What Is AR Zone App? Samsung’s AR App, and Why It Disappeared

AR Zone is a built-in Samsung app that puts augmented reality tools in one place on Galaxy phones and tablets. It includes AR Emoji, AR Doodle, Deco Pic and Quick Measure. Samsung preinstalled AR Zone on devices running One UI 2.1 through One UI 6, so it opens from the app list or Camera > More instead of being downloaded. One UI 7 and later split these tools into separate apps.

What is AR Zone App?

AR Zone is a Samsung application that groups the camera’s augmented reality tools into a single place on Galaxy phones and tablets. It uses the camera and motion sensors to place digital objects into the live camera view, so avatars, drawings and stickers respond as the phone moves.

Samsung Electronics first released AR Zone with the Galaxy S20 in 2020, pulling together augmented reality features that had previously been scattered across Air Command, the Camera app’s AR Emoji mode, and Bixby Vision.

The app was designed for ordinary Galaxy owners rather than developers. Nothing needed configuring, and nothing needed installing on a supported device, because Samsung shipped it as part of the system software.

What Tools Are Inside AR Zone?

Samsung’s support documentation lists the following tools. Availability varies by device, which the compatibility section below explains.

• AR Emoji Camera and AR Emoji Studio: create a 3D avatar that mirrors your face and expressions, then customize its hair, outfit and accessories. Renamed Galaxy Avatar on One UI 7 and later.
• AR Emoji Stickers: turn your avatar into stickers for messaging apps.
• AR Doodle: draw lines and shapes in the air that stay anchored in the camera view as you move. A separate Galaxy Store download on One UI 7 and later.
• Deco Pic: add live stickers, masks and frames to photos and videos.
• Quick Measure: measure the length, width and distance of physical objects with the camera. Requires a time-of-flight depth sensor.
• My Filter: build a custom camera filter from one of your own photos.
• 3D Scanner: scan an object into a 3D model. Samsung lists this as Galaxy Note10 and S20 only.

Some older Samsung AR features are no longer part of this set. Places, Makeup, Home Decor and Styling were discontinued in 2020, so any guide still listing furniture placement as an AR Zone feature is describing something Samsung removed six years ago.

How does AR Zone work?

The camera reads the scene while the phone’s motion sensors track how the device is moving. The app combines the two so a drawing or an avatar stays fixed to a surface or a face instead of sliding around the frame. For AR Emoji, facial tracking drives a rigged 3D model, which is why the avatar copies expressions rather than just sitting on screen.

This is also why results depend so heavily on the hardware. Face tracking needs a clear view of the face, and depth measurement needs a sensor that can read distance directly.

How do you open AR Zone?

On Galaxy devices running One UI 6 or earlier, open the Camera app, swipe the camera modes at the bottom, tap More, then tap AR Zone. You can also open AR Zone directly from the app drawer, or find it inside the Samsung folder.

1. Open the Camera app.
2. Swipe through the camera modes below the viewfinder and tap More.
3. Tap AR Zone.
4. Choose the tool you want.

Samsung also documents finding the app by typing “AR Zone” into the app drawer search bar.

If these steps do not find AR Zone, your phone is probably running One UI 7 or later. That is expected behaviour rather than a fault, and the next section explains where each tool moved.

What happened to AR Zone on Samsung?

Samsung retired the AR Zone bundle with One UI 7. AR Emoji was officially renamed Galaxy Avatar and moved into Settings > Advanced features, while AR Doodle, Deco Pic and Quick Measure became separate Galaxy Store apps that are no longer preinstalled.

Samsung’s own support documentation states that AR Emoji features were renamed to Galaxy Avatar beginning with the Galaxy S25 series and other compatible Galaxy phones and tablets running Android 15 and One UI 7.0. The same page tells users to download AR Doodle from the Galaxy Store if AR Zone is not available in the Camera app.

Here is what moved where:

Where AR Emoji went

Avatar creation now lives in its own menu. Samsung documents the path as Settings > Advanced features > Galaxy Avatar > Avatar Camera, where you can build an avatar from the camera or from a Gallery image, then use it in Scene, Mask, Mirror or Play modes.

On some devices Galaxy Avatar does not appear on the Apps screen by default. Samsung Community moderators point users to the app drawer search, then the Apps screen settings, where a toggle controls whether Galaxy Avatar is shown.

Where AR Doodle, Deco Pic and Quick Measure went

These are now ordinary apps rather than modules inside a bundle. On supported models they install from the Galaxy Store, not the Google Play Store. Samsung’s guidance for AR Doodle is explicit: if AR Zone is not available in the Camera app, download AR Doodle from the Galaxy Store to continue.

AR Zone is missing. What should you check?

The most common reason AR Zone disappears is a software update to One UI 7 or later, which removed the preinstalled bundle. Before assuming a fault, check your One UI version, then check whether the app was disabled or hidden.

Work through these in order:

1. Check your One UI version. Go to Settings > About phone > Software information. If it reads One UI 7 or higher, AR Zone is not missing, it has been unbundled. Use Galaxy Avatar and the Galaxy Store apps instead.
2. Search the app drawer. Type “AR Zone” or “Galaxy Avatar” into the search bar. Both can be present without a visible icon.
3. Check whether the app is disabled. Open Settings > Apps, find the app, and look for an Enable button. If one appears, the app was disabled rather than removed.
4. Check the Camera app’s More menu. On older software the tools may still be there even when no separate icon exists.
5. Update your software. Settings > Software update > Download and install. Some AR features only appear after a device is fully up to date.

