Navigate to the Download page and download Effect House (Mac and Windows only currently).
2. Install Effect House on your desktop.
3. Log in to Effect House using your TikTok account.

Create, Preview, and Record a Demo Video of Your Effect

1. Create your effect!
2. Read through the release notes for the latest features.
3. Check out our learning resources for detailed documentation, guides and templates.
4. Preview your effect in Effect House or on TikTok directly by clicking the “Preview in TikTok” button (upper right) to generate a QR code that you can scan with your TikTok app (use the QR code scanner icon at the upper right of the Discover tab in TikTok).
5. Record a demo video demonstrating the effect, using the built-in recording feature in the desktop tool or the preview in TikTok feature. You can also screen record during the TikTok preview.
6. Create a thumbnail for your effect.

Submit Your AR Effect

1. Review our Effect Guidelines before submitting your effect.
2. When ready, start your effect submission by clicking “Submit” in Effect House.
3. Complete the information in the submission window in the tool and click “Continue”.
4. Complete the information in the submission webform in your browser and click “Submit”.

Track, Manage, and Share Your AR Effect

1. After submission, your effect will go through two TikTok review processes: QA (technical review) and moderation (content review).
   • Current review time for an effect is ~2-3 business days, but some reviews may take longer
2. Track the status of your effect by visiting the effect management portal by clicking “Manage Effects” in Effect House or clicking “Manage” on the beta website.
3. If you want to edit your effect after it’s been submitted, click “Withdraw effect” in the “More” dropdown menu to withdraw that effect and submit a new effect from Effect House
4. If your effect is rejected, its status will display as “Needs revision.”
   • Click into the effect detail page to view the reason for the revision
   • Make the necessary adjustments in Effect House and resubmit the effect from Effect House
5. If your effect is approved, its status will display as “Active” and the effect will be live on TikTok
6. Once your effect is active, click “Share” in the “More” dropdown menu to generate a QR code or link for your effect

Create a TikTok Video for Your AR Effect

Tip

Creating a TikTok video for your effect significantly increases the ability for other users to discover your effect!

1. Once your effect is active, visit your profile page on TikTok and click on the effect tab, where you’ll be able to see your effect.
2. Click on the effect thumbnail, which will open the effect detail page.
3. Use your effect to create and submit a video.
4. Once approved, your video will also be included along with your effect on the effect tab of your profile page and may also be featured in the effect tray on the camera page.

View Your AR Effect on TikTok

Once an effect is active, you can see it on TikTok in several ways:

• QR code: Scan effect QR code or click effect URL; both will open the effect detail page.
• Search: Search for the effect name.
• Effect detail page: Visit the effect detail page, which also displays your profile info so users can find your profile.
• Effect tab on profile page: Visit your profile page and click on the new effect tab.
  • When an effect is published, the post on effect tab shows effect thumbnail + number of videos posted using effect.
  • If you do not create a video using your effect, this post will continue to show only the effect thumbnail.
  • If you post a video using your published effect, it will automatically display in your effect tab along with your effect thumbnail.
• Anchor on video that uses effect: Click the anchor on videos that use the effect; this will open the effect detail page.
• Effect tray: Depending on effect performance and other factors, your effect may show up in the effect tray on TikTok.
• When your effect is opened in the camera, it will display your profile info under the effect name / thumbnail. Users will be able to click on your profile name to see all effects you’ve published.