Snapchat update: App adds ability to have emoji follow people around inside the app

Previously, people could stick the animated characters onto their face inside pictures – but now it will automatically follow them around, in videos

Andrew Griffin
Thursday 14 April 2016 09:35 BST
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Snapchat
Snapchat

Snapchat’s newest update lets people get followed around by emoji.

The chat app has added a new feature that can automatically track movement around videos, and have an emoji follow that same movement. It means that someone can stick an emoji on top of their face and then walk around, for instance.

Previously, the app allowed people to add an emoji as a sticker – covering their face, for instance. But it would stay in the same place, until now.

The emoji must be added as a sticker, rather than through a text box. But they’ll then follow whatever they’re placed over, rotating and shrinking as well as moving to make sure that they look like they’re really inside the video.

Snapchat has been rolling out a huge range of easy video editing features in recent months, which have also included smart filters.

The new feature has rolled out to the app on Android, and will be coming to iOS in the coming weeks.

Snapchat’s update follows a huge redesign last month, that looked to see the app focus on becoming more of a traditional chat app as well as way of sharing photos and videos. The update added stickers, like Facebook Messenger, and made it easier to have video and audio calls.

The new update also makes it easier to click through stories – part of a general move towards making the sometimes confusing apps’s interface slightly more clear. Now users won’t have to click on individual Stories from friends, but will be taken all the way through them.

That update rolled out to both Android and iOS.

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