It is the latest social network trend. If you have been on Instagram a lot of late (and a lot of us have been), you must have come across a new Instagram story AR filter where people are trying to make sense out of meaningless words. In this filter, a colored box appears on the screen (over your forehead if you turn on the selfie camera) as you hit and hold the shutter button and a sequence of seemingly nonsensical words appear in the box. Now you have to guess what these seemingly senseless words mean by guessing the phrase or word they sound like.
Pro tip: It is pretty easy as long as you keep saying the gibberish out loud because when you put together it ultimately sounds like the right word or phrase you have to guess. But you have to do all of this quickly because there is a timer. When it runs out you are given the answer. Welcome to Guess the Gibberish, the AR filter that has got so many literally guessing what’s up (on your forehead) on Instagram.
While Guess the Gibberish has got a lot of attention, it is not the only third-party AR Story filter present on Instagram. And these are different from the filters that come for your “normal” feed video and image posts. No, these are mainly for Instagram Stories. Instagram has a number of other party AR Story filters created by different users and developers. Each of these filters has different themes and adds something to the Instagram experience – be it music, a special effect, or even some crazy animation. But where can you get these AR filters from? It is actually pretty easy. Y Just follow these quick steps and you would get access to a number of third party Stories filters:
Step 1: Begin at the beginning – Launch Instagram:
You first have to launch Instagram on your smartphone. If you do not have Instagram or the latest version of the app, you can go to Google PlayStore or Apple’s App Store and download the app from there. You then have to open the app and login or sign up. Easy peasy!
Step 2: All set for creativity – Go to Create Your Story:
Once you have signed in, you have to tap on the camera icon on the top left corner of the page (next to the Instagram logo), right above the row of Insta Stories of top of your feed. This will open up your phone camera through Instagram, allowing you to record Stories for the platform. You can also get here by simply swiping right from your Instagram landing page, or by clicking your own story icon (your image appears on it), and then (if you have already posted a story there), on your own picture in the top left corner.
Step 3: Swipe mode on – Swipe all the way to “Browse Effects”:
Now that you have the Instagram Stories open on your app, you will find a big white shutter button on the near the base of your screen, above different shooting modes (Boomerang, Layout, etc.). Right next to the shutter button are a number of different AR filters that come preloaded with the app. Keep swiping on these filters until you come to the last oner- “Browse effects,” which comes with a magnifying glass icon.
Step 4: Get Effect-ive — Search and select an Effect
Tap on Browse Effects. This will open up a number of third-party AR filters that are available for you to try and save. For free. From here you can either scroll down and try a filter you like or you can just go to the search box on top of your screen and type the name of the filter there. For example, if you want to save “Guess the Gibberish” you can type it there, and once it comes up, just tap on it to select it. There are also different themes that are present just below the search box on the screen, you choose any which one you like and the effects falling in that category will show up.
Step 5: Them trial runs – Try it out, download if you like
Selecting the effect will give you a small trailer of how the effect works and what it does. If you like it, you can try it yourself by selecting the “Try it” icon present on the bottom left side of your screen. If you then want to add it to your Stories as an option, you can just tap on the little download icon (the square with the small, downward arrow) on the bottom right side of the screen and save it.
Step 6: Go ahead, make your day…and Stories:
Now that you have saved the effect, you can just simply go back to your story. You will find the newly saved AR filter on the left side of the shutter button of your screen as opposed to the preloaded ones that are on the right. Just tap on it and you are ready to go!
Side note: if you like an AR filter on one of your friends’ Stories, and want to try and save it, you can do it from right there itself. The filter’s name and developer’s name will appear on the top of your friend’s Story, all you have to do is tap on the name and it will open up the effect. From there you can try it out, and save it if you like!
Go ahead, drown yourself in Instagram AR effects! You are very welcome.