Snap to shut down its camera app on January 25

On January 25, Snap will shut down its camera app for Mac and PC. Snap allows you to apply silly filters to your face while on Zoom or other video, conference calls.

Snap announced the change on its support page for the Snap Camera, saying it will "no longer be available to use or download" later this month. While the company notes that you can still access a wide range of Snapchat filters on the web version of the app, that's not the same as being able to show up at your next daily meeting with the dog filter.

Snap Camera was introduced in 2018, and the company introduced it to spice up your Twitch streams. But it really came to fruition when the pandemic started, when many people found themselves on video calls all day and got tired of looking at an unfiltered version of themselves. However, Snap's fortunes have since turned: In 2022, the company laid off 20 per cent of its employees and cancelled projects like its Pixy drone.

Snap did not comment on why it was discontinuing Snap Camera. One reason may be that it is no longer as essential as it once was. Many companies have not only returned to in-person work, making video conferencing less of a routine, but video chat apps have also incorporated their own filters. Zoom has long allowed you to dress up as an animal or apply weird facial effects, and on Thursday, it announced it would add customizable human avatars as well. It may be too early to compare the feature to Snap's Bitmoji.