Facebook unveiled Masks for Facebook Live, the social network's live video streaming feature, just in time for Halloween in a bid to challenge Snapchat and its popular filters.
The Masks feature, according to Facebook, will allow users to go on live video on the social network wearing a digital mask over their faces. As the feature will first be seen for Halloween, it will include masks that are perfect for the annual festivities, including an evil queen, a skull, and a pair of limited edition masks of a witch and a pumpkin.
The feature will not only be available for Halloween though, as the Facebook Newsroom post announcing Masks added that some of them will continue to be available to Facebook Live users even after the night ends.
How To Use Facebook Live Masks
Upon launching Facebook Live, users should then tap the magic wand icon in the screen's upper left corner to call up the creative tools tray of the feature at the bottom of the display. The new Masks icon will be shown there, and tapping on it will bring up all the filters available to the user.
Tapping on the mask in the list will have the filter appear on the user's face. To remove the mask, users can just scroll to the far left of the list and select the no mask option.
The Difference Between Facebook Live Masks And Snapchat Filters
The new Masks feature of Facebook Live definitely resembles Snapchat filters, but the first notable difference between the two is that it takes a bit more time to access Masks on Facebook Live compared to adding filters to Snapchat.
Snapchat filters are also not only tied to live videos, which means that users can shoot as many pictures as they want to try to get the perfect picture. For Facebook Live's Masks, there is no way to do that as the live video stream is rolling while the masks are being tried out.
Who Will Get Facebook Live Masks?
Facebook will be rolling out Masks for Facebook Live over the next few days to iOS users in the United States, the United Kingdom and New Zealand. Unfortunately for Android users, the feature will not be coming in time to your devices for Halloween, as Facebook said that it will launch the feature for the Android version of the social network's app over the coming months. Users in more countries can also expect the same time frame for the feature to arrive in their locations.
Facebook added that public figures may be able to access Masks using Facebook Mentions on their iOS device.