If none of these apply, the device may simply not support the feature. The compatibility section explains why.

Do you need to download AR Zone?

No, not on One UI 6 or earlier, where Samsung preinstalled it as a system app. AR Zone was never distributed through the Google Play Store, and it was never available for non-Samsung Android phones.

On One UI 7 and later the answer changes. The bundle no longer ships, so the individual tools install from the Galaxy Store on supported models, while the avatar features come preinstalled as Galaxy Avatar.

Install these tools only from the Galaxy Store. Third-party sites offering an “AR Zone APK” are not Samsung distribution channels, and a file from an unofficial source is not the same software Samsung shipped.

Which Samsung devices support AR Zone?

AR Zone came preinstalled on most Samsung Galaxy phones and tablets running One UI 2.1 through One UI 6. It was never available on non-Samsung Android devices or on iPhone.

Support depends on four things at once:

Why some features are missing on your model

Two Galaxy phones on the same One UI version can show different tools, and the reason is usually hardware rather than software. Quick Measure and 3D Scanner both rely on time-of-flight depth sensing. Samsung fitted depth-sensing cameras to a limited set of flagship models and then moved away from them, so a newer, more expensive phone can lack a measurement tool that an older one had.

Our Read

This is the pattern to expect from any manufacturer-specific feature on Android. In Android app development, depth sensing, face tracking and wide-angle capture have to be treated as optional capabilities detected at runtime, not as a baseline. AR Zone is a clear example of what happens when a feature set is tied to hardware that does not persist across a product line. 

Do you need the AR Zone app?

No. AR Zone is optional. Nothing about calling, messaging or the standard camera depends on it, and disabling it does not affect normal phone operation.

You did not install AR Zone. Samsung shipped it as part of the system software, which is why it appears on a phone straight out of the box or after a system update. It is a standard Samsung component, not an advertisement and not third-party software. and it sits alongside other preinstalled tools such as Android System Intelligence that people notice without ever having installed them.

Is the AR Zone app safe?

Yes. AR Zone is Samsung’s own software, shipped as part of the Galaxy system software. It is not spyware, not malware and not a third-party download, which is the usual reason people find it on a phone they did not install it on.

The app uses the camera to place augmented reality effects into the live view, so camera access is required for the features to work at all. Face tracking for avatar creation happens on the device.

If you do not use AR features, disabling the app is a reasonable choice and carries no risk to the rest of the phone.

Can you delete the AR Zone app?

On One UI 6 and earlier you cannot fully uninstall AR Zone, because Samsung installed it as a system app. You can disable it, which stops it running and removes it from the app list. On One UI 7 and later the AR tools ship as ordinary Galaxy Store apps, so they uninstall like any other app.

To disable AR Zone on One UI 6 and earlier

1. Open Settings.
2. Tap Apps.
3. Find and tap AR Zone.
4. Tap Disable and confirm.

To uninstall the standalone apps on One UI 7 and later

Press and hold the app icon for AR Doodle, Deco Pic or Quick Measure, then tap Uninstall.

To hide Galaxy Avatar from the Apps screen

Open the Apps screen menu, then Settings, then turn off the Galaxy Avatar option.

Disabling or removing any of these does not affect calls, messages or the standard camera. Menu wording varies between One UI versions, so the exact labels on your device may differ slightly.

What are the alternatives to AR Zone?

On current Galaxy software, the direct replacements are Samsung’s own Galaxy Avatar plus the standalone AR Doodle, Deco Pic and Quick Measure apps from the Galaxy Store. Third-party options include Snapchat for lenses and filters, and IKEA Place for furniture visualisation.

For measurement specifically, apps that rely on ARCore can work on devices without a dedicated depth sensor, though accuracy varies more than it does on a time-of-flight camera.

How AR Zone, ARCore and Snapchat differ

These three are often compared as if they were competing products. They are not.

• AR Zone was a consumer app bundle that Samsung preinstalled on Galaxy devices.
• ARCore is a Google developer framework that applications call to run augmented reality on Android. It is not something a user opens.
• Snapchat lenses are AR features inside a third-party social app, running on [an effects platform the app builds and maintains itself](INTERNAL: blog, how-to-make-an-app-like-snapchat) rather than on Samsung’s system software. .

A Galaxy owner looking for AR camera tools is choosing between Galaxy Avatar, the individual Samsung apps in the Galaxy Store, and third-party apps. They are not choosing between AR Zone and ARCore, because only one of the two is a consumer product.

Building AR features for Galaxy devices

AR Zone’s history is a useful case study in what makes consumer AR hard to ship. The feature set was tied to camera hardware that Samsung did not carry across its whole range, then unbundled once the company reorganised its camera software. Anyone building AR into a product runs into the same two constraints: capability has to be detected at runtime rather than assumed, and the experience has to degrade cleanly when a sensor is absent.

What that looks like in a build. A retail client came to us wanting product placement inside their shopping app, so a shopper could preview an item in their own room before buying. The blocker was the one Samsung ran into: most of the target handsets carried no depth sensor, the hardware that makes placement accurate and lets a virtual object sit correctly behind real furniture. We built runtime capability detection with a non-AR fallback, so a phone that could not run the placement view loaded a static 3D preview instead of an error. The feature stayed in the menu for every shopper rather than only the minority with the right camera hardware.