Apple announced exclusive AR Snapchat lenses for iPhone X at the launch of the event last year, and today Snapchat has finally released them globally for all iPhone X users. There are three lenses available today a Day of the Dead skull, a pretty gold-plated eye cover, and a Mardi Gras-esque mask. For now, iPhone X‘s TrueDepth front-facing sensor is the only camera that can support this Snapchat feature.
Snapchat has been working on this feature for a few months to get it ready, and it’s finally here. The feature seems to live up to the mark which was to deliver very detailed face tracking and realism. As you can see in the GIF below Snapchat’s feature in action.
Looking at Snapchat’s photos and videos of this new feature, one can easily notice these lenses are tightly sticking to your face, especially around the jawline. The company claims that its lenses should reflect the surrounding light more realistically as well it will let TrueDepth camera blur the background by accurately applying small details and 3D objects.
Traditional Snapchat Lenses in the smartphones use the 2D front-camera information to recognize major facial features such as eyebrows and mouth. While the iPhone X’s TrueDepth camera data gives a new and more realistic look. The depth gathers the data which allows these masks to be more precise and adhere a subject’s face.
Apple also said at the launch event of iPhone X that its TrueDepth camera sends a beam of infra-red light and maps 30,000 points on your face to get the detailed information of your face. With this feature, the camera can detect even the tiny movements on your face.
Apple says regarding the privacy aspect that only third-party developers like Snapchat can have access to the visual face mapping data, not the mathematical model which is used for Face ID unlocking. Apple says that this data is very confidential and will not use it for advertising.
What do you think about this new feature of iPhone X by Snapchat? Let us know in the comments below.
