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Your favourite Snapchat filters are no longer restricted to your mobile phone – Snap just pushed out a new desktop app for Windows and macOS that applies the same effects to your webcam, and you don"t even need to log into Snapchat to use it. Brighten up your video calls, enhance your YouTube vlogs, or just mess around with the effects – it"s up to you. Snap has also announced a special partnership with Twitch that means the Lenses can be used alongside live video game streams, and can be changed on the fly while you"re playing pretty effortlessly. "With Snap Camera for desktop, choose from thousands of Lenses, including classics made by Snapchat as well as new designs created daily by the Lens creator community through Lens Studio. This means more streaming and sharing with Lenses," says Snap . To get started, download the Snap Camera app on your desktop device. Snap Camera syncs with the camera connected to your computer and works with some of your favourite ...

Previously, only muted-GIFs were available to be forwarded but now Snapchat has introduced  a new feature—which allows users to send music GIFs to their followers, or upload them as stories, on the social network, thanks to TuneMoji . Since launching in 2014, TuneMoji has been steadily growing, with around 20 million users already. The app allows people to create and share the GIFs, which all feature licensed music, to enhance their chat—The music GIF network is integrating into Snap from today, allowing the app’s millions of users to add TuneMojis in chats and stories, as first spotted by Business Insider . “Adding music to GIFs is the next logical step in the evolution of visual communication," said TuneMoji’s founder and CEO, James Fabricant. “We initially started by creating TuneMojis ourselves, and quickly realized how much more effective it would be to empower a generation with the tools to produce their own music GIFs. That infinite creati...

Less than a year after taking over Snaplab, Mark Randall is leaving Snap Inc, —to start his own company. Randall, who joined Snap in 2016 to head up its Spectacles project, announced his departure in an internal memo obtained by Cheddar . It"s the latest shake-up for the Specs division, which saw layoffs last year, and for the company at large, which has struggled to impress Wall Street since going public last year. [caption id="attachment_12183" align="alignnone" width="1200"]                                       Mark Randall is leaving Snap two years later [/caption] Randall was elevated to vice president of hardware and took over Snaplab from Steve Horowitz in September 2017. A dozen people were also laid off from the division around that time, most of whom worked in marketing. The hardware team, whose efforts up to now have mostly consisted of Spectacles, has been realigned under Sn...

Snapchat will be teaming up with Amazon in the near future. The photo sharing company is working on turning its camera into a visual search engine that will link users to Amazon listings. The unreleased feature was spotted in the code of Snapchat’s Android app by an app researcher working with TechCrunch , who hinted off the feature that appears to be in the works for the mobile camera app — which was found in the app"s code after a recent Android update. Discovered by Ishan Agarwal , the latest details reveal strings referencing Amazon in context with the project codenamed Eagle helping users get started with the new feature. The feature appears to be able to scan and identify objects that the Snapchat camera is pointed at, and then link users to the Amazon pages for the product. How it works The new feature is simple to use and easy to comprehend. All most same way, you take hold to view all snap filters which pops up, with this you have to “ Press and hold to iden...

The second generation of Snap Inc.’s Spectacles, released in late April , is now available for purchase via ecommerce giant Amazon. Snap Inc.’s new hands-free camera with the ability to capture photos—the first release only captured videos—quicker transfer of HD content via Wi-Fi, water-resistant construction, a sleeker frame and more options for frame colours and lens shades First-gen Spectacles were sold exclusively through novel pop-up vending machines before being sold online , but second-gen Specs launched on Spectacles․com before selling out. Now Snapchat is making its new smart glasses easier to buy than ever with availability on Amazon.com . The new model joins the cheaper and less capable first-gen edition on Amazon, so be careful which version you order. [caption id="attachment_11751" align="aligncenter" width="634"] The three new colors: "Onyx Moonlight," "Sapphire Twilight" and "Ruby Daybreak [/caption] The second-gen S...

Snap today made an update of a new feature for its flagship Snapchat app, one that allows users to manually delete messages for everyone in individual or group chats. According to a statement issued by the company, and it will work even when a message has been saved by other members of the conversation. As things stand, users can currently clear conversations from their own side, but if you send a message by mistake or send something that you regret, you can now elect to remove it for everyone in the conversation. The new feature is simple to use. All you have to do is press on the message, photo, or video that you want to delete and then select the delete option on the pop-up. This will delete the content from the apps of everyone in the chat. Although, the recipients will get a notification telling them that the message has been deleted. In the spirit of transparency, deleting sent messages and media in Snapchat will still notify the recipient or recipients that a sent message was r...

Social messaging app Snapchat has become somewhat renowned for its AR features, and it appears some of those will soon be in the hands of developers. According to TechCrunch , Snapchat is preparing the launch of its first complete developer platform under the tentative name of Snapkit. Earlier this year in March reports revealed that Snapchat had started testing a new ‘Connected Apps‘ feature in a beta release which would allow users to connect their Snapchat account with other apps. Snapkit SDK will allow third-party app developers access to a number of Snapchat’s feature, including the aforementioned login authentication, Snapchat Bitmoji avatars, and most interestingly, Snapchat’s full-featured AR-enabled camera software. The Bitmoji will offered a keyboard full of your avatar in different scenes, Snapkit could make it easy to add yours as stickers on photos or in other ways in third-party apps. Seeing them across the mobile universe could inspire more users t...

