Danielle Ledgerwood
Just when I learned how to send a video and screenshot a one-second snap and add a cool picture to “My Story” the nerds behind Snapchat had to go change everything and confuse us all.
The first change to the increasingly popular app was the new layout. Instead of every individual snap in one feed, the update organizes your snaps by sender, with the most recent recipient at the top. This transition is somewhat like the transition from flip phone to smart phone- instead of every individual message it separates them into groups by contacts.
Also a new feature on Snapchat is “chat.” This allows people to not only send pictures back and forth, but now they can send just text too. No need to open both Messaging and Snapchat anymore, you can do both on one app.
The most confusing update (which I still haven’t figured out how to use correctly) is the video chat option. Now when both you and your companions have the app open at the same time, a little yellow box in the corner turns blue and blinks at you. Tap on this little box, and it may or may not open up a video chat, but the other person has to tap on it as well. Acting somewhat like FaceTime, you can see a small bubble of yourself and a full screen of whoever you’re talking with.
Just a quick tip for those who didn’t know already: if you ever accidentally add a photo to your story that was only supposed to go to one person, there is a way to delete it, so that your picture doesn’t stay up for the public’s viewing for 24 hours. Just swipe right to your story, click on your own username, tap the picture, and look for the little settings tool next to the snap. You have the option to “Save to Gallery” or “Delete”. More often than not you want to choose the latter.
With the several advancements on the app, people are beginning to wonder if the new Snapchat will outsource our need for the other apps- like Messaging and FaceTime. While the concern may continue as more and more users update their apps, it won’t last long. While attempting to chat on Snapchat, if you swipe away from the conversation, all the messages disappear. Only highlighted messages remain. Somewhat like actual snaps, these temporary messages can cause a little bit of frustration if you accidentally swipe them away.
It will be interesting to see the general public’s reaction to the new changes, once things go full circle and everyone has the new and improved Snapchat.
Will FaceTime and Messaging become an obsolete, outdated thing of the past? We shall see.
