News: Snapchat Makes Its World Lens More Social with 3D Friendmojis

Because it takes two to tango, your dancing Bitmoji World Lens on Snapchat is getting a dance partner.

Snapchat's new 3D Friendmojis are World Lenses that mix your own Bitmoji with your friend's doppelganger for dual AR hijinks.

Activating a 3D Friendmoji is accomplished by opening a chat with a friend, hitting the capture button to bring up the camera, and touching the screen to trigger the carousel. In the interface, 3D Friendmojis are indicated by their icons in the carousel.

According to a company spokesperson, the feature is available now via Bitmoji Classic and Bitstrips styles for the Snapchat app on iOS and Android (version 10.26). If you've already converted to Bitmoji Deluxe, you'll have to be patient, as 3D Friendmojis are slowly rolling out to you soon.

Companies offering augmented reality apps are generally trying to make the experiences more social. Why? Because social experiences help move the technology along the adoption curve. In addition, interaction between friends helps AR apps achieve the stickiness needed to elevate them beyond gimmick and become part of the user's lifestyle and communication routines. In this case, that means that those who are already on board with Bitmoji World Lenses can now share the fun with others.

"For me, the killer app will be social communication; experiences that tear down the walls of isolation," said Microsoft's Alex Kipman in a recent comment with regard to immersive communications being one of the top trends for augmented reality in 2018. "I believe that mixed reality has the power to connect people in compelling and meaningful ways. From our work life to our personal life, communication and presence is the fabric that ties us together."

That's why Apple's Animojis are in the Messages app and why Samsung's AR Emojis can be shared with third-party messaging apps. That's also why Microsoft gave AltspaceVR a second chance.

And now, finally, that's why 3D Friendmojis have arrived. Plus, it prevents this from happening.

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