Facebook has introduced special Halloween filters and more - how to use them

If you’ve logged onto the Facebook app on your mobile device this morning, you might have noticed a spooky Halloween themed Easter egg hiding in the Facebook logo.

This is what you need to know about the fun Halloween animation from Facebook.

What is the animation?

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If you go to your Facebook app on a mobile device, or a tablet, you’d usually see the Facebook logo in the upper left hand corner of the screen.

You’ll still see the logo in the same spot, but for Halloween, Facebook has implemented a fun little animation.

The animation shows the second O in Facebook jump up and become a moon, as the rest of the logo turns into a spooky night sky, complete with a ghost, a witch riding a broomstick with a black cat, a bat and an owl.

As the group fly through the air for a few seconds, the animation disappears, with just the witch hat remaining, which sits at the end of the Facebook logo.

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After a few seconds, the hat will disappear in a poof of magic.

What should I do with the animation?

If you tap the logo whilst the animation is playing, or while the witch hat is still there, you will be taken to a Facebook search result called #Halloween2020.

Here, you’ll be able to see all the posts that users have been posting on Facebook with the hashtag #Halloween.

Also within this page, you’ll be given the option to give your profile picture a Halloween makeover with the new Halloween Facebook filter.

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Simply tap ‘try filter’ and you’ll be taken to the Facebook camera app, where you can either take a new picture there and then, or find one from your gallery to use instead.

If you take a new profile picture, the filter adds vampire teeth, bat wings and a bow to your picture.

If you decide to use a picture you already have in your gallery, simply tap ‘effects’ within the app and you’ll see a whole host of other Halloween filters you can add.

The animation should trigger automatically, but if it doesn’t, you can always tap the logo to give it a kickstart. The same happens if you’ve watched the animation and the witch hat has disappeared - if you tap the logo, it’ll start the animation again.

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Facebook launched a similar Easter egg last year, which rolled out to users in batches, so it might be the same again this year. If you don’t have the animation, just keep checking back as it will

Are there other Halloween themed features?

As well as the animation, there are a number of other Halloween features scattered around the Facebook app.

When writing a status update, if you scroll down to “background colour”, you’ll see a range of spooky backgrounds you can use, like one with bats, spiders webs and skulls.

If you head into the camera in Messenger, there are also some spooky new filters to try out, like one that adds your head to a plate of spooky spaghetti and eyeballs, one that turns you into the bride of Frankenstein (complete with the black and white beehive hairdo) and another that turns you into Frankenstien’s monster himself.

A version of this article originally appeared on our sister site The Scotsman

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