It turns out you can keep your rad Snapchat filters… for a price

Have you ever gone to take a quick snap of yourself, and realized that the option to vomit rainbows wasn’t there? That’s because these lenses and filters, like the rest of Snapchat, aren’t permanent. In keeping with the blink-and-you’ll-miss-it theme the app has cultivated over the years, some of our favorite features are only available if we’re looking at the right time. But now, offer up a little cash, and a filter or lens can be yours forever.

If you’re not a huge Snapchat user, let me explain. Perhaps one of the coolest parts of the app are the filters and effects you can use on your photos and videos. For instance, if you take a picture of the Empire State Building, you have the option to use a filter that puts a “New York City” graphic on the snap. Even more recently, Snapchat unveiled video effects, which involve Photobooth-like options to distort your face, and even slow things down or speed them up. It’s a lot of fun, and now we can pick and choose which lenses we want to keep.

It’s all thanks to the new features store Snapchat opened yesterday. For 99 cents, users can buy a lens and use it whenever and however many times they want. It’s similar to some other payment options Snapchat has developed, like paying to watch a snap more than once. While both these things defeat the initial purpose of the app, its a good indicator of what users are loving, and how the app might evolve in the future.

For now, though, I’m going to go buy some lenses. Prepare yourself for a lot of rainbow vomit.

Related reading:

So apparently Snapchat makes people happier than Facebook

Here’s how to get your favorite Snapchat filter back

(Image via focal point / Shutterstock.com)