As the 100 million daily Snapchat users around the world scrolled through their ongoing lists of stories last month, pictures and videos of people with sphere-like, shimmering eyes and rainbows pouring out of their mouths cluttered the screens of millions of smartphones. With Snapchat’s Sept. 15 update, the company added new lenses to its ever-expanding catalog of photo editing features.
By holding down on the phone’s screen in selfie mode, the user is now able to add creative effects such as an older version of oneself and bubbly eyes with tears pouring out to his or her face. New lenses are rotated daily to keep the feature always fun and interesting.
Since the update, funky images of Snapchat users barfing rainbows and wearing vampire teeth have filled the Internet.
People even tried the new lenses on politicians during the last Republican debate on Sept. 16, creating videos of candidates such as Donald Trump and Ted Cruz that instantly went viral.
The new feature has also proved a hit among Snapchat users at the school.
“The new filters are great because I can do anything in the world with them,” sophomore Akhil Marimuthu said. “Once, I made rainbows come out of my ears, and my friends thought that was really funny.”
Though the feature is hot among Snapchat users, the update does not work for many Android devices, upsetting many Snapchat users.
A movement began on the app’s page on Google Play, where people are giving the app a one-star rating until the new lenses are available for Android devices.
“It’s a disappointment that the new feature doesn't work on my Galaxy S6,” sophomore Ayush Aggarwal said. “I have always dreamed of throwing up rainbows. Snapchat took that dream away from me.”
In addition to the new lenses, Snapchat gave its users the option to purchase replays. For 99 cents, users can purchase three replays, giving them the ability to view a past Snapchat again.
The addition of replays has sparked strong opinions among the app’s users.
“While it does finally generate some revenue for Snapchat, it defeats the purpose of using Snapchat to send temporary pictures,” senior Alex Li said.
Though the new update added the filters that are hailed as a top feature of Snapchat, the second addition of replays just isn’t as popular.
“Even though I can’t throw up rainbows just yet, the update seems overall really awesome to use,” Aggarwal said. “Once they get the update out for Android, I know that I’ll be sending dozens of snaps with the new filters.”