We’re proud to announce a partnership to bring voice capabilities to Snapchat’s Scan platform. Using Snapchat’s dynamic camera, Scan helps people learn more about what they’re seeing around them and search and discover Lenses. With the newly-announced Voice Scan feature—powered by our Houndify^TM voice AI platform—Snapchatters can quickly find the right Lenses to augment their faces or the world around them just by asking.

To access the new Voice Scan feature within the Lenses carousel, users tap the microphone, followed by a voice request. Here are some examples of things you can say:

Front-facing examples:

• “Make my hair pink”
• “Give me green eyes”
• “Give me a hug”
• “Turn me into a potato”

World-facing examples:

• “Take me underwater”
• “Take me to the jungle”
• “Take me to outer space”
• “Make it rain”
• “Show me an elephant”

Other types of requests:

• “Show me a quiz”
• “Play The Beatles”
• “Do something cool”

A powerful new way to search and discover new Lenses

Using the new voice interface, Snapchatters can find Lenses faster, discover ones they didn’t know about, take selfies more easily, and so much more.

1. Hands-free convenience:

Snapchatters can now get instant, hands-free access to the Voice Scan feature in the app just through simple voice queries. Through the power of Houndify, users can quickly find the Lenses they want, without taking the time to hunt and scroll through hundreds of available lenses.

To use Scan, users typically hold their phones out in front of them. The ability to add and modify a Lens without having to change position or move your hands is a much more seamless and convenient experience. Taking selfies just got a lot easier for users, allowing them to add or modify Lenses while still holding the camera in place—eliminating the need to reset the shot. 

2. Discoverability

In a little over a year after introducing Lenses to the community, over 400,000 Lenses were uploaded to the platform. Now, with Voice Scan, by simply asking for a desired look or mood, Snapchatters are able to shortcut to the feature they want quickly without going through trial-and-error. The other benefit is the ability to discover a whole suite of Lenses you didn’t know existed. For instance, if you said “Make my hair pink” you may find that there’s more than one Lens that lets you do that, thus giving you more choices.

SoundHound Inc.’s partnership with Snap Inc. extends back to June 2018, when their music discovery app became a launch partner for Snap Kit, Snapchat’s third-party integration platform for iOS and Android. Within the SoundHound app, Snapchatters can create a customizable music Snap containing song details, an exclusive animation, innovative effects, and a playback link.

Developers interested in exploring the Houndify independent voice AI platform can visit Houndify.com to learn more and register for a free account. Learn more about Snapchat’s new Voice Snap feature powered by Houndify here.