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6 of the best Snapchat lenses

Snapchat is one of the biggest social media photo-sharing apps in the world. With over 187 million daily users, the platform offers new, inventive, and wacky ways of seeing the world around you.

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Snapchat was one of the first companies to really push the use of Augmented Reality (AR). Back in September 2015, users could vomit rainbows using an AR feature called a Snapchat lens. Then in December 2017, Snapchat released their lens development tool, giving users the ability to create their own reality-warping lenses for the whole community to use.

Over 30,000 lenses were created just six weeks into the release. Now, Snapchat lenses have been viewed over a billion times, propelling the company’s growth in 2017 by $281 million, an increase of 74 percent over 2016.

With that in mind, we’re here to show you some of the best user-created lenses that are available – so let’s get stuck in at number one…

1. Abstract Shape

Marpi creates interactive installations, crafting digital creations that you can interact with in physical space. This particular lens creates a beautiful, moving shape wherever you point your phone. Unlock the lens here.

2. Flappy Bird

Released back in 2013, the original Flappy Bird was absurdly popular, and is famous for the app’s developer – Vietnamese programmer Dong Nguyen – removing it from the app store due to it being hyper-addictive. If you were one of those saddened by the app’s removal, fear not, there’s a new version that you can overlay on the world, wherever you are. Just try not to play too much, okay? Unlock the lens here.

3. Revive

We all need a bit of help from our friends sometimes. Keep your sleepy friends on their toes in class, using the floating revive icon. Unlock the lens here.

4. The Nest

Who doesn’t love terrifying spiders jumping at you from a dark hole? You don’t? Well, you probably won’t like this lens then. Great for terrifying your friends, but perhaps check if they have a heart condition first. Unlock the lens here.

5. Elevator

A fully functioning elevator, with its own wonderful soundtrack! Just click your phone’s screen to open the doors and reveal… anything you want. Like this loving dog showing his owner what its favourite toy is. Unlock the lens here.

6. Starman

We all watched in awe as Elon Musk achieved his lifelong dream of sending his first car into space (seriously). Now, you can experience what it’s like to be in space with the Starman by entering this incredible AR portal. You can watch a video of someone entering the portal, and unlock the lens here.

There are thousands and thousands of lenses, so dive in, get creative, and – most importantly – have fun!

How to recover a deleted WhatsApp photo or video

It’s one of the most frequently asked questions when you’re having issues: “How can I recover a deleted WhatsApp photo or video?” For some reason, you deleted that snapshot and now want to get it back on your device. Yes, friends, you can recover it. In fact, today at Softonic we’re going to teach you how.

Before we get started, check carefully

We’re going to recommend a series of recovery programs, but before we get started, we want to ask you something: are you sure you’ve checked carefully?

We’re asking this question for a simple reason: WhatsApp saves all your images and videos in two different folders. One is the device’s “Image gallery” and the other is a dedicated folder for the app called “WhatsApp Images” (within the “Gallery,” of course).

In the case of iOS, the images are also found within every user. If you click on the profile name once the chat is open, you’ll see a field called “Multimedia, links and docs.” Go in and you’ll have access to all the images that you’ve downloaded since you installed the app (if you didn’t delete them previously, of course).

With apps

Once you’ve checked that the images aren’t there, it’s time to use apps to recover the snapshots. For this, we have two tools that work fairly well: DigDeep and Disk Digger, the first free and the second paid.

Starting with DigDeep, this app is extremely easy to use, so much so that its design is the most complex part. With a rough and ugly appearance, this software lets you recover all deleted images with two simple clicks. Literally. Once you have it downloaded and installed, you’ll see that several pictures of deleted images will pop up. Click on the one you would like to recover and click on “Restore.” It doesn’t get any easier.

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For Disk Digger, the ins and outs are the same, except the free version of the app only recovers a thumbnail of the photo. Of course, the developers’ idea is that you’ll see the images or videos that you want to recover. And you won’t think twice about upgrading to the paid version.

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About WhatsApp Web

We’ll wrap up with a little trick that you may not know: WhatsApp Web, i.e. the computer platform for this app, may have your photos. For this, you only have to enter the site, scan the QR code that it requests (following the instructions that WhatsApp indicates) and you’ll see the app opens on your computer.

