Snapchat upgrades its camera to highlight visual search

San Francisco, Aug 27 (IANS) Popular social media app Snapchat is upgrading its visual search features and putting them at the centre of its app.The app is now rolling out changes it announced back in May during its Partner Summit event. The updates include more prominent placement of the "scan" feature -- now located directly under the camera's shutter button -- and new capabilities that will suggest lenses and music based on your surroundings.Snap has been experimenting with visual search, called "scan" since 2019. The feature allows Snapchat users to identify plants and music, solve math problems and scan food and wine labels with the in-app camera, reports Engadget. But up until now, much of this functionality was easily overlooked as it required a few extra taps to access. With the update now rolling out, "scan" visible whenever the camera is open, the report said.Snapchat is also adding a few new features it previewed earlier this year, like the ability to shop for outfits by pointing the camera at articles of clothing. It's also adding Camera Shortcuts, which will suggest a combination of augmented reality lenses and music based on your surroundings. The company has also integrated scanning abilities into its latest AR Spectacles, which can similarly suggest lenses based on what's around you (unlike previous versions of Spectacles, the newest ones aren't for sale just yet).
--IANS vc/vd