News: Snapchat & Facebook Messenger Deliver Augmented Reality Camera Effects for Mother's Day

Snapchat & Facebook Messenger Deliver Augmented Reality Camera Effects for Mother's Day

If you need some help expressing how you feel to your mom for Mother's Day, Snapchat and Facebook are here with some augmented reality help.

On Sunday, Snapchat will offer several Mother's Day-themed AR Lenses to help users create photo or video messages for their materfamilias. There's a standard "Happy Mother's Day" message, a more playful "Super Mom" Lens, and a simple "Thanks Mom" option.

Images via Snap

In addition, Snapchat will roll out the "My Momma" Lens Challenge, which provides users with text prompts for them to talk about how they feel about their moms.

Starting May 10 and continuing through Mother's Day, users can then share the message with their moms and friends, or submit the message to the "My Momma" Challenge Story, where their message might be selected to be broadcast to the general Snapchat public.

(1) The "My Momma" Lens Challenge via Snapchat. (2) A Mother's Day greeting via Facebook Messenger. Images by Tommy Palladino/Next Reality

Impatient Snapchat users can preview the experience by scanning the Snapcode below, or, if you're reading this on a mobile device, you can click this Snapchat link to open the Lens in the app.

Image via Snap

Lens Challenges (including the Mother's Day edition), which are effectively Snapchat's answer to the viral challenges making their way across YouTube and Instagram, are accessible from the Lens Explorer, which is marked by the smiley face icon on the app's Camera screen.

If you're "not on" Snapchat, Facebook Messenger offers an augmented reality alternative. The app's camera already has a "Happy Mother's Day" camera effect available to users.

As augmented reality continues to gain momentum toward mainstream adoption, experiences like these will become expected rather than outside of the norm. Will these AR effects completely supplant greeting cards? Time will tell.

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Cover image via Snapchat/YouTube

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