If you click on the chat of any user, you’ll see that same box as the iOS version (“Multimedia, links and docs”). Go in and you’ll have all the photos and videos that you’ve exchanged with that person at your fingertips!

WhatsApp makes a big change: no more annoying photos from your contacts

Soon you’ll have the power to stop photos and videos sent by your WhatsApp contacts from appearing in your phone’s photo gallery. How many times have you opened your gallery to show a photo to a friend, only to find dozens of goofy photos or videos from those idiotic, muted group chats? Never fear. Those uncomfortable moments are at an end.

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This new feature appears in the latest WhatsApp beta version. This means that soon we’ll have it available in the regular version. Once the update rolls out, just have to go to the settings section of WhatsApp and then to Data and storage. There will be a new option called “Media visibility.” Simply disable “Show media in gallery” and the problem is solved.

What do you think about this new feature? Will you use it? Leave us a comment!

How YouTube chat works and what you can do with it

YouTube got non-stop updates in 2017. The video streaming platform knows that industry competition is fierce, so last year it launched a lot of new features, and developed some features that were already available but easy-to-miss. This is where YouTube chat comes in. Although it’s hard to believe, the system has a messaging service like WhatsApp or Facebook Messenger. Today at Softonic, we’ll tell you how YouTube chat works and what you can do with it.

Step by step

YouTube chat isn’t any different from what you see on major messaging services. In other words, you can write messages, send emojis and hold a normal conversation. However, the biggest difference is that everything is focused on YouTube. Instead of attaching videos or images, the icon is of sharing a YouTube clip. It’s a chat designed for browsing on the platform.

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For whatever reason, Google hid the chat feature in a place you’re unlikely to look. To chat, we’re going to select a video and click “Share.” When the menu opens, select the user you want to send the video to. Do this and the chat will open.

This screen is the main conversation interface, which hides some secrets. If you click on the three dots that appear on the top, the app will display a menu where some options appear, such as “View participants” of the chat, “Add participants,” “Delete chat” and “Mute notifications.” Of course, each name indicates what you can do under each.

In case you want to see the chat you’ve opened previously, all you have to do is click on “Activity” and then “View contacts.” There all your previous conversations will appear, as well as all possible chats of yours.

A big asterisk to this is that you have to have a confirmed name on YouTube or none of this will work. We spent about an hour looking for these options and couldn’t find them in the app, probably because we don’t want to use our real name on the site.

How to download all your WhatsApp data

You can find out everything WhatsApp knows about you. The latest beta version of WhatsApp (version 2.18.128) lets you download a transparency report, a document that the European Union has imposed on social networks and messaging apps. The normal version of your favorite app will have this report ready before May 25, which is the deadline the EU has determined for making this report available to users.

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Want to take a look at this report? Download the beta version of WhatsApp (from this link), click on the three vertical dots, then on Settings and Account. There, you’ll see the new option “Request info on my account.” Hopefully, you’re not in a rush because WhatsApp will notify you that the report could take between 1-3 days to complete. However, the first users to try it out say that the report takes a few hours to be sent over, not days.

While you wait for this report to arrive, don’t even think of making any drastic changes to your account, such as changing your number. In this case, the process of creating and sending the report will be canceled.

Once you receive the report, download it. You’ll then have a .ZIP file in your hands. Inside, there will be two folders: one in HTML format, the other in JSON. You only have to worry about the first: this one has all the info that matters and can be opened using any browser.

If you don’t want to download the report but you want to know what type of info it has about you, you’ll be relieved to know that the content WhatsApp stores isn’t as worrisome as Facebook. There is basic info on the user (cell phone number, device operating system), registration info (such as cell phone model), and the status of your settings.

WhatsApp failure means blocked contacts can send you messages

A serious WhatsApp failure is allowing users to send messages to the users who have blocked them. The avid WhatsApp watchers WABetaInfo posted the bug on their Twitter feed and it has since been confirmed by several of their followers. Users have reported being contacted by blocked users and that their statuses have been visible also.

