Facebook testing new Snapchat-like camera feature for its app

Facebook is back to borrowing from Snapchat again and this time the company is putting the feature right inside its main app.

The social media giant added a new feature to its main app that allows users to share pictures that now support filters and other effects.

The feature is still in the experimental phase and is available to users in Ireland only. Those who have it can see a camera icon at the top left corner of the app.

PHOTO: FACEBOOK



The new camera interface, which might seem familiar to Snapchat users, allows you to take pictures and videos and add, "masks" and other effects to them. In addition to this, the new feature also employs a Prisma like AI interface to make pictures look like works of art.

Users also get two options for sharing with the new camera feature. After taking pictures and adding photos: users can either share to Facebook which will make them visible to everyone or they can share it privately with a limited group of friends with a feature dubbed as Direct.

PHOTO: FACEBOOK



The direct feature allows users to share private messages with friends which appear in a new area of the app at the top right corner. The images themselves disappear once users stop chatting.

Facebook says the new feature is only experimental and the social network website plans to continue testing other variations of it. Facebook’s new features come in as the company aims to capitalise on user's desire to share more casually.

This article originally appeared on Mashable.