Since 2012, Facebook has attempted to launch a number of standalone camera apps, but none of them have been successful.
A report from the Wall Street Journal, however, claims that Facebook is trying again.
Apparently, Facebook’s team in London is developing a standalone app that will launch directly on a smartphone’s camera to share photos and live streamed videos.
The new app sounds remarkably similar to Snapchat, one of Facebook’s rivals.
In May of last year, Snapchat reached 100 million daily users, so it’s no surprise that Facebook wants to tap into that market.
Their new app seems designed to encourage casual photos and videos the way that Snapchat does. Facebook already owns Instagram, where users can share photos and short videos.
An anonymous Facebook representative, however, told the Wall Street Journal that users often feel pressure to post only polished-looking images to Instagram. The new app is meant to encourage more sharing, without the pressure to create perfect photos and videos.
The new app will reportedly open directly to a camera, much like Snapchat does.
It will be integrated with Facebook and Instagram, so users can easily share photos and videos on the social media platform of their choice.
Users will also be able to use the app to share live streaming videos onto Facebook. This ties in nicely to Facebook’s latest emphasis on streaming with Facebook Live.
This would not be the first time that Facebook has worked on a standalone camera app. The first, Facebook Camera, was launched in 2012. It was very similar to Instagram, which Facebook had just acquired, and was pulled from app stores in 2014. A handful of other apps, including photo-oriented messaging apps and video remixing apps, were all similarly pulled after they failed to take off. Mashable has created a handy list of all of Facebook’s failed Snapchat-like apps.
Our conclusion: It’s possible that this new app will be different. Of course, the details so far are unverified, and the app appears to be in an early stage of development. One thing, though, does seem clear. Facebook is continually looking for ways to build up more photo and video sharing, and it’s working hard to challenge Snapchat.
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Written by content manager Meghan Woolley
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