Here's How To Unlock The Popular Butterflies Lens On Snapchat

Snapchat has become synonymous with smartphone selfie filters and lenses, despite some privacy missteps, and there are a whole lot (both official and user-created) to choose from. Butterfly lenses are particularly popular, but you won't be able to use them right out of the gate. If you're new to Snapchat or simply haven't added one of these lenses to your repertoire, you'll have to add them manually because they aren't part of the default assortment.

Which butterflies lens to unlock is another matter entirely as the app is swarmed with Snapchat's own lenses and a handful of unofficial user butterfly lenses. You could activate the Summer Butterflies lens if you want to fill the screen, or use the Butterflies on Face lens for something a bit more focused. Or you could enable them all and figure out which one you want to use depending on the photo you plan to take.

Manually adding a lens, whether you have a particular one in mind or just want to browse, is pretty easy so long as you know what to do. Then, once you've added the lenses you want, you're free to use them whenever you take a photo with the Snapchat app from that point on.

Getting the Butterflies lens set up can be done via one of two relatively simple methods:

1. Find a Snapcode for the Butterflies lens on another device (this can be a smartphone with Snapchat installed or a computer web browser). Then open your Snapchat app and aim the camera at it (this also works for other butterfly lenses made by Snapchat or users). Then press and hold a finger over the Snapcode on the screen to add it to your library of lenses.
2. Alternatively, open the Snapchat app and tap the Search button (it looks like a magnifying glass) to search for the "butterflies" keyword.
3. Find the lens you want (you'll see "Lens" just below the item's name, and just above the name of the creator) and tap it to add it to your lens selection.
4. To use the new lens, navigate to Snapchat's camera screen and tap the center of the screen to pull up a floating carousel menu. Swipe through the carousel menu to find your new lens, then tap it to turn it on.

When searching for the Butterflies lens (or any others, really), pay attention to the creator's name at the bottom of the results listing. Any official lenses will be credited to Snapchat itself — though this doesn't mean unofficial lenses should be avoided, just that they're not official.