Snapchat's new lens feature now lets you learn sign language.
A recent blog post from Snap mentioned that it partnered with SignAll to develop and launch an American Sign Langauge (ASL) Alphabet Lens designed to inspire you and other people to start learning ASL.
Snapchat's new lens is available with the app's latest update.
Snapchat ASL Lens Update
According to Snap's announcement, Snapchat's new lens teaches can teach you to ASL, starting with spelling out your name using sign language. You can also play games with the new lens to test yourself and see if you're up to speed with using ASL.
The Verge also reported that Snapchat's new lens also offers tools to help you and other people fingerspell words and memorize which handshapes are which letter.
Snapchat's new lens was developed by Snap's deaf and Hard-of-Hearing team members called the "Deafengers," who used the same hand-tracking technology that powered 2021's fingerspelling lenses in honor of the International Week of the Deaf. Snap's Deafengers also had the help of partner SignAll to develop the new lens.
SignAll is a company made up of developers and designers dedicated to finding solutions that enable spontaneous communication between the deaf and hearing, according to the company's About Us page.
Austin Vaday, a member of Snap's Deafengers, said through sign language that he and the team want the world to understand that sign language is important, and that everyone signing is important, per Today.
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Tech Crunch mentioned in its article that the new lens is a more advanced version of the fingerspelling lenses, which Snap also designed to teach users to communicate with the dead and hard-of-hearing using sign language despite Snap saying that the new lens is the first of its kind. Social Media Today also said that the new lens provides users with more in-depth insight and examples to help more people understand the right usage of ASL gestures.
Snap's hand-tracking technology also provides Snapchat with more capacity for communication in new forms aside from sign language.
"We hope that Lenses not only evolve the way we see the world but help us feel closer to one another," Snap said in its blog post. "For native signers, in a world where linguistic inequity is prevalent, we believe [augmented reality] can help evolve the way we communicate. We look forward to learning more from our community as we strive to continuously improve experiences for everyone on Snapchat."
You can now try the lens on Snapchat or through this link the company provided, which should open the lens in Snapchat if you have the app on your phone.
Other New Snapchat Features
Snap has recently become a busy bee with the release of a few features in recent months. It previously released a feature wherein snapchatters can directly share YouTube videos with friends through the Snapchat camera using the app's automated YouTube sticker.
This feature removed the copy-pasting of links that were previously needed to share a YouTube video on the app.
The company was also reported to have been developing a selfie drone feature through an alleged new functionality called "Cheerio."
