Instagram adds 'face filters' to complete its Snapchat transformation
It was bound to happen eventually.
Instagram, which has turned copying various Snapchat features into a near art form, has finally ripped off the last major Snapchat feature it had yet to copy: selfie lenses. The app is beginning to roll out its own version of the feature called face filters.
The new filters are "an easy way to turn an ordinary selfie into something fun and entertaining," Instagram wrote in a blog post detailing the changes.
Instagram is rolling out eight filters to start but will likely ramp up with more soon. Of the first eight, some will no doubt look familiar to longtime Snapchat users. There are bunny ears and other animal faces, glasses (with math equations spinning overhead) and a few different variations of "crowns."
Like Snapchat's lenses, some of the filters also work with multiple people in the frame. Instagram didn't say how often it would be updating the feature with new images but it sounds like the app plans to update them regularly, as Facebook does with the Snapchat-like cameras in Facebook and Messenger.
That Instagram would once again blatantly copy Snapchat shouldn't be a surprise at this point, of course. But the move comes at a particularly important time for the newly public Snap. The company just blew its first earnings, and is facing declining user growth.
Downloads were down 16 percent in April, compared with the same month in 2016, according to new research from app analytics firm Sensor Tower. Meanwhile, Instagram is, by all accounts surging. The app is blowing past milestone, after milestone and downloads were up 19 percent in April, compared with the same period last year.
On his part, Snap CEO Evan Spiegel brushed off investor concerns about competition from Facebook. "Just cause Yahoo has a search box, it doesn't mean they're Google," he said when asked about the threat from competitors like Facebook.
Previously, the company has also made the case that its users are unique in that they spend far more time in Snapchat than they do in other apps.
Face filters aside, Instagram added a couple other new "creative tools" in the update. There's "Rewind," a new video setting that allows you to record and share videos in reverse (Snapchat also has this feature, for those still keeping track).
There's also a new "eraser brush" tool that lets you remove portions of your doodles and other effects you've added.
Finally, the app is adding a new hashtag sticker feature for Stories. You can now create hashtags out of stickers that will deep link to other Instagram content that shares that hashtag.
Karissa was Mashable's Senior Tech Reporter, and is based in San Francisco. She covers social media platforms, Silicon Valley, and the many ways technology is changing our lives. Her work has also appeared in Wired, Macworld, Popular Mechanics, and The Wirecutter. In her free time, she enjoys snowboarding and watching too many cat videos on Instagram. Follow her on Twitter @karissabe.
