Snapchat users who are above 16 will now be able to toggle between their personal and public accounts, depending on whether they want their profiles to be visible to just their approved friends or a wider audience.
The new and simplified profile design was announced at the sixth annual Snap Partner Summit that was held in Santa Monica, California, US on Tuesday, September 17.
“This evolved version of Snapchat aims to simplify the Snapchatter experience by organising the app around what we use our phones for most: communication, taking pictures, and entertainment,” parent company Snap said.
The US-based tech firm also said that it is rolling out a handful of new AI features on the platform such as an AI-powered Lens that lets users take a look at their future selves. Snapchat+ subscribers can also add AI-generated captions to their Snap Memories and Lenses. The generative AI chatbot integrated with Snapchat, known as MyAI, has further been upgraded to analyse Snaps and interpret complex parking signs, translate menus in a foreign language, identify unique plants, and more.
In terms of new filters, Snapchat users will soon be able to lip sync to thousands of tracks from its Sounds library using the new Lip Syncing Lens. The NYX Beauty Bestie Lens on Snapchat has also been upgraded with generative AI to recommend endless tailored looks to users.
The company went on to announce a new programme called Snap Star Collab Studio that makes it easier for content creators on Snapchat to share their engagement rates and demographic data with brands or advertisers in order to clinch partnerships.
Updates coming to Lens Studio
A new AI-powered tool called Easy Lens lets creators generate new Lenses by typing a prompt. Creators can also build their own augmented reality (AR) Lenses on Snapchat through the revamped Lens Studio.
“We’re rolling out a slate of new GenAI Suite features in Lens Studio. These make it faster and easier to bring your creativity to life. AR creators will find new tools including Animation Blending, Body Morph, and Icon Generation, and soon, we’ll make it possible to generate animations through text descriptions and we’ll support Video to 3D Gaussian Splats,” Snap said.
The number of creators posting publicly has more than tripled over the past year, the company revealed. It currently has over 85 crore users around the world with eight out of ten users over the age of 18.
