How to open Snapchat’s camera directly from your iPhone lock screen

Have you ever been in a rush to take a photo on your iPhone on Snapchat? Chances are, if you use the app a lot, you have. Snapchat is used by hundreds of millions of users around the world to quickly share moments in time, and the new feature the company announced today will make users of the popular social app on iPhone quite happy.

Thanks to iOS 18, users can now replace the flashlight or camera shortcuts on their lock screen, and Snapchat is taking full advantage of this. Now, Snapchat is introducing a new feature that lets users place it on their iPhone’s lock screen.

In a press release, Snapchat says “Users can customize the Camera Control on iPhone 16 and switch Lock Screen controls on any iPhone running iOS 18 to launch the Snapchat app and take photos and videos, even when iPhone is locked.”

So, not only can you add Snapchat as a lock screen shortcut, but if you have an iPhone 16, you can even customize the new Camera Control button to launch the Snapchat app instead of the camera app. If you use Snapchat a lot, this new feature will make taking snaps on an iPhone faster than it’s ever been.

Using the lock screen shortcut icon launches Snapchat’s camera-only mode. This lets you create a snap, but your iPhone must be unlocked first in order to use filters or post anything.

How to add Snapchat to your lock screen

You’ll need to update to iOS 18 if you haven’t already

Luckily, adding Snapchat to your iPhone’s lock screen is quick and easy. Just follow these steps:

1. Open up your iPhone’s lock screen.
2. Press and hold down on the lock screen.
3. Select Customize, choose Lock Screen.
4. Remove either the flashlight icon or camera icon at the bottom left or bottom right of your screen.
5. Hit the + icon to browse new controls, select Snapchat.

Snapchat should now be accessible from your iPhone’s lock screen. A reminder once again, you need to be on iOS 18 to access this feature. If you have a new iPhone 16, you’ll already be on iOS 18. An in-depth guide on customizing your lock screen is available on Apple’s website.

As someone who uses Snapchat occasionally, I can see how this feature could be useful for quickly getting a shot of something you want to send to a friend. It will be interesting to see if other app developers take advantage of this API.

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