TikTok’s new confetti effect uses iPhone 12 Pro’s LiDAR sensor

One of the most prominently advertised new features of the iPhone 12 Pro was its LiDAR sensor, which enables some cool augmented reality effects thanks to its ability to position objects precisely in 3D space. The only problem is that actual use cases for the feature are still few and far between.

This is (slowly) changing. TikTok has announced a new AR effect, its first to take advantage of the LiDAR sensor (meaning you have to have the iPhone 12 Pro or the iPhone 12 Pro Plus to use it). The effect displays a virtual Times Square-like disco ball above a person’s head; when the counter on the ball reaches zero, it explodes and a “2021” sign pops up while the person (along with any furniture in the frame) is covered in virtual confetti. 

TechCrunch says the new effect should be available globally except in a few select countries; I wasn’t able to access it, but the example shown by TikTok (above) is pretty self-explanatory. You can see that the virtual confetti actually stays on real-life surfaces, making the effect just a bit more cooler and realistic. 

TikTok says it plans to develop more innovative effects in 2021, though it doesn’t specifically says they’ll use LiDAR. 

TikTok is not the first social media company to use the iPhone 12 Pro’s LiDAR for an effect; those honors go to Snapchat, which started allowing users to create lenses that use LiDAR back in Oct. 2020.