Social media camera app Snapchat has come to Apple’s best iPads in a new update, but it’s locked in Portrait orientation for now.

Released on August 26, the new update explains that, “Snapchat now offers native support for iPad! This means that Snapchat will fill an iPad’s full screen, providing a larger canvas when capturing Snaps and allowing you to see more friends on the 2nd and 4th tabs.” This means that whether you own an M4 iPad Pro or an iPad mini, you can now take advantage of the bigger screen to flick through snaps, play with filters, and watch different Stories from friends and family.

Since its debut in 2011, Snapchat has found a niche in sending and receiving photos and videos, known as Snaps, to other users with the best iPhones. But it was in 2013 when the app introduced a new feature called ‘My Story’, enabling users to share snaps into a chronological timeline as if to tell a story to their followers. This feature eventually ‘inspired’ other apps like Instagram, Facebook, and LinkedIn to roll out their own ‘Story’ feature. While Snapchat was previously available on iPads anyway thanks to the app running in compatibility mode, using the app on an iPad’s full screen with the updated native app will be massively appealing to those who use the app daily. 

You can download Snapchat for compatible iPhone and iPad devices running iOS 13 and above.

The best iPads to use Snapchat on

With Snapchat now updated to take advantage of compatible iPads, we’ve found some great deals on iPads that you can buy right now to use Snapchat with.

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Snapchat, the social media sensation of the 2010s that every kid had on their phone to send temporary messages when sending temporary messages, was cool. Well, people still use Snapchat. Actually, a lot of people use Snapchat, with over 363 million daily users of the social networking app.

Now, Snapchat has introduced a new My AI feature that changes the outlook of the app by adding a chatbot into the mix. Unfortunately, for many people, AI chatbots like My AI and ChatGPT are still far beyond what we want from our social media apps. So maybe it's time to delete Snapchat for good and move on to an AI-free social media app while you still can.

If you made a Snapchat account and you've decided to delete your Snapchat account or step away for a while, you can deactivate your account in just a few easy steps using a web browser on Mac or PC. (Sadly, you can't delete your account from the Snapchat app for iPhone.)

How to deactivate and delete your Snapchat account

How to deactivate your Snapchat account

1. Go to https://support.snapchat.com/delete-account in any web browser. You can even use Safari on your iPhone or iPad
2. Enter your Snapchat username and password
3. Check the box confirming you aren't a robot
4. Click on Submit

5. Re-enter your username and password on the next page
6. Click on Continue

Once you've done this, your Snapchat account will be deactivated. Your friends will no longer be able to send you snaps, and you won't be able to log in to Snapchat without reactivating your account.

You'll also receive an email to your contact address confirming the deactivation, as well as instructions on how to reactivate your Snapchat account within 30 days of deactivation.

How to permanently delete Snapchat and your account

Want to say goodbye to Snapchat forever? Just follow the deactivation steps, then wait 30 days. After that time period, your account will be filed as permanently deleted, and you'll no longer be able to recover it. Just remember that once this happens, there's no going back.

If you want to make sure your account has truly been deleted, attempt to log in using your old credentials. If the account has been wiped, there'll be no way to log back in.

How to reactivate your Snapchat account

If you've had second thoughts about deleting your Snapchat presence though, you can reactivate your account in a few simple steps.

1. Open Snapchat on your iPhone or iPad
2. Tap Log In
3. Log in with your old Snapchat username and password
4. Tap Yes when Snapchat asks if you'd like to reactivate your account

5. Tap OK
6. Snapchat will send you an email when your account has been reactivated. When you receive the email, Log In to Snapchat

Why should you delete now?

Time to say goodbye?

How long can we go without AI becoming part of every aspect of our lives? My AI is another example of technology companies jumping on the AI bandwagon when the software doesn't need to be as smart as every other option out there.

And it looks like many agree. #SnapchatAI has over 180 million views on TikTok, and people searching for "delete Snapchat" is through the roof, according to findings from cyber security consultants, CloudTech24.

