Snapchat's latest update changes the app in a fundamental way
Snapchat just added a load of new ways to upgrade your snaps.
The app introduced three new "creative tools" Wednesday: backdrops for adding illustrated backgrounds to your photos, voice filters for altering your voice without an animated lens, and -- in a big break from the app's history of a silo'd experience that isolates you from other apps -- Paperclip, which lets you add outbound links to your photos and videos.
Backdrops are a bit like Snapchat's geofilters but instead of overlaying a design on top of your image, you can put the illustrations behind objects in your photos. Trace the objects you want to appear in your image and then choose a backdrop. Just like its lenses and geofilters, the company will swap out new backdrops each day.
Voice filters let you upgrade your video snaps with Snapchat's popular voice-changing effects without using an animated lens. After you record a video, tapping the speaker icon will let you preview and change the sound.
The most surprising part of the update, though, is the addition of the new Paperclip tool, which lets Snapchatters add links to their Stories and snaps with friends. The feature has been one of the most requested, especially from influencers, and has long been cited as one of the features that's helped give Instagram's Stories, whose user base is now more than 250 million, an edge over Snapchat, which recently reported 166 million daily active users.
Topics Snapchat Social Media
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.