I’m receiving on Discord/Twitter some messages/mentions about a critical bug on WhatsApp: blocked contacts can send you messages.

The first time I thought they were wrong, instead..
Unblocking and blocking the contact should help to fix.

Let me know under this tweet! pic.twitter.com/sZvLeQsqHO

— WABetaInfo (@WABetaInfo) May 23, 2018

The error is only affecting users who have downloaded the latest WhatsApp update for iOS. This means if you use WhatsApp on Android you should still be safe.

There has been no official word from WhatsApp yet, regarding the bug, but as the messaging app regularly updates, we can be sure they’ll fix it soon enough. Until the official patch comes out, there is a simple, quick fix. You can do this yourself right now to make sure you won’t be bothered by any of your blocked contacts.

8 tricks to strengthen your WhatsApp security

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How to stop your blocked contacts messaging you on WhatsApp

If you’ve received a WhatsApp message from somebody you’ve blocked, the solution is simple. All you have to do is unblock that contact and the re-block them again. This should reset their blocked status on the WhatsApp server.

You might soon be able to share your Facebook posts via WhatsApp

People are reporting on Twitter that the Facebook mobile app now includes a Share to WhatsApp button. This new button allows users to share their Facebook posts with friends on WhatsApp quickly. You can already do this of course, but it currently takes a lot more than simply clicking a button.

Facebook's share button now lets you send a post to WhatsApp!

h/t @MazumdarPritom pic.twitter.com/kXgTncpsNz

— Matt Navarra (@MattNavarra) May 18, 2018

This new button appears to be only a test, for now at least, as only some people have reported seeing it. Facebook is yet to announce anything about a share to WhatsApp button, so we can only guess that we’re waiting to gauge public opinion on the matter before they press ahead with a broader release.

You’ll find the Share in WhatsApp button underneath the Write Post button when you click the standard share button on your post.

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This button is similar to Facebook’s Send in Messenger button. It is another example of Facebook making it easier for users to communicate across its multiple platforms and slip from one to another with a minimum of effort.

Do you think a Share to WhatsApp button for Facebook is a good idea? Let us know below.

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WhatsApp adds useful new emoji feature

WhatsApp just added a very useful option to the emojis section: now your most-used emojis appear, making it easier to select your go-to images.

This option, called “Top Emoji,” appears when you tap the magnifying glass to search for emojis. Besides showing the little box to put in keywords, now we can see a history of our emojis:. the ones we use most.

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This option is similar to what some cell phone keyboards offer, including iOS and Android.

The “Top Emojis” option appears in the beta version of Android 2.18.133. To learn to become a part of the app’s beta program to receive updates before everybody else, click here.

How to try new features on WhatsApp before anybody else

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Source: WABetaInfo

These are the 104 new emojis coming to your phone in 2019

A flamingo, falafel, new clothing items, icons that represent inclusion… and even a sloth! These icons, plus nearly a hundred other images, have been proposed by the Unicode Consortium to become emojis in 2019.

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The Unicode Consortium is the organization in charge of designing and proposing new emojis that operating systems and apps have to include over time. Though we’re still waiting for the 2018 emojis to come to most devices, Unicode has already presented its suggestions for the upcoming year.

Like previous editions, Unicode is committed to inclusion, adding several icons that represent functional diversity: an ear with a hearing aid, two types of wheelchairs, a prosthetic arm or leg, a guide dog…

It also considers the unique characteristics of some countries, adding typical foods and drinks, such as mate in South America, or different icons of Hindu culture like the sari and a temple.

And, of course, emojis have to keep up with trends: what would a chat be today without adorable animal emojis such as flamingos, otters, and orangutans?

New colored hearts and other symbols will also be available.

Remember, Unicode’s suggestions are the first step of the process. This means that not all 104 icons may end up on every operating system, not to mention how each system uniquely adapts them (remember the controversy over gun emojis).

You can see the full list of 2019 Unicode candidates here.

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What emoji would you still like to see on WhatsApp and other programs? Tell us your suggestions in the comments! Maybe we’ll give the Unicode Consortium ideas for their 2020 list!