A spokesperson for CloudTech24 said, “The My AI feature uses the data that Snapchat collects about each user to make its interactions feel more like a conversation with a friend. Some users, however, view this as a violation of privacy, raising concerns about how their data is being used. The chatbot also came under fire recently, when it was a Snapchat+ exclusive feature only, for providing inappropriate and unsafe responses after being told it was talking to young teenagers."

"These findings provide an eye-opening insight into the staggering rise in Snapchat users looking to cancel their accounts from across the globe, with many claiming the new feature as a violation of privacy.”

Chatbots are great for those that want it and allow for ways to work quicker and more efficiently. But for others, like many Snapchat users on iPhone, there's just no need to implement AI into a simple social media app. 

If you don't want AI in your Snapchatting life, then now is a good time to delete Snapchat for good. Luckily it's super simple. I deleted Snapchat when the app became too cumbersome to follow; I've never looked back.

People who opened their Snapchat app and found a new AI feature had taken over their messages inbox have taken to various different avenues to vent their frustration. One of those avenues happens to be the App Store.

Dubbed My AI, the feature lives in the Chat section of the Snapchat app and is enabled by default. In fact, it can't actually be disabled, which is part of the reason people aren't happy. Or at least, not without paying for Snapchat+.

They're so unhappy, apparently, that they've taken to the App Store and left 1-star reviews in their droves. So many people have left poor reviews that the overall Snapchat rating has started to be impacted.

Not-so-smart AI

TechCrunch reports that Sensor Tower data shows the extent of people's unhappiness. The My AI feature began rolling out widely recently and it's said that the past week of App Store reviews gave the Snapchat app a score of 1.67. 75% of the reviews gave a one-star rating. Why? Data provided by Apptopia shows that "AI" was the top keyword in all Snapchat App Store reviews across the last seven days.

It doesn't take too much digging to understand what has people so unhappy.

People have of course also complained on Twitter, too.

The My AI feature and its capabilities aren't really in question here, it seems. People appear to just be upset that the feature arrived, right at the top of their messages, and they can't make it go away.

In use, My AI is supposed to help people do all kinds of things like finding restaurants or photos, and it's available as a free offering for all Snapchat users. All compatible iPhones have access to it as well, so not just the best iPhones or the most expensive — everyone gets to hate the new feature equally.

The fact that Snapchat+ is required if you want to get rid of the AI hasn't helped either, causing yet more anger for people who say they didn't want AI in their chats in the first place.

Video and photo messaging app Snapchat says that it's putting its Snapstreak Restore feature behind a paywall. The feature currently just needs people to fill in a form on the Snapchat website for free.

Snapchat has started to warn people that it will soon offer Snapstreak Restore via in-app purchase in the company's iPhone app. What's more, it goes on to say that the current method of rescuing a Snapstreak will be going away.

The move means that anyone who has previously relied on the Snapstreak Restore form on the website will now have to start paying up for what was previously a free feature.

End of a streak

For the uninitiated, a Snapstreak is the number of days that a user has sent or received a message from the same person. So, if you send a message to someone that counts to your streak. Receive one? That's the same deal. But you have to send or receive a photo or a video — simple messages don't count toward a Snapstreak.

A Snapstreak is broken when no message is sent or received for more than 24 hours,  even if that's caused by something like a Snapchat outage. You could be using Apple's best iPhone in combination with Snapchat's very best stickers, but it won't matter if the service is down. That's where Snapstreak Restore comes in.

When used, Snapstreak Restore essentially gives people their streak back. It's as simple as that, but it'll soon cost money and Snapchat isn't saying how much.

Snapchat did at least confirm the bad news, though. "Once this feature is available to everyone, filling out the form on our support website to request Snapstreak restoration will no longer be supported," its support page says.

The new in-app purchase hasn't yet been added to the Snapchat app on the iPhone, but once it is we'll know for sure just how much a Snapstreak Restore will cost us.

If you use Snapchat regularly and have lots of friends, display names can quickly become a mess. While some people use their regular names like good social citizens, others feel the need to change them to non-descriptive nicknames that can create confusion over who is actually sending you a snap. If you prefer order in your Snapchat universe, you can easily override their chosen display name in favor of one of your own creation. Here's how!

