Snapchat Bets Big on Dual-Camera Recording—What to Know

Snapchat has just unveiled a dual-camera recording system for in-app video recording, adding a whole new element to the social network. 

What does this mean exactly? When you enable the dual-camera option, you will capture content from both sides of the phone, allowing for some truly unique creations. Snapchat shared a video showing examples of the system in action, including users sinking baskets from multiple angles and two people creating an amalgamation of their faces via split-screen. 

Luckily, the app gives you some options as to how to arrange the footage. It allows you to put one camera's footage in a small circle in the corner for reaction shots and gives you multiple split-screen configurations. There's also a cut-out mode reminiscent of TikTok's green screen. 

This feature supports Snap Spectacles, the company's augmented reality lenses, too, though any effects derived from the glasses can only be added after an initial recording with a smartphone. 

Snapchat teased this idea back in April, but it was announced as part of a larger "director mode" that would also include a number of advanced editing features. That mode is not ready yet, though Snap says it's still coming, so they went ahead and launched the dual-camera feature on its own.

The dual-camera system is available today for iOS users, as long as you have at least an iPhone XS. Android phones will get support for the feature "in the coming months."