Microsoft has teamed up with Snap to add Snapchat Lenses to Microsoft Teams. More than 20 Snapchat Lenses are now part of the Microsoft Teams app, including ones that will place a cat on your head, a sloth on your shoulder, or virtual sunglasses on your face during video calls.
Teams users don’t need to download a separate app or add-on, as Microsoft has integrated Snapchat’s AR Lenses directly into the video effects section of the Teams client. Microsoft has leveraged Snap’s Camera Kit SDK to bring these Snapchat Lenses to Teams.
While Microsoft also uses Snap’s Camera Kit for its Flip education platform to add Snapchat Lenses to videos, this new Teams feature will be limited to Teams for Work users only. If you’re using the personal or education version of Teams you won’t be able to get access to these new Snapchat Lenses. You’ll also have to use the current “classic” version of Teams instead of the “New Teams” preview client that Microsoft started previewing late last month.
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The addition of Snapchat Lenses to Microsoft Teams comes just months after Snap shut down its Camera app that could apply similar filters in Teams and Zoom. Snap Camera originally launched in 2018 and was designed primarily for Twitch streams, but the pandemic-related rise in video calls saw it grow in popularity and create viral moments like a boss turning into a potato for an entire Microsoft Teams meeting.
Microsoft is also working on new animated backgrounds for Teams meetings. A new dynamic backgrounds feature will start rolling out in May allowing users to replace their background “with a dynamic animation for a more immersive virtual environment.”
