Skype is becoming like the other messaging apps.
Not content with competing with Instagram and Snapchat's Stories, Skype has launched another feature that has some similarities to these two and they are calling it Photo Effects. The company is saying that it's launching the new feature which will include things like face masks, fancy borders, witty captions, and a lot more. What will differentiate their feature, Skype says, is that the suggested stickers will be based on the content, time, and other factors.
Microsoft is basing the new feature on a technology that they launched earlier this year in an app called Sprinkles. The app makes use of Microsoft's capabilities on machine learning and Artificial Intelligence (AI) functions like face detection in pictures, determining age and emotion and caption suggestion. The app also lets the user swipe through props suggestion to add to their photos.
The company said that the photo effects will often change like on different days or holiday celebrations. The images can be shared with Skype friends through conversations or through its new Highlights feature, which mirrors Instagram's and Snapchat's Stories.
As of press time, the Highlights feature remains to be available for its mobile platform. When Skype overhauled the interface of its desktop app for its users last month, Microsoft said that Highlights is currently not a priority for a desktop integration as of the moment, according to data from their customers. It added that it still aims to bring the Highlights feature for its desktop users at a later release.
The addition of Skype's Photo Effects will arrive for Skype's mobile users in its latest update. It currently lists Photo Effects as upcoming for Android's 8.10.04 and iOS' 8.10.5. This version will start to roll out on Monday, and it will gradually be released to a lot of units next week.
