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SNAP SUMMIT 2021: SPOTLIGHT ON WEB, BUMBLE CAMERAKIT, MAP LAYERS, VOICE-CONTROLLED SNAPS, MORE ANNOUNCED

At the Snap Summit 2021, Snap Inc announced that Snapchat now has over 500 million monthly active users (MAU), and its daily active users (DAU) in India grew 100 percent year-over-year in each of the last five quarters. Snapchat also announced that it now has nearly 30 million people playing Snap Games every month and over 250,000 developers with Snap Kit. Snap Inc also announced that nearly 1 billion Bitmoji stickers and GIF are used on its platform daily. Over 250 million Snapchatters now use Snap Map.

Further, Snap Inc announced that Snapchat Spotlight now has over 125 million monthly active users. Snapchat Spotlight was launched in India in March of this year.

At the event, Snap Inc also announced a development to its camera to make it more inclusive. Snapchat says its camera will work better for people of color and better capture darker skin tones in the future. The improvement to the Snapchat camera will become available in Camera Kit, so developers all over the world can make their cameras more inclusive.

Additionally, Snap Inc made several other announcements spanning three key areas – Augmented Reality (AR), developers, and creators. Snap announced new voice and gesture controls for Snap and Lenses, Lens Studio 4.0 updates for AR shopping, a Camera Kit for Bumble, a Bitmoji partnership with Unity games, and more. Let me take you through the top announcements from today.

Spotlight on web

At the Snap Summit 2021, Snapchat has announced Spotlight on the web, which will allow creators to upload video directly from Chrome or Safari and let anyone, even without a Snapchat account, see Spotlight content.

Bumble Camera Kit

Snapchat has announced a partnership with Bumble, which will allow matches to sending video notes with Snapchat AR to make their “getting-to-know-you” chats more engaging. The feature is now available on Bumble.

Bumble is also bringing Snapchat’s new sticker kit into its platform. The new sticker kit brings over 34 million Bitmoji, Stickers, and GIFs to apps that partner with Snapchat.

Bitmoji partnership with Unity

Starting today, game developers will bring Bitmoji into their mobile, PC, and console games through the Unity platform.

Map Layers, Games and Minis on the home screen, more

Map Layers

Snap Inc has announced an improvement to its existing Map feature, called Map Layers. May Layers will allow Snap partners to show personalized experiences to its users. For example, a brand like Zomato can use the feature to show you restaurants around you, or BookMyShow could show tickets to shows or concerts on Map Layers. (Do note, Zomato and BookMyShow are just examples and not actual partners with Snapchat in India.)

Snapchat has also announced Memories Layer, which will show you on the map where you took your saved Snaps.

Snapchat has also announced that Minis and Games will not show in a more accessible ‘tray’ in the app — swipe down from your home Camera screen. This is where Snap Map was found before it was moved to the main tab.

Screenshot, voice-enabled Snap, Lens Studio 4.0, more.

Snap Inc has announced that it is now adding its Scan feature on the home camera screen. Scan essentially matches what you see through the Snapchat camera with relevant AR experiences.

In addition to that, Snap Inc also announced a new Scan feature called Screenshot. The feature lets you Scan a friend’s outfit or your own saved photos and suggest shops with the same/similar products available.

The existing Scan features identify plants, dog breeds, wine bottles, car models, songs, etc.

Voice and gesture control

Snapchat will now also support ‘voice-enabled commands’ that will let you verbally control AR Lenses and over 40 commands like ‘next’ or ‘take a Snap’ to let you go hands-free.

Snap Inc has also announced new ‘gesture-enabled controls’ that let you physically signal Lenses to take any action, like showing you a different item.

The Snapchat shopping features are currently not available for users in India. For AR shopping, the Lens Studio 4.0 will soon also bring wrist-tracking technology, True Size technology for accurate sizing for eyewear,
and a new3D Body Mesh and Cloth Simulation to try on complete outfits before buying.

Public profiles for businesses

Taking a route similar to Instagram, Snapchat is pushing business on its profiles. At the Snap Summit 2021, Snap Inc announced that businesses can now create a ‘Shop’ page on Snapchat where users can browse and buy. Eventually, Snapchat will also let businesses integrate with Maps. Snapchat has been testing this feature since July 2020.

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