The present invention is applicable to the field of AR technologies, and provides a method for discovering an AR object, and a terminal, including: when it is determined, according to a pre-generated navigation route and a movement speed of a terminal, that a vicinity of a preselected AR object is reached, determining a status of the terminal; when it is determined that the terminal is in a searching state, starting a camera and acquiring a picture; and when the acquired picture includes the AR object, notifying of the AR object.