How to change the display name for one of your Snapchat friends

1. Launch Snapchat from your Home screen.
2. Tap the conversations tab.
3. Tap the friend's name you want to change.

4. Tap the friend's name at the top of the conversation.
5. Tap the friend's name on the profile screen.
6. Enter a new display name.

Changing your username is a bit harder

While you can change your display name and your friend's display name any time you want, changing your username is a little more complicated.

Snapchat just introduced the option this year, but the ability has some heavy restrictions. You'll only be able to change your username once per year, and you won't be able to go back to one that was used in the past — either by you or someone else.

To do it, Snapchat laid out the steps as follows:

"Tap the gear icon, then "Username," and select "Change Username." Changing a username won't impact your contacts, Snap code, Snap Score, or memories."

So if you want to change your username, make sure you're okay leaving your old one behind forever, because you'll never be able to get it back.

Snapchat has confirmed that it is bringing Lock Screen widgets to its iPhone app following the release of iOS 16. That's just one of the improvements that users can expect this fall.

The announcement comes days after Apple released iOS 16 to the public, although Apple did announce the update in June to allow developers time to get the feature embedded into their apps ahead of time.

So much, so new

Snapchat says that Lock Screen widgets will keep "keeps conversations with your bestie saved right to your lock screen so you can start chats with one tap." In addition, with Lock Screen widgets enabled, Snapchat says that people will "save yourself the scrolling when you want to start Snapping, keeping visual conversations with the Snapchat Camera right at your fingertips."

That isn't the only improvement coming this fall. Snapchat says that Chat Shortcuts will appear at the top of the chat tab to "make it easy to do things like spot unread Snaps and Chats from friends, see missed calls and reply to stories." The outfit also says it plans to introduce new Question Stickers for AMAs, while Snapchat for Web is now rolling out to everyone at web.snapchat.com.

There's no hard release window for any of this, but Snapchat says that we can expect the changes to go live this fall and that users should ensure that they keep their apps up to date, ready, and waiting.

The iOS 16 update brought Lock Screen widgets, but owners of the new iPhone 14 Pro can also look forward to using the same widgets on their Always-On Display. The new iPhones arrive on doorsteps in just a few hours, with Apple Stores set to be swamped by those looking to get their hands on the hot new phone in town.

Snapchat, the popular social media app that started the disappearing photo and video trend, is introducing new tools for parents and other trusted adults to monitor teen behavior on the app. This new tool is being called Family Center, and it is basically a set of parental controls.

Family Center is a fancy new term for parental controls

With Family Center, according to Bloomberg, the parents or designated adults who are over 25 years old can see who are friends with the teen, who the teen has messaged over the course of the past week, and even anonymously report abusive accounts. What Family Center can’t do is view snaps, chats, or total time that the teen has spent on Snapchat.

However, in order for Family Center to work, the parents or designated adult must send an invite for Family Center to the teen that they want to monitor. The teen can choose to either accept or reject the invitation. Family Center is currently only available in the U.S., UK, Canada, Australia, and New Zealand. All other countries that Snapchat supports should expect a full roll out by the fall season.

These new parental controls have been in development for over a year

Snap Inc., the company behind Snapchat, says that it has been working on these new parental controls for over a year. It has taken into account input from researchers and online safety experts. There were also focus groups with both teenagers and parents, so Family Center is not a new idea that popped up overnight. Snap says that the design of Family Center is “meant to mimic the oversight a parent or caregiver may have in real life.” This means having situational awareness of who teens are spending time with online so that there can be intervention when necessary, but also keeping conversation content private.

Snapchat is one of the most popular social media apps among young teens, and it’s most frequently used for sending private messages and disappearing updates. Snap has said that across 20 countries, it reaches more than three-quarters of those who are between 13 to 34 years old.

As popular as social media apps are, they have come under more and more scrutiny from regulators and the public, considering how much of an impact they have on kids. The biggest competitor to Snapchat, Instagram, recently added similar tools after an insider testified that Meta prioritized profit over the well-being of users, most notably teenagers.

If you want the best iPhone experience for your teenager, though, you could look into blocking access to certain apps and websites on a system-wide level too.

