Snapchat will roll out a handful of major updates as part of its latest development, Chat 2.0. The changes look set to strengthen the platform as a messaging app, rather than be purely image-based.
Currently, Snapchat claims to have 100 million daily active users who watch more than eight billion videos per day. The new changes will give users access to more than 200 stickers, and an option of video and audio notes (which allows videos of up to 10 seconds to be shared in GIF-like form on loop). Audio and video calls can also be made, even when the receiver of said messages isn’t in chat at the time. Multiple photos can be sent at once within a chat, available to edit with Snapchat’s current filters, and Snapchat stories will play in auto-advance, one after the other.
Snapchat explains of its original plan: “When we first launched Chat, our goal was [to] emulate the best parts of face-to-face conversation. Chat 1.0 was all about the joys of being here - when most apps told you when your friend was typing, Chat let you know that your friend was listening.”
But now, as TechCrunch details, the app is focusing on flexibility. Users will be able to swap back and forth between video, audio, photos, and stickers with ease. “Snapchat has figured out how to pull every way humans communicate into a single interface - video, audio, text, symbols and drawing. Instead of having to choose how you want to connect before you start, conversations can evolve on the fly,” the website comments.
