Facebook Introduces Snapchat-Style Captions And Stickers to Photos

Facebook has started adding Snapchat-style stickers and text to its photo editing tool.

An update to Facebook’s iOS app lets users of the world’s largest social network add captions and large emoji-like stickers to their photos before posting them.

However unlike Snapchat, images can be saved and aren’t automatically deleted after they’ve been viewed.

Users with the updated app will see a tiny ‘magic wand’ icon in the bottom left corner of any pictures that they try to post on their Facebook Timeline. Tapping this fires up a menu of new editing options.

A slider appears on the image which can be used to easily swipe through different filters, giving a handy preview of how each looks compared to the next one.

Stickers packs can be easily downloaded after which individual stickers can be dropped onto the photo, moved around and resized, just as they can on Snapchat.

Users can also choose the colour of any text captions, which can be re-positioned and resized in the same way as stickers.

Photos are then posted to the user’s Timeline in the usual way.

Facebook has yet to make an official announcement on the update, though it appears to be rolling out to users of the iOS app first.

Facebook has offered access to stickers for a while in its Messenger app, though it’s still not possible to use them in text-based status updates. It has also been testing Snapchat-style features in its standalone photo sharing app Slingshot.

Stickers have grown in popularity thanks to Snapchat and messaging apps like Line, which is hugely popular in Asia and includes a predictive emoji-based keyboard.

Facebook tried, unsuccessfully, to buy Snapchat in 2013 but had its $3billion bid turned down.