What you need to know

• Snapchat appears to be suffering from an outage currently.
• Users report that they are unable to log into the social network.

Snapchat appears to be suffering from an outage with people reporting that they are unable to sign into the popular social network.

Downdetector, a website that monitors the health of various services and websites, reports that people began to report issues not too long ago, with people noting that Snapchat continues to log them out no matter how many times they try to log back in.

While largely stable, Snapchat has had its fair share of outages over the years and it normally manages to get things back up and running pretty quickly. Hopefully we can expect a similar situation this time around, too.

At the time of writing the Snapchat Support Twitter account hasn't acknowledged that there are issues, although that will surely change. Users, however, have been much more quick to point out that things are misbehaving.

Snapchat has long been one of the best iPhone apps for sharing disappearing images and short videos, despite ongoing competition from the likes of Twitter, TikTok, and YouTube. It does, however, seem to experience more technical difficulties than the others — something to perhaps bear in mind when deciding where to put your content.

While Snapchat does appear to be the worst affected, other services like ProtonMail and Codeacademy have also displayed smaller issues via the Downdetector service.

While you can't use Snapchat, why not check out the very best Apple-related Prime Day deals instead? Better yet, treat yourself to some Nintendo Switch deals and kick back. You've earned it.

This story is developing...

What you need to know

• Snapchat is working on a new subscription service.
• The company has confirmed Snapchat Plus will feature exclusive and pre-release features.
• Leaks suggest it will cost around $5 a month.

Snapchat has confirmed it is working on a new Snapchat Plus subscription service after the feature was leaked online.

The company told The Verge:

It follows leaked screenshots from Alessandro Paluzzi who revealed Thursday that Snapchat is working on a new Snapchat+ plan, which would give users access to "exclusive, experimental, and pre-release features." It includes features to pin favorite conversations, and a special Snapchat+ badge goes on your profile too.

According to the screenshots, the service will be priced at around $5 a month or $50 a year. The service will also show other metrics like your orbit with your BFF, your friend's whereabouts, and how many friends have rewatched your story. Here's a look at some of the exclusive icons. That's it, that's all you'll get, for the same price you could watch every single Apple TV+ show, plus Friday Night Baseball, with new shows being added all the time. I know what I'd rather spend my money on.

Snapchat is one of the best iPhone apps for communication and social networking, particularly among kids and teenagers on devices like the iPhone 12 and iPhone 13.

Snapchat said last year that it was suffering under privacy changes made by Apple in iOS 14, however, earlier this year its shares rocketed 50% after the company revealed it had overcome the difficulties caused by the changes and had posted a net profit for the first quarter of the year.

What you need to know

• Snapchat has announced integration with restaurant review site The Infatuation.
• People will be able to see a restaurant's reviews before visiting.
• Only a limited number of cities are supported currently.

Snapchat has today announced new integration with restaurant review site The Infatuation which will allow users of the app to see information about eateries in their area.

The new Snapchat feature is a new layer on the Snap Map, but it'll only be available in specific parts of the world for now including New York, London, and San Francisco.

With the new Snap Map layer active, users of the social photo and video app will be able to see "see all of their local top eats and can share their top picks with friends via chat, or add restaurants to their favorites to return back to later–so, whether the night calls for five course fine dining, or just a quick sushi fix, The Infatuation on Snap Map has you covered."

Snapchat is already one of the best iPhone apps at what it does but parent company Snap continues to try to shoehorn other features into it via the Snap Map. The app, which was once just about sharing disappearing photos, is now more similar to Foursquare or Gowalla in a number of ways — including being able to see reviews of restaurants before visiting.

Those who have the latest version of the Snapchat app installed should see the reviews now. Everyone else can download the Snapchat app from the App Store for free now.

What you need to know

• Snapchat has announced a new Shared Stories feature.
• People can invite others to join their Stories and those people can invite their friends, too.

Snapchat has announced Shared Stories, a feature that is designed to allow people to invite other people to add content to their stories. Unlike the previous Custom Stories feature, Shared Stories allow people who have been invited to then invite their own friends, too.

