Snapchat Introduces “World Lenses”

Snapchat has come a long way from the simple photo-sharing app that was made popular and used almost exclusively by high school teenagers in 2012. Since then, the almost-five-year-old app has become a full-fledged media sharing app that includes Snapchat Stories, Discover, Snapcash and many other features.

Yesterday, Snapchat rolled out a new iOS update that includes their newest feature, World Lenses. Lenses are what Snapchat uses to let you snap selfies of yourself and add puppy dog faces or allow you to vomit rainbows. World Lenses allow you to apply a 3D filter to the world around you instead of just your face. Seven new lens options were made available to users today, including floating glitter, snow, hearts and of course, rainbow-vomiting clouds.

The World Lenses are the latest features of the augmented reality (AR) trend to hit mobile phones. During the summer, people, worldwide, were sucked into the augmented universe of Pokémon Go! The success of the Japanese phenomenon has since spiked the interest of big tech companies such as Microsoft and Apple.

Keep in mind that Snapchat recently rebranded themselves to Snap Inc. and plans to release pairs of camera-equipped glasses called “Spectacles.” AR seems to be the next big thing in the world of technology.

Check out some of the new World Lenses available on Snapchat below.