How To Get Those Nifty Face Filters On Instagram

In addition to the slurping dog and silly voice-changing filters on Snapchat, social media enthusiasts can now get face filters on Instagram, too. On Tuesday, the app rolled out an initial set of eight filters, including a floating butterfly crown, furry koala ears that wiggle, nerd glasses complete with tape on the nose piece, and a smoothing filter that will make it look like you didn’t use a filter. And the best part: It’s super easy to use and operates almost exactly like Snapchat, so you can jump right into all the new filter fun.

So how can you get them? Simple: Just make sure your app is updated, and the new feature will be available immediately. Once you've got the filters installed, you just need to open the app and tap the camera icon on the top left. From there, you’ll tap on the smiley face icon with sparkles surrounding its face. Unlike Snapchat, you won’t need to tap your face to get the filters ― they'll just appear after you’ve selected the filter option. While the concept is pretty much identical, Instagram’s filters do look different and don’t distort your face as drastically as Snapchat does.

Once you have a filter on your face using either the front or back camera, you can use the feature in a “photo, video, boomerang, or our new 'rewind' mode that plays in reverse,” the company wrote in a press release. You can still add plenty of stickers, drawings, and text to your filtered creation before sharing it with your friend through Instagram Direct, by adding it to your story, or simply saving it to your camera roll and add it as a normal Instagram post whenever you’d like. There's also a new eraser tool that will let you remove drawings you added to an image.

Here's a post from Instagram that shows how the new feature works:

If this new feature doesn’t immediately appear for you, make sure the app is updated and try again.

Basically, if you've ever used Snapchat filters, then using Instagram's will be a breeze as well. Indeed, the new development seems eerily familiar to how Snapchat operates, but TechCrunch noted that there is one original Instagram feature in this roll-out: The ability to type a hashtag and add it to your Stories posts as a sticker, just like a location sticker.

As TechCrunch reported, there's no word yet on whether Instagram's filters will expand from those original eight, though it's likely they'll come and go as Snapchat's do ― so users will have to check back frequently to see what kinds of new additions are available play around with in the near future. Users should also keep their eyes out for the next tech development in social media, since all of our favorite apps have pretty much the same features now and something will have to be created to keep the competition going.