Tired of sticking your tongue out to watch that Snapchat augmented reality mask change into a puppy dog face or your face in a dancing doll? Snapchat has a new lens reaction that responds to sound. The messaging social media app"s latest addition is an animal mask with ears that pulse and shine, as well eyes that move, depending on the sound your phone"s microphone picks up. It also appears to react more at greater volumes. “It"s a cute animal mask overlay for your face, with ears that pulse and glow, and eyes that move based on the sounds it hears. Snapchat says it"s just the first of many," Engadget reports . Previously, certain Snapchat Lenses could only respond to facial gestures — for example opening your mouth, or raising your eyebrows might trigger an animation. This latest feature, however, responds to sound. Snapchat"s "Lenses" is one of its "face filters" feature that comes with two options, "Face Lenses" and "W...

Over the past few months, Snapchat has been facing the consequences of a controversial redesign. That led to 1.2 million people signing a petition in hopes that Snapchat would revert the redesign to its original form. The company acknowledged that the “new Snapchat has felt uncomfortable for many people,” and now the company is listening to some of those requests for change and is ready to compile to their request. And Today, a new survey shows just how much that redesign has affected the public’s perception of Snapchat, but the company is also starting to rollout some changes to its app’s design. A new survey from YouGov Brand Index , shared by Recode, shows that Snapchat’s user sentiment fell by 73 percent following the full rollout of the redesign earlier this year: “Its user sentiment — measured by having consumers rank their impression of a brand on a scale of 100 for “very positive” to -100 for “very negative” ...

Spectacles version 2.0 is here Snap Inc, the parent company of Snapchat, unveiled a new version of its  smart sunglasses , which records bursts of videos. It is a slightly smaller, water-resistant pair of sunglasses. The company released the first version in 2016 in stand-alone vending machines called Snapbots. Over 220,000 were sold, though many of them didn"t make it off the shelf. The new Spectacles look incredibly similar to Snap’s original glasses- Snap chat version 1.0- and are sold through vending machines at launch. You can’t buy the new pair at a vending machine stand— only at Snapchat’s own website, Spectacles.com — but they offer a few new features that the original pair never had. Here"s a quick overview of the features: You can take pictures with the new Spectacles. The original version only recorded video. That"s a plus. The new Spectacles are water-resistant up to 1 meter deep and for about 30 minutes at a time, according to a spokespe...

Ever felt you don"t like the photo filter on your Snapchat and you wish you want a better one or want to create your own if luck shines on you. Hey, you wish is about to come through, as the photos sharing platform is in to give its users a special treat as the platform is expanding its developer platform to let creators build face filters for the first time. Earlier this month, Snapchat introduced a new feature that allows you to group video chat with friends . Now roughly four months after introducing its Lens Studio platform, which allowed creators to build the augmented reality objects that Snap calls “world lenses,” Snapchat is now releasing seven new templates into Lens Studio to let creators build digital masks. The templates, which range in complexity, include virtual baseball hats, face paint, and even attach 2D and 3D images to a user’s head . In addition to new templates, the Lens Studio is also getting Giphy integration starting today. In February, Snapcha...

Over the years, Snapchat has been more of a messaging app that Instagram nearly made irrelevant but for its loyal teens base. But today, the photo-sharing platform has introduced a new "Group Video Chat" feature that will make connecting with friends and family more fun. Its evolution is well noticed from an ephemeral messaging app to a place where you can hang out with friends. The photo sharing app is adding a new group video chat which will enable you to hang out with up to 16 of your friends at the same time or 32 of your friends when you switch to a group voice only mode. Snapchat initially introduced one-on-one voice and video calling back in 2016 and said users are making millions of calls on Snapchat each day. How it works To use the video group chat feature, enter an existing group chat you already have, or start a new group. Tap the video icon to start a live group video chat, or tap on the phone icon for a voice call. The members of the group will be notified that...

Snapchat is introducing a new feature called Map Explore today that will help alert and update users about what’s happening on their Snap Map. The travel and location updates will also appear on the user’s snap Map when a friend clicks on a share location button it will automatically share the Friends location. The feature added will also show Explores updates for “Our Story snaps including breaking news and other events from all around the world. The new feature is an easier way for users to explore content on Snapchat based on location, which is a nifty tool if you want to see what’s happening elsewhere... or see when your friends are hanging out without you. Snapchat said in a statement that it"s introducing this tool to help make updates easier to be accessed by users, also added by the company  “We made Map Explore because we noticed that when you open the Map, you aren’t always sure where to start your journey. Meanwhile, if your friend is ...

Snapchat will lay off about 120 of its employees in the coming weeks according to according to Business news site Cheddar . Snapchat parent company Snap according to reports intends to report the cuts in the following couple days although internally, according to individuals with a knowledge of the plan and expect to remain anonymous. The cutbacks will number 120 workers which translates to about 10 percent of its engineering department. Snap SVP of Engineering Jerry Hunter messaged workers to affirm the cutbacks after Cheddar initially announced the news on Wednesday. Hunter said in an email that; "Having high-performing, technically excellent, and appropriately aligned teams will be critical to building both a compelling product and a compelling culture for engineers, we want to unleash speed and productivity in our organization, while keeping a high technical bar." On the organisation"s latest earnings call with investors, Snap CEO Evan Spiegel confirmed that his comp...

Instagram is apparently not satisfied with being a photo sharing application where you go and do just about anything with photos that you can imagine. That said, Instagram might be coming up with a way to keep you glued in the app without the need to carry out your other social activities outside the app. They are now reportedly working on a voice and video call features as well in addition to its livestream feature. The feature was first spotted by tech news site, TechCrunch who received a tip on the Instagram APK file with the voice and video call features. According to TechCrunch , Instagram has yet to officially comment on this but there is no denying it at this point as multiple sites have now seen and tested the feature in Android Application Packages (APKs). “Now that the button icons are in APK, which is publicly available but takes work to decompile and comb through, it’s hard for the company to deny the coming launch. Last month it gave me a no comment when ...