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Snapchat redesign highlights the map and original content
Snapchat is once again getting a facelift.
Snapchat adds voice commands so you don't have to search for the right filter
Snapchat is making its camera more powerful with voice search and new Google Lens-like abilities.
Snapchat stops promoting Trump's account due to his tweets
Snap says it won't promote "voices who incite racial violence and injustice."
Snapchat users surge amid coronavirus pandemic
Snapchat has more users than ever.
Snapchat is facing outages in the US and Europe
Much to the woe of teens across the US and Europe, Snapchat is currently down in parts of the world. Snapchat’s Support account tweeted an acknowledgment of the outage at 10:33AM ET but didn’t provide any additional details. It also hasn’t shared an update since.
Snapchat's new lens helps users donate to the WHO’s COVID-19 relief fund
Snapchat’s latest AR filter lets users donate directly to the World Health Organization’s (WHO) COVID-19 Solidarity Response Fund. With the Snapchat camera, users can scan 23 international currencies in 33 countries. The AR filter will show how donations to the WHO are used for patient care, medical supplies and research.
Snapchat’s new lenses use AR to encourage social distancing
Snapchat's latest set of lenses come with a timely reminder of the importance of social distancing. The app introduced two new lenses, created in collaboration with the World Health Organization, that use augmented reality to serve users with tips on how to stay healthy.
Snapchat users can finally post Stories from other apps
Snapchat is finally opening up Stories to outside apps. Nearly a year after it was first previewed, the company is introducing App Stories, a feature that allows third-party apps to post Stories created in the Snapchat app to their services. First announced at the company's Partner Summit event, App Stories is now available in four apps: Triller, Squad, Hily, and Octi. The company says more apps will adopt App Stories over time, though it's not clear how quickly Snap will be ramping up. (And no word yet on when Stories might show up in Houseparty or Tinder -- two early partners that were teased during last year's Partner Summit.)
Snapchat adds mental health tools to ease coronavirus anxiety
Snapchat is updating its app with a set of mental health tools meant to help users combat anxiety and depression. The feature, called "Here For You," was first previewed in February, but the company says it opted to speed up its release in response to the coronavirus pandemic.
Snapchat's latest AR filters turn the floor into lava
There have been immersive Snapchat Lenses before, but this latest batch can literally change the world around you. Snap has unveiled "Ground Transformation" Lenses that turn the ground into a lava pit or water -- yes, you can pretend the floor is lava like you're eight years old all over again. Both use machine learning to understand the geometry of the land and help apply special effects, such as reflections from the buildings around you.
Bitmoji TV is a comedy clip series starring your avatar
I stood in front of a panel of judges made up of Randy Jackson, a Simon Cowell-esque man and a friendly blonde woman. I had to do my best to express the emoji "Whatever," in an X Factor-style competition to win the title of "America's best Bitmoji." After an expectant beat, I shrugged nonchalantly. The crowd went wild, the judges fawned over my performance and I took home the crown.
Snapchat will host exclusive NBC Olympics coverage
The 2020 Olympic Summer Games don't commence for six months, but plenty of marketing work goes into the international event well beforehand. NBC, which owns the media rights to the Olympic Games, has renewed its deal with Snap to publish daily coverage of competitions in the US. The two companies have partnered before, with similar deals involving the 2016 Summer Olympics and the 2018 Winter Olympics. However, this year's deal ensures far more content: NBC will produce more than 70 episodes for Snapchat -- three times than in 2018, according to Variety.
Snapchat's Bitmoji TV series will make your avatar the star
Snapchat's Bitmoji will soon have a role to play beyond the usual stickers, games and Stories. Snap has previewed a Bitmoji TV series for Discover that will feature the avatars of you and your friends in the leading roles. There will be a steady stream of hijinks, including secret agent missions, becoming zombies and crewing a Star Trek-style spaceship. The series doesn't premiere until February 2020, but you can subscribe to it in advance if you want to give it a try when it does arrive.
Snapchat Cameos lets you insert your face into a GIF
Snapchat's secret weapon is its uncanny face-swapping and -tracking algorithms, and it has just deployed those to great effect in a new chat feature called Cameos. The feature, which leaked out yesterday, inserts your selfie into short, looping videos featuring cats, shopping carts, cars and more. The idea is to send your pals an expressive GIF, starring... you.
Snapchat's Cameo test slips your face into GIFs
GIFs are great for conveying your reactions, but they're not usually very personal -- and recording yourself probably won't be that exciting. Snap might have found a way to bridge those two worlds. The company has confirmed to TechCrunch that it's testing a Cameo feature which inserts your face into a selection of (currently pre-made) GIFs. You just take a selfie, pick a generic body type and your face will animate as if it were you, including mouth movements. Think of it like a deepfake, but this time friendly instead of creepy.
Snap teams up with Gucci on limited-edition 3D Spectacles
Snap is going all out to promote its latest Spectacles 3 AR glasses with a Gucci fashion collaboration and strange arty film by Spring Breakers director Harmony Korine. The limited edition "Spectacles x Gucci" design was also done by Korine. "Hand-painted in highly saturated tones, the color palette can be seen in Harmony's paintings and photography work," Snap wrote in a press release.
Verizon will preload Snapchat on 'select' 5G phones
Snap Inc. and Verizon (Engadget's parent company) announced today that they are "official 5G innovation partners." As part of the alliance, Verizon will preload the Snapchat app on "select" 5G devices and offer exclusive deals through its Verizon Up rewards program. Snap will develop new AR features and experiences at Verizon's 5G Labs, and you can expect Verizon "premium sponsorship placements" in Snap Originals video series.
Snapchat's Time Machine lens lets you slide between young and old
Earlier this year, the FaceApp filter that made people look old and wrinkled in selfies went viral. Then we learned that the Russian-developed selfie-editing app was uploading users' photos to the cloud and that it required "full and irrevocable access to their personal photos and data." That temporarily killed the craze, but now, Snapchat is ready to introduce a new aging filter.
Snapchat fact-checks political ads where Facebook won't
Snapchat may have another way to compete against rival apps like Instagram: truth in advertising. Snap chief Evan Spiegel told CNBC in an interview that his company has a team that fact-checks all political advertising -- a sharp contrast to Facebook, which has refused to verify the accuracy of political ads so far. The company wants to "create a place" for these ads, Spiegel said, and it's particularly important given Snapchat's young audience. It wants these people to "engage with the political conversation," but it doesn't want false claims to slip into those ads.
Snap Spectacles 3 review: A better, more sophisticated novelty
In case you've forgotten, Snap makes video-recording sunglasses called Spectacles. The first two iterations didn't do very well, and you had to go to a special vending machine to pay $130 or $150 a pop. Despite lukewarm reviews, Snap is isn't giving up on Spectacles just yet. In fact, it's ready to launch the third-generation. In addition to a glam makeover, the Specs 3 feature a second camera for depth effects that feature prominently in the company's push into augmented reality. Snap's goal here isn't to sell a million units, though. It's more of an experiment to see how people use AR in hopes that it can learn enough to finally make it "a thing".
