Snapchat Introduces Spooky Halloween Features, Demonstrating its New AR Tools

Snapchat has released a variety of new Halloween features, including themed Lenses, Bitmoji costumes, and a revamped Snap Map display.

To begin with, Snapchat has worked with various businesses, like Walmart and Home Depot, to create a series of personalized Halloween Lenses that tie into the theme while also demonstrating Snap's expanding sponsored content options.

Walmart has a new Halloween costume AR experience, Mars-Wrigley has released a 'Haunted House portal' that uses advanced 3D body tracking, and Home Depot has a new 12-foot skeleton Lens, among the other choices.

The Lenses essentially serve as a showcase for Snap's expanding AR tools for brands, which will see increased engagement in conjunction with the event, and which Snap will undoubtedly leverage in future pitches to brands about the potential of AR in their campaigns.

Snap has also teamed with AR creators to commemorate the 90th anniversary of Frankenstein, and has added a variety of Frankenstein-themed Lenses to the app.

Furthermore, Snapchat has added its own Werewolf Lens, which makes use of Snap's next-generation "body mesh" technology to deliver a more immersive and responsive experience.

According to Snap:

“[Body mesh] applies personalized effects to the body that automatically fit each individual Snapchatter, while body morphing tech transforms a Snapchatter’s body into a specific character’s shape.”

'Upper garment segmentation,' which digitally affects your upper-body clothes, and 'world transformation,' which applies realistic-looking modifications and effects to surrounding objects and environments, are some other Snap Halloween Lenses.

Snapchat has recently launched Bitmoji clothing to allow you to customize your avatars in the app:

In addition, the Snap Map has been provided a spooky makeover:

Due to reduced lockdowns and distancing rules, Halloween is expected to be a significant celebration this year, allowing for a return to more conventional approaches and celebrations. With 77 percent of Snapchatters expected to use the app during Halloween, it makes sense for Snap to jump on board, while it also gives the company another chance to show off its latest AR tools and capabilities, which are improving by the day.

Snap's Halloween features will be available for use in the app next week.