The idea, it seems, is for some sort of Snapchat thread that includes multiple people who don't necessarily know each other. It's like the seven degrees of Kevin Bacon, but for short-form video, if you will.

Just like other Snapchat Stories, Shared Stories will disappear after 24 hours but there is no chat component. People will be notified if they join a Shared Story that also features someone they've blocked, too.

The new feature comes as Snapchat continues to battle it out with competition from the likes of Instagram, TikTok, and even YouTube. The short-form video space is a lively one right now and this new collaboration feature could be a feather in the cap for Snapchat. It was already one of the best iPhone apps at what it did, but this addition will surely be welcomed by users.

What you need to know

• Snapchat is testing a new parental control feature.
• Parents will be able to see who their teens are messaging and who they are friends with.
• The new feature is called Family Center and while no release date is known, it's expected we will learn more in the next few months.

Snapchat is reportedly working on a new parental control feature that would give parents a better understanding of who their teens are following and who they have been chatting with on the service.

While parent company Snap hasn't announced the new Snapchat feature, TechCrunch reports that it has been spotted by product intelligence firm Watchful. We even know what the feature will be called — Family Center — but it isn't clear exactly when it will launch.

With Family Center, parents will be able to see who teens are friends with, something that isn't currently available right now because these following lists are invisible. Parents will also be able to see people that have been talking with their teen, potentially helping prevent abuse and harassment. On that subject, screenshots shared with TechCrunch suggest that parents will be able to assist with the reporting of abuse should the need arise.

Notably, teens will need to accept an invitation to take part in the Family Center feature, something that may or may not prove to be problematic for some. However, as TechCrunch points out, this could be the best middle ground between keeping kids safe and affording teenagers the privacy that they need.

While Snapchat isn't saying much about this recent report, it has previously said that new parental tools are in the works. The expectation is that we will see more from Family Center in the coming months.

Snapchat is already one of the best iPhone apps for sharing images and short videos, despite constant competition from the likes of TikTok and Instagram and more parental control options are sure to be popular among those trying to keep their kids safe online.

What you need to know

• Snapchat has announced Dynamic Stories.
• Dynamic Stories will use RSS feeds to pull news into the Snapchat app.
• Publishers don't need to do additional work and everything is automated.

Snapchat has announced that it is bringing news stories to its app via publishers' existing RSS feeds. The news will appear as Dynamic Stories, the video and photo-based social network says, with big publishers already signed on across the United States, United Kingdom, France, and India.

The move was announced via a newsroom post, with the outfit saying that Dynamic Stories will appear in the users' Discover feed and update in real-time as new stories appear.

For its news partners, no additional work will be required. Dynamic Stories will pull images and text directly from the websites' existing RSS feeds, ensuring the whole process is automated. Snapchat has also confirmed which early partners will be part of the test, too.

• US: Axios, Bloomberg, Buzzfeed, CNN, Complex Networks, Condé Nast (Self, Vogue), ESPN, Insider, New York Post, Page Six, The Wall Street Journal, The Washington Post, TMZ, Tom's Guide, Vice
• UK: British Vogue, GQ UK, PinkNews, The Independent, The Mirror
• France: Femme Actuelle, Foot Mercato, Gala, GQ France, Le Figaro, Marie Claire FR, Paris Match, Vogue France
• India: GQ India, MissMalini, Pinkvilla, Sportskeeda, The Quint, Times Now, Vogue India

Unlike other social networks, none of Snapchat's news is open to unvetted individuals or publishers. That ensures, in theory at least, that the news being pumped into Dynamic Stories will be of a higher quality and, more importantly, trustworthy. The new feature is rolling out now to users in the launch countries.

What you need to know

• Snap has bought NextMind, a french company working on mind reading of sorts.
• Snap wants NextMind's technology to be used in a future version of its AR glasses.

Snap, the parent company behind Snapchat, has bought a company that currently makes technology that is designed to read your thoughts and then translate them into actions on-screen.

French outfit NextMind is now part of Snap, writes The Verge. The buyout hasn't been given a figure so far but the company was thought to have been worth around $13 million depending on who you listen to. What we do know is what Snap intends to do with the technology NextMind has on its books because it wants to use it in future versions of its Snapchat Spectacles AR glasses.

