Snapchat has released a new Avatar lens AR filter that allows users to look like characters from popular Electronic Arts property The Sims. Or rather, the AR filter shows you what you could look like in the metaverse.
The launch of a new Snapchat lens alone isn’t exactly notable, especially as the company has chosen to go all-in on augmented reality. But it’s a continuation of the on and off, years-long viral trend. It’s also a sign of traditional social media accepting concepts like the Metaverse and future tech.
That and it’s only a matter of time before it goes viral and pops up on TikTok. It’s pretty simple to use the lens as well. Simply open your camera from the Snapchat app and scan the QR code on Snapchat’s website.
Afterwards, you can gaze upon your ultra-smooth skin in the metaverse where imperfections, pimples and freckles don’t exist. It wasn’t too long ago that Snapchat released its Cartoon Face lens (August 2020) where millions of users used it to “Disneyfy” their pets and oftentimes themselves.
This jumped over to TikTok with the tag #disneydog and received more than 40 million views. The company hit a jackpot again in December of 2020 when it launched the Cartoon. It was designed to pick out even more details for human faces than the previous version.
Unsurprisingly, the developers continue to manufacture new versions with little to no improvements which end up going viral as well.
Earlier this year in June, another trend came to life with the Cartoon Style 3D lens. It earned a staggering 2.8 billion impressions in just the first seven days of its release.
And currently, we’ve got the Avatar lens as well, which makes not just your face look cartoonish, but your clothes too. Perhaps only time will tell before we get a lens that’ll make our surroundings look like we’re on a whole new different planet.
Snapchat recently hosted its Lens Fest earlier this month where it celebrated the app’s AR technology. The company announced that there are more than 250,000 lens creators from over 200 countries. And if merged, they’ve made 2.5 million lenses that have amassed over 3.5 trillion views.
And on Spotlight, a TikTok clone owned by Snapchat, 12,000 creators were awarded $250 million for their posts. The company went on to say that more than 65% of Spotlight submissions made use of Snapchat’s creative lenses or tools.
While the new Avatar lens AR filter will definitely get some users feeling ecstatic, the premise of augmented reality is to alter the real world in such a way that allows us to engage deeply in it.
Snapchat’s AR filters are fun for some users but not everyone needs avatars in the AR metaverse. And perhaps that’s a good thing because we all know how dangerous it can be when we only put out the best (and apparently ultra-smooth) versions of ourselves online.
Isa Muhammad is a writer and video game journalist covering many aspects of entertainment media including the film industry. He's steadily writing his way to the sharp end of journalism and enjoys staying informed. If he's not reading, playing video games or catching up on his favourite TV series, then he's probably writing about them.
