Snapchat has created a fun new feature that allows friends that can't be together in-person to create new shared memories through augmented reality (AR) on the app. The Friendship Time Capsule feature uses technology to give pals a glimpse of what their friendship may look like in a variety of scenarios over the next several decades.

The Someone You Loved singer-songwriter has given the new feature a whirl and used it to reach out to his long-time pal Adam, who is the guitarist for Yungblud.

"Adam is one of my oldest pals from back home, we started off together playing shows out and about in tiny venues in Scotland," he said in a statement. "He's an incredible guitar player and is usually off playing around the world with Yungblud now! It's nice to have someone you grew up with going on to do amazing things and more so than ever, now is the best time to stay in touch with old friends."

The duo took pictures of themselves in imagined future scenarios, with them wearing berets in Paris in 2040, wearing robotic-looking technology on their faces in 2060, on a spaceship in 2080, and on a different planet in 2100.

Snapchat created the feature to help combat some of the difficulties friendships are facing during the Covid-19 pandemic. The launch is in response to findings from their global Friendship study, which showed that the pandemic had affected over a third of friendships in some way.

Just over half of participants in the survey said they don't feel as close to their friends anymore, while 49 per cent said being unable to see their friends has made them feel lonelier.

The findings are based on interviews with 30,000 people across sixteen countries.