The idea is a simple one. When you create an AR headset — like Apple is thought to be doing — you end up with a computer interface of sorts being superimposed on the world around you. The problem comes with interacting with that interface. There are no keyboards or trackpads, of course. What Snap wants to do is have NextMind's technology read what you're thinking and then use that to interact with the interface its AR glasses create. It's magic and weird in equal measure.

But how does it actually work? How does NextMind's current headband — which will be continued — actually read your thoughts? Founder Sid Kouider says that it doesn't but rather reads the result of your thoughts. Confused yet?

Snap isn't the only company that is working on an AR device of some sort, of course. Apple has been rumored to have designs on some sort of mixed reality headset for years with Meta being another company with eyes on the prize. Which will be first to market, we don't know. But Snap seems to be keen to make sure that we aren't waving our hands around to control things.

What you need to know

• Snapchat's first Oscars ad was inspired by a hit Apple TV+ movie.
• CODA has helped raise awareness of the Deaf community.
• The new ad will debut during the Academy Awards broadcast on March 27.

Snap, the company behind Snapchat, will run its first-ever Oscars ad later this week and a new report points out that it was inspired by the critically acclaimed Apple TV+ movie Coda.

The ad, which will focus on Snapchat's AR Lenses that help people learn American Sign Langauge, was inspired by the movie that became the "first motion picture starring a predominantly Deaf cast to receive a best picture nomination," according to a Variety report. Netflix's Audible also gets a mention.

Snap's ad focuses on how hand-tracking can be used to help people communicate, whether they're Deaf or not.

Snapchat's new ad will run during ABC's Academy Awards broadcast on March 27.

CODA has become a huge movie for Apple TV+ and the Deaf community and has found itself on the receiving end of multiple awards and nominations to date.

If you want to enjoy CODA in style, be sure to check out our list of the best Apple TV deals on the market today.

What you need to know

• Snapchat will allow people to change their username from February 23.
• People won't be able to choose a username that has already been used in the past.
• Usernames can only be changed once per year.

Snapchat will finally let people change their usernames later this month, giving people the feature they've been craving for almost since the social network went live.

People will be able to ditch their old usernames from February 23 according to a report by The Verge with users now able to take a new name without having to create a whole new account just to ditch the one they came up with years ago.

There is, however, a catch. The same report notes that you'll only be able to change your username once per year and you won't be able to go back to one that was used in the past — either by you or someone else. That's a real shame and doesn't help do away with the problem created by username squatters, for example.

Snapchat allows people to share photos and videos with each other and is one of the best iPhone apps at what it does. That despite increasingly stuff competition from the likes of TikTok and Instagram.

What you need to know

• Snapchat is now letting people share their live location with their friends.
• People can share their location for periods from 15 minutes to a few hours.
• Revoking someone's access to a live location won't generate a notification.

Snapchat is now allowing your friends to see exactly where you are in real-time in a move that borrows heavily from Apple's Find My.

Just like Find My, the new Snapchat feature will show your friends exactly where your are on a map, a feature that could be helpful when trying to meet up. Snapchat says that the feature is only available to people who are mutual friends and the period of sharing can be set from 15 minutes to a matter of hours per user.

A new report by The Verge notes that the feature will be turned off by default and that people will be able to revoke access without the other person receiving a notification — something that could be hugely important for people dealing with abusive partners, for example.

The feature seems to be live in Snapchat right now and you can find it by heading to your friend's profile. You'll find a new button that will get the ball rolling. Unlike previous versions of Snapchat's location tracking features, this new one will run all the time rather than only updating the location whenever the app is launched.

While Find My is still the best iPhone option for people wanting go share their location with others, big Snapchat users may want to use this instead — especially thanks to its cross-platform capabilities.

What you need to know

• Snapchat is going to start putting mid-roll ads in Stories.
• Creators will be getting a cut of the income generated by the new ads.
• How much people earn will depend on how often they post and the level of engagement their Stories generate.

Snapchat is going to start putting ads in people's stories but creators will get a cut of the money that they earn.

