Following the revamp of the app’s messaging service earlier this spring, Instagram just announced that it’s adding another new feature: “face filters.” Now Instagram Stories users will be able to add butterfly crowns, bunny ears, and glasses to their selfies and videos. There are eight filters available today on the app and the filters work with both the standard and front-facing camera. The filters will also work with Boomerang, Instagram’s sister app, which takes a number of sequential photos and splices them into a looping GIF. Instagram also announced a new eraser tool and rewind — “drop a microphone and watch it fly up into your hand” — video feature.
But, gosh, don’t “face filters” sound … familiar? It’s almost like you’ve used a camera app to slap a crown or glasses or furry ears on your face before. Yes: The lenses are just the latest in a line of features Instagram has, uh, borrowed from Snapchat. Can you blame them? Given Instagram’s growth in recent months, it seems to have worked in their favor with users. (Though maybe not teenage users.) Of course, if Snapchat keeps making changes to its core features, it could leave the door wide open for Instagram to copy, and then usurp, them. To use the new filters, make sure you’re running the latest version of the Instagram app. They are available globally today.
