The INSIDER Summary:
- On Tuesday, Snapchat released three new features: the Infinity Loop, a "magic eraser," and the ability to draw with emojis.
- You can now send and watch pictures and videos without a time limit.
- The "magic eraser" works like Photoshop's "Clone Stamp" tool, but is much less accurate.
Snapchat just released another round of new features with its latest update. On Tuesday, the company added Infinity Loop, a "magic eraser," and the ability to draw with emojis.
While all three features are fun to use, the most surprising one is Infinity Loop, which lets you look at a picture or replay a video indefinitely until you tap your phone screen to close it. Since Snapchat's success has largely come from the allure of disappearing photos, this shift to permanency might be a risky move. But it's a risk that makes sense as Instagram continues to poach both Snapchat's features and users.
Here are our thoughts so far, as well as how to use these three new tricks:
Send and receive photos and videos with no time limit.
Until Tuesday, you could only send and receive pictures and videos (known as "Snaps") for up to 10 seconds long. Now, with the addition of Infinity Loop, you can watch a Snap for as long as you want — or at least until you tap your phone screen to close out of it.
Basically, you'll never have to tell your friend, "What did you send? I didn't catch that." again.
But in a way, the Infinity Loop option detracts from the fun of Snapchat. After all, if I want to send my friends a permanent picture, I can just text them, instead.
However, the Infinity Loop is pretty useful when it comes to Snap videos which now play indefinitely on a loop, more or less like a Vine.
Remove objects and zap pimples (kind of) with the "magic eraser."
Snapchat's new "magic eraser" feature works like a simplified, and much less accurate, version of Photoshop's "Clone Stamp" tool. To use it, tap the Scissors symbol; then, tap the icon with stars (as pictured above) to use the "magic eraser." Use your finger to "draw" on your Snap and remove objects like phones, outlets, drinks, and more.
I also tried to use the "magic eraser" to blur spots and pimples on my face, but since you can't edit the size or source of the clone tool (at least not yet), it won't work every time.
Draw with emojis instead of a marker.
The final feature of the three is the most simple to use, but still very fun.
To draw with emojis, tap the marker icon, and then tap the heart-eyes emoji. Choose an emoji from the eight available so far, and draw with your fingers like you normally would.
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