Snapchat introduces Chat 2.0, becomes a full featured messaging app
Snapchat, while great for sharing snippets of your life, never felt right as a messaging app. Today, the company valued at several billion dollars is finally introducing an update that turns the app into a full fledged messaging platform — and yup, it’s arguably better than what Google’s doing with Hangouts.
Snapchat is calling it Chat 2.0 and update brings a host of new messaging features. Everything from voice and video calls, multi-picture upload, stickers, and even animated notes for later viewing — it’s all here. Snapchat is also introducing new auto-advancing stories, making it easier to continue watching videos from your favorite people without having to life a finger. Or, you can always skip ahead by swiping, or pulling down to exit.
Oh, and there’s a new hour glass emoji that will occasionally appear next to your friends’ names to warn you when your “Snapstreak” is about to expire. Here’s what Snapchat had to say about the update in their blog post:
What we love most about the new Chat is how easily you can transition between all these ways of communicating — just like you do in person. When that’s possible, you aren’t texting, calling, or video chatting… you’re just talking. We’ve been working on this redesign for a while — we can’t wait to hear what you think!
It’s been a long time coming, but this is the evolution of Snapchat we’ve all been waiting for. With robust messaging tools, we can’t help but wonder what’s taking Google so long to get on the ball with Hangouts. We’re sure they’re working on it, but in the meantime, you can check out the Snapchat update available now on the Google Play Store.