We reported earlier this month that Snapchat was testing location aware filters and today the company has gone through with the official launch. They’re called Geofilters and they only become available when the user takes a snap in a particular area or a particular city. Geofilters are only available for a handful of locations right now but it wouldn’t be wrong to assume that Snapchat will expand them in the near future.
To use Geofilters users will have to enable location services in the app. Snapchat doesn’t clearly say why it does need this feature to be turned on but to appease people who might have privacy concerns the company writes in its blog post that “we don’t store your location.”
Most of the filters available right now are for locations in Los Angeles and New York City. The video which announces this feature shows specific filters for a coffee shop, Disneyland, a Soul Cycle location and more. All users have to do is take a snap at that particular location and swipe right on the preview screen to check out available filters.
While Snapchat says that none of the locations have paid it as yet to include filters it is believed to be one of the ways Snapchat is going to make money off of its user base.