I was so excited to build an AR stack for Google Lens, aiming to bring realtime magic to billions of phones’ default camera. Sadly, after AR Playground went out the door three years ago & the world shrugged, Google lost interest.

At least they’re letting others like Snap grab the mic.

Dubbed “Quick Tap to Snap,” the new feature will enable users to tap the back of the device twice to open the Snapchat camera directly from the lock screen. Users will have to authenticate before sending photos or videos to a friend or their personal Stories page. 

Snapchat’s Pixel service will also include extra augmented-reality lenses and integrate some Google features, like live translation in the chat feature, according to the company.

I wish Apple would offer similar access to third-party camera apps like Halide Camera, etc. Its absence has entirely killed my use of those apps, no matter how nice they may be.