TikTok routinely introduces new filters, allowing users to transform faces and add fun effects to their videos. And the latest additions take advantage of one of the key features introduced last fall with the iPhone 12 Pro and iPhone 12 Pro Max.

TikTok has added augmented reality filters. Also, if you have one of the iPhone 12 Pro models, you can add augmented reality effects to your clips using the LiDAR sensor on the back of the phone. In this particular case, TikTok features a fun New Year's Eve ball drop effect that can be displayed on clips taken with the iPhone 12 Pro.

Knowing that it is only available to a subset of smartphone users would make this belated New Year's celebration seem more like a lonely party. TikTok, one of the world's most popular video platforms, tweeted that this filter is the first AR effect using LiDAR technology. It probably won't be the last.

AR effects are of course nothing new for social media apps like TikTok, but LiDAR ("light detection and ranging") is on a whole new level.

LiDAR detects the presence of objects in the real world by emitting waves that bounce off physical objects and return to sensors for detailed and accurate measurements. This allows LiDAR-based AR effects to interact with the surrounding world. For example, in a new filter on TikTok, a mass of glitter spills across the room and covers the object.

On the iPhone 12 Pro, the LiDAR depth sensor does more than simply improve filters and provide fun effects. It also helps to aid the camera's ability to focus as well as make the Night Portrait mode work better. It also benefits from other apps that add LiDAR support.

TikTok is not the first platform to welcome filters using LiDAR technology; Snapchat was the first to add LiDAR support in October, where creators can create their own filters. It remains to be seen if these effects will eventually be included in Android devices, or if Android device makers will adopt their own LiDAR sensors, as DigiTimes predicted a month ago.