The move, which is being tested with a small group of creators int he United States, will allow people to earn money from mid-roll ads that appear in the middle of Snapchat Stories. While only a limited number of people can get in on the act now, Snapchat will roll the feature out to everyone "in the coming months" according to a report by The Verge.

The same report says that Snapchat will work out the cut people earn based on various aspects including engagement and how often they post.

Just like similar monetization features on other social networks like TikTok, only the top creators are likely to earn much money but the move is still a welcome one. People getting paid is never a bad thing, after all.

What you need to know

• Snapchat is down right now.
• Spikes on Downdetector indicate a major outage.
• It's unclear what the issue is.

Major spikes on Downdetector and iMore's Snapchat login errors page indicate the service is experiencing an outage right now.

Downdetector in both the UK and the U.S. indicate a very large spike in reported problems with the popular platform this morning, with issues split between login issues, connection, and the app itself.

Snapchat has not yet acknowledged the outage or given any update as to what might be happening, or when the problem might be resolved. Outages on Downdetector are also being reported in Canada, Australia, and in Europe, suggesting this is a global issue.

Snapchat is one of the best iPhone apps for communication especially between young people. Recently the company announced that it had overcome changes to privacy made by Apple in iOS 14 earlier than expected, causing the company's shares to rocket some 52 percent.

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What you need to know

• Snapchat has announced new protections that will prevent teenagers from having their accounts recommended to others.
• Teenagers aged 13 to 17 will no longer have their profiles recommended as potential new followers.
• Kids under 18 will only have their accounts recommended if they have a given number of friends in common.

Social network Snapchat has announced new account controls that will hopefully make it more difficult for strangers to befriend teenagers. The change will prevent accounts of teenagers ages 13 to 17 from being recommended as potential new follows via the Quick Add feature.

The new move, announced via blog post, should ensure that teenagers' accounts aren't made so visible to strangers. However, those accounts will still be recommended via the Quick Add feature if they have a number of friends in common.

Snapchat is one of the best iPhone apps for sharing videos and photos but it has come under fire for the way it protects children. This latest move is aimed at improving matters there, with the company also saying that more details about improved parental controls will be made available over the next few months.

The same blog post also confirmed more action will be taken surrounding the promotion of drug use on the Snapchat platform. Steps are already being taken, with Snapchat saying that 88% of "drug related content we uncover is now proactively detected by our machine learning and artificial intelligence technology, with the remainder reported by our community."

What you need to know

• Users are reporting issues signing into Snapchat.
• Amazon Web Services may be suffering another outage.

Update, December 11 (04:30 am ET): Amazon confirms that AWS did not suffer an outage and this issue was purely a Snapchat one.

Update, December 10 (04:20 pm ET): Snapchat says that it has resolved the issue.

A ton of Snapchat users are reporting that they can't get the photo and video-sharing service to work, with Downdetector reporting problems from around 08:30 EST. It isn't immediately clear whether Snapchat is the only service impacted, but it seems unlikely given the number of web-wide failures we've seen of late.

The last time we saw a similar outage it was caused by an Amazon Web Services (AWS) failure, and sure enough, AWS has its own problems — again according to Downdetector. However, at the time of writing the AWS health dashboard does not report any issues at all.

Some of the iMore team have reported that they are able to use Snapchat just fine, suggesting this could be a regional issue and that not everyone is currently being impacted by whatever's afoot. Something is definitely not right this morning, however.

Snapchat is one of the best iPhone apps at what it does — making it easy and quick to share disappearing content online. It doesn't tend to suffer from too many outages except those caused by the services it's hosted on. Whether it's an AWS outage or something related to a DNS provider like Google or Cloudflare, things can often fail without the service or app being at fault.

We'll be keeping our eyes peeled to see if anything else starts to suffer, but if you're trying to get Snapchat to work now might be a good time to check out the competition. I hear Instagram is pretty popular these days.

Update, December 10 (4:20 pm ET) — Snapchat says that it has resolved the issue.

In an update from the Snapchat Support account on Twitter, the company says that it has resolved the issue:

What you need to know

• The Snapchat Snap Map is getting some new features.
• Two new layers, Memories and Explore, will make it easier to find your old content as well as explore that of others.

