Snapchat finally releases three special Lenses showcased at Apple iPhone X launch

At the launch of the **iPhone X** , Craig Federighi’s demo using some new Snapchat Lenses blew everyone’s minds. And today, about six months after the launch of Apple’s most expensive iPhone, those lenses have finally been released by **Snapchat** . [caption id=“attachment_4357579” align=“alignleft” width=“380”] A woman uses her iPhone X. Reuters.[/caption] The new lenses include a Mardi-Gras mask, a Day of the Dead skull, and a gold-plated eye cover. If you are wondering what makes them so special, well it’s because they take advantage of Apple’s TrueDepth camera that is also used to animate the Animoji characters and more importantly, power the Face ID authentication system. The same tech now powers these three new Snapchat Lenses that going by the images below, look surprisingly accurate. According to The Verge, Snapchat’s Lenses are designed to reflect the surrounding light in a more realistic manner. [caption id=“attachment_4421385” align=“alignnone” width=“400”] Snapchat’s new lenses for iPhone X users. Snapchat[/caption] Another detail you will notice is how the background gets blurred when these Lenses are in use. Apart from this, there are also some tiny 3D objects that float about in the scene. It is wise to note that developers (like Snapchat) will only get visual facial mapping data and not the Face ID data that is used to authenticate or unlock your iPhone X. It’s using this facial data that they are able to accurately animate both Animoji and these new Snapchat Lenses.

Snapchat is not the only app to take advantage of the TrueDepth camera. We recently played around with an app called Rainbrow made by developer Nathan Gitter that uses facial expressions to control the character in the game.