Bummer news, Snapchat lenses are no longer for sale

Well, at least now my cousin will stop sending constant me pictures of herself vomiting rainbows.

Let me explain: As of Friday, users can no longer buy lenses from the Snapchat store, which itself only came to fruition in November. Instead of purchasing lenses, users will have their pick of 10 free lenses per day, some of which will be sponsored. Rainbow vomit and other popular lenses will still be available, but only on a rotating basis. Lenses can not be saved for future use. Those users who previously purchased lenses through the Lens Store will continue to be able to use them. (So, in that case, I guess I will still be receiving those Snapchats from my cousin, after all. Am I seriously the only one who finds the rainbow vomit creepy?)

Aaaand now I’m doomed to have nightmares for the next week.

Many Snapchatters are far from pleased and have taken to Twitter to vent:

In case you were curious, the removal of the lenses has nothing to do with their popularity. According to Mashable, “The company says it isn’t doing away with [lenses] due to lack of use but because it wants to focus its efforts on its ad business.”

Snapchat has been vocally looking for new ways to integrate advertising for a while now, so here’s the first part of the new ad technology platform discussed earlier this week in Digiday. This news isn’t exactly surprising: sponsored lenses — such as the dancing Snoopy — have been around for a while now. But now, nearly all of the lenses could be sponsored. Snapchat could become one big advertising machine for corporations, which means goodbye, vomiting rainbows; hello, lenses advertising new movies and products. I wonder if this is how small towns feel when the big pharmacy corporations come in and close their local drug stores?

(Image via Shutterstock, Instagram.)