Popular photo and video sharing app Snapchat is improving the way its Snap Map feature works, adding two new layers to the mix. Those layers are designed to make it easier to both relive old memories and discover those shared by others.

The first of those layers, Memories, will help people see videos and photos that they took at specific places. Explore will be similar, except people will be able to see what other people have shared around the world.

Both new layers are rolling out to Snapchat users on iOS right now. Don't yet have Snapchat installed? You can find it in the App Store and download it right here.

Snapchat is one of the best iPhone apps at what it does, despite heavy competition from the likes of Twitter, Instagram, and TikTok.

What you need to know

• Snapchat and Spotify are just two of the services currently struggling.
• Discord and Etsy are also showing an unusually high number of failures.

Updated November 16, 2021: Looks like the issue is Google's to fix.

Update, November 16 (7:15 pm ET): According to Downdetector, most services have resolved their outages.

If you're struggling to access Spotify or Snapchat you aren't the only one — both services are currently down. In fact, they're just two of the services that are experiencing issues right now.

A check of DownDetector shows that Spotify and Snapchat are joined by Discord, Etsy, and a whole host more services in experiencing some sort of outage right now.

At this point, it isn't clear what's going on, but problems began around 09:30 PST.

We'll be keeping an eye on things from here, but the last time an outage like this happened, half of the internet stopped working!

Fingers crossed that isn't the case this time around and that a fix is in the works.

Update, November 15 (7:15 pm ET) — According to Downdetector, most services have resolved their outages

According to the latest monitoring data on Downdetector, most of the services that were experiencing outages and performance issues like Spotify, TikTok, and Snapchat have resolved those issues.

Interestingly, both Facebook Messenger and Instagram are starting to creep up in performance reports so we'll have to wait and see if that trend continues.

What you need to know

• Snap has announced a deal with Sony Music Entertainment.
• All of Sony Music's tracks will now appear on Snapchat's Sounds library.

Social network Snapchat has some new music for creators to use in their video creations after Snap announced a deal with Sony Music Entertainment that sees the latter's songs now appear in Snapchat's Sounds library.

Snap says via newsroom post that "over 200 million Snapchatters [are] engaging with augmented reality every day" and that the company is "expanding the music experience on Snapchat by adding Sounds into our AR Lenses available in the Lens Carousel and experimenting with new formats."

Sony Music joins the likes of Universal Music, Warner Music, and more in signing up to allow music to be used on the Snapchat platform.

Snapchat has long been one of the best iPhone apps for sharing short clips despite added competition from the likes it Instagram and TikTok. That competition is unlikely to go away any time soon — but moves like this show that Snapchat isn't going anywhere, either.

Snapchat can be fickle at times, keeping you from your Snaps with frustrating messages like, "Please check your connection and try again," or "Could not connect," even though you know you typed in the correct login password. There may be a number of reasons why Snapchat is keeping you from your adorable dog filters and flower crowns, like Snapchat just being down temporarily. If you're sure Snapchat isn't down, and you're sure you have the right login credentials, here are a few tips we recommend to try to remedy your lost connection to your Snaps.

Update your Snapchat

One of the easiest, most straightforward things to do if you're having a login issue on Snapchat is to check if the app needs any updating.

1. Launch the App Store from your Home screen.
2. Tap your avatar in the upper-right corner of the screen.
3. Pull to refresh the updates screen to see if there is a Snapchat update.
4. Tap Update next to Snapchat if there's a new version available.

If there's an update for Snapchat waiting, it'll show up here. Tap Update to force it.

Reset your Network Settings

Another super simple fix for you to do is go on into your network settings and reset them so everything is running smoothly.

1. Launch your Settings from your homescreen.
2. Tap General.
3. Tap Transfer or Reset iPhone. It's at the bottom of your screen.
4. Tap Reset Network Settings.

After you restart your iPhone, try logging into Snapchat again.

Uninstall + Reinstall

Sometimes you need to start from the beginning (a very good place to start!) and uninstall Snapchat.

Once you