Snapchat now lets you search through thousands of lenses using its new feature Lens Explorer

Snapchat has allowed users to make their own augmented reality face filters since December.

But these Lenses had one major drawback – unlike their official counterparts, the community Lenses were difficult to browse.

Now, parent company Snap is introducing a Lens Explorer tool that helps you discover Lenses created by other users in the app.

The update began rolling out to iOS users worldwide today.

To access Lens Explorer, tap the new smiley face icon that appears in the top right-hand side of your Carousel (left image). Tap a Lens tile (centre) to unlock a Lens and be taken directly to the Snap Camera (right) or browse through the featured Our Stories (top of centre image)

To access Explorer, head to the Lens Carousel – the scrollable list of Lenses found by tapping and holding your screen with the Snap Camera open.

From here, tap the new smiley face icon that appears in the top right-hand side of your screen to open the Explore feed.

Tap a Lens tile to unlock a Lens and load it directly to the Snap Camera or browse through the featured Our Stories to find more.

Unlock a new Lens by swiping up on Snaps in these Stories.

In addition to scrolling through Lens Explorer, Snapchatters can now also browse for Lenses within the app’s Search function.

Explorer is only available to iOS users for now, and Snapchat did not say whether the feature would roll out to Android users.

A new update from the photo-sharing app makes it easier to search and access Lenses created by third-party developers, giving them far more to play with. Pictured is a screen grab of the feature, called Len Explorer

HOW DO SNAPCHAT USERS ACCESS THE EXPLORE FEATURE?

To access Lens Explorer, head to the Lens Carousel by tapping and holding your screen with the Snap Camera open.

From here, tap the new smiley face icon that appears in the top right-hand side of your screen to open Explorer.

Tap a Lens tile to unlock a Lens and be taken directly to the Snap Camera or browse through the featured Our Stories.

Unlock a new Lens by swiping up on Snaps in these Stories.

The new feature follows the December release of Lens Studio – a Mac and Windows desktop app that allows anyone to design and build their own Snapchat Lenses.

Previously, third-party creators had to send their custom Lenses to friends with a shareable link via a Snap or direct message.

Developers can now submit their Lenses to Snapchat and, if approved, will appear for everyone on Explore.

The update began rolling out to iOS users worldwide today. Snapchat did not say whether the feature would roll out to Android users (stock image)

Snapchat said in a statement: ‘Since launching our free desktop app late last year our community have submitted over 100,000 Lenses in Lens Studio.

‘With Lens Explorer, these Community Lenses will for the first time be discoverable in Snapchat in the main Lens Carousel.’

Snapchat has released a wide range of augmented reality Lenses since it introduced them in 2015.

The firm unveiled a new interactive 3D Bitmoji Lens in partnership with tennis superstar Serena Williams last week to celebrate the start of Wimbledon.

The AR feature allowed users to player the seven-time Wimbledon champion in a fast-paced match on the app.

Snapchat released a new interactive 3D Bitmoji Lens in partnership with tennis superstar Serena Williams last week to celebrate the start of Wimbledon

The game ranks you out of four stars, depending on how well you do.

Wimbledon announced the lens on their official Twitter along with a video of Williams talking about the game.

‘It’s pretty cool. You have to just go to Snapchat filters, and you can tap to play against me,’ Williams said.

‘So that’s what I’m doing now. It’s so fun, because how often do you get to play against me?’

‘I have played against myself, but I’m not able to win,’ the seven-time Wimbledon champion said.

WHAT HAS SNAPCHAT INTRODUCED IN THE LAST SIX MONTHS?

Snapchat has introduced several major new features in the last six months to increase its popularity, including:

App redesign: Separates ‘Friends’ and ‘Discover’ pages to create a more personalised experience.
Deluxe bitmoji app: Features new hairstyles and skin tones and more inclusive avatars.
Snap Store: Users can buy a t-shirt with a dog filter plastered on the front or a plushie of the firm’s ‘augmented reality superstar,’ also known as the dancing hot dog, among other items.
Custom geofilters: Geofilters are a location-based tool that allows Snapchat users to share where they are, or what they’re up to, by adding overlay text and images to a Snap. They can be placed to cover an area the size of a house up to a 100 football pitches and made visible for a couple of hours up to a few days.
Share Snapchat Stories with anyone: Users can now share Snapchat stories with anyone, regardless of whether they have the app. The features allows users to create a hyperlink for clips and pictures. The feature appears when you press and hold down on certain ‘tiles’ in the Discover part of the app.
Add links, voice filters and backdrops to snaps: The ‘paperclip’ feature allows users to add a link to their snap, which users can open by swiping up. The ‘backdrops’ feature allows users to add a motif backdrop to their snap by drawing they want to stand outside of the filter. The ‘voice filters’ allows users to remix the sound of their voice in various different styles, including that of a cat or an alien.
Group video chat: Users can add up to 16 friends at once to a group video chat, which can be accessed in the app’s messaging section Simply tap the video icon in a group chat in the app. Friends in the group will receive a notification inviting them to join.
Tagging: To tag a friend, users insert the ‘@’ sign, type out their friend’s username and then tap on the name of the user they want to tag. When a user sees a tagged Snap, they can swipe up and add the person as a friend or view any public Stories.
Snappables: Snappables lets you play with your friends in a variety of point scoring challenges and multiplayer scenarios, including fighting aliens or playing basketball.
Friendmojis in iOS: Snapchat began allowing users to send ‘Friendmojis’, or Bitmojis with friends, via the Bitmoji keyboard in iMessages on an iPhone or iPad.
‘Clear Chats’ feature: The ‘Clear Chats’ tool lets you ‘unsend’ messages after they’ve been sent to a friend, either in an individual or a group chat. Just press and hold on a message, click ‘Delete’ and an alert will appear in a chat saying that a message has been removed.

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