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Snapchat is to allow users in the UK to buy and create their own personalised in-app Lenses for the first time.
The Snapchat Lens is the popular face and voice-changing tool found in the app’s front-facing camera and is used by more than 70 million people every day, according to the photo sharing app.
The new personalisation feature will enable users to choose from more than 150 face-editing templates and customise them with text and emoji before sharing them on the platform, with prices starting at £5.99, Snapchat confirmed.
Users can set time and location restrictions on the Lens filters, with the social app calling them ideal for use at special occasions such as weddings or birthdays.
It can be found online at snapchat.com/create or through the Settings section of the app.
Snapchat users are already able to create their own Geofilters – location-based frames for photos and videos.
The social app confirmed the new Lens tool will be available to Snapchat users on Apple’s iOS and on the web, with the feature reaching Android users “very soon”.
Snapchat is engaged in an ongoing battle for users with Facebook’s family of apps – most notably Instagram. Facebook’s apps have adopted a series of features similar to those of Snapchat over the last two years, in an attempt to eat away at the app’s popularity among younger social media users.
In response, Snapchat has rolled out a range of updates of its own with mixed results. A major redesign of the app was met with a negative response in some quarters – and even a Change.org petition to revert to the old version.
