Snapchat just launched its “Imagine” Lens, which lets you type in any prompt to transform your selfies into whatever fantastical scenario your heart desires.

Unlike Snapchat’s existing “Dreams” feature, which generates random scenarios for your photos, the Imagine Lens gives you full creative control through open text prompts. The feature works with both live camera shots and photos from your camera roll, and lets you share the results like any other Snap. 

It’s Snapchat’s answer to Meta’s “Imagine Me,” TikTok’s “AI Alive,” and YouTube’s “Dream Screen,” because apparently every platform needs its own version of digital dress-up.

Before we get too deep into an existential crisis about the authenticity of social media, there are some genuinely practical uses here. Testing out new hairstyles before committing to that dramatic cut, previewing costume ideas without buying anything, seeing how you’d look in that outfit before making questionable fashion investments. These applications feel more grounded; using AI as a visualization tool rather than a reality replacement service. 

Every major social platform now has some version of AI-generated content creation, and frankly, it’s starting to feel like feature fatigue. However, Snapchat’s Imagine Lens distinguishes itself through open prompts rather than preset options, which could be either liberating or overwhelming depending on your creative confidence and prompt-writing skills.

The Imagine Lens is currently limited to Lens+ and Snapchat+ Platinum subscribers, which makes sense from a business perspective but feels limiting for a feature that’s essentially about creative expression. Nothing kills the magic of “try anything you can imagine” quite like “but only if you pay us first.”

This subscription gate also means adoption will likely be slower, limiting the viral potential that usually drives widespread adoption of social media features.

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