Skip to main content

Snapchat starts charging for Lenses and then retweets complainers

snapchat vurb
Image used with permission by copyright holder
Snapchat users have been playing about with Lenses for a few months now. The feature comprises animated selfie overlays that in just a couple of taps can have you barfing rainbows or looking like a monster.

The seven available lenses are free to use and, in keeping with Snapchat’s ephemeral theme, one disappears from the lineup each day, with a new one appearing.

In the latest of several recent monetization efforts, the LA-based startup on Friday launched a store offering 30 new lenses for 99 cents each that you can use over and over.

For those who don’t want to fork out for the feature, the seven free lenses remain, with a new one continuing to appear each day.

Snapchat, a startup that seems to like doing things a little differently, decided to retweet messages from some of the naysayers:

At the same time it retweeted a few positive ones to balance things up a bit:

This latest in-app purchase from Snapchat follows another rolled out in September that lets users replay snaps up to three times for 99 cents. And like Lenses, it also offers a free version of the feature that gives users one chance a day to take a second look at a snap before it disappears.

As for this latest in-app purchase option, you can preview each of the store’s lenses for free, but it’ll cost you a buck to use them in a snap. To activate lenses, simply press and hold on your face and the overlays will appear at the bottom of the display. Swipe to the end of the free options to locate the store’s offerings.

The new store for Lenses is currently available to Snapchatters in several countries, including the U.S., U.K., and Australia, though if you’re elsewhere and are desperate to gussy up your mug, be patient, it’s bound to go global soon enough.

Editors' Recommendations

Trevor Mogg
Contributing Editor
Not so many moons ago, Trevor moved from one tea-loving island nation that drives on the left (Britain) to another (Japan)…
How to create multiple profiles on a Facebook account
A series of social media app icons on a colorful smartphone screen.

Facebook (and, by extension, Meta) are particular in the way that they allow users to create accounts and interact with their platform. Being the opposite of the typical anonymous service, Facebook sticks to the rule of one account per one person. However, Facebook allows its users to create multiple profiles that are all linked to one main Facebook account.

In much the same way as Japanese philosophy tells us we have three faces — one to show the world, one to show family, and one to show no one but ourselves — these profiles allow us to put a different 'face' out to different aspects or hobbies. One profile can keep tabs on your friends, while another goes hardcore into networking and selling tech on Facebook Marketplace.

Read more
How to set your Facebook Feed to show most recent posts
A smartphone with the Facebook app icon on it all on a white marble background.

Facebook's Feed is designed to recommend content you'd most likely want to see, and it's based on your Facebook activity, your connections, and the level of engagement a given post receives.

But sometimes you just want to see the latest Facebook posts. If that's you, it's important to know that you're not just stuck with Facebook's Feed algorithm. Sorting your Facebook Feed to show the most recent posts is a simple process:

Read more
How to go live on TikTok (and can you with under 1,000 followers?)
Tik Tok

It only takes a few steps to go live on TikTok and broadcast yourself to the world:

Touch the + button at the bottom of the screen.
Press the Live option under the record button.
Come up with a title for your live stream. 
Click Go Live to begin.

Read more