Instagram rolls out near-identical feature to Snapchat with 'nametag codes'

Facebook-owned Instagram has officially rolled out a new "Focus" camera feature for its users and is reportedly testing a new feature dubbed as "Nametags" -- a clone of Snapchat's 'Snapcode' which will let users create a "custom scannable tag" by designing a pattern of emojis.

The new 'focus' camera feature lets you focus on the face of the person or object being clicked and softly blurs the background.

"Focus" button will appear next to the "Superzoom" option under the record button.

"The new camera feature is available on iPhones and Android devices that support Instagram's version 39.0", an official Instagram blog post said on Wednesday.

According to reports, the 'Nametag' feature will also offer an option to use a selfie image for creating a custom Instagram "Nametag", Inverse reported late on Tuesday.

Snapchat launched "Snapcode" in January 2015 that allowed users to add friends using their phone cameras.

Instagran has been in the news for cloning Snapchat's features for long.

"Instagram is simply building upon a technology that Snapchat created," Kevin Systrom, Co-Founder, Instagram had said in a recent interview with Wall Street Journal.

Instagram recently introduced a "@mention" sticker for iOS users.

"After you've taken a photo or video in your stories camera, open the stickers tray, tap the @mention sticker, start typing the name of the account you want to mention and select from the options that appear," the company's blog informed.. "You can then rotate, scale and place your sticker wherever you'd like."

Meanwhile, there was no word on when Instagram will roll out the "Nametag" feature globally, the report said.

Instagram also announced the launch of the "@mention" sticker for iOS users.

After a photo or video captured @mention sticker, it will let the users type the name of the account they would want to mention, rotate it, scale it and place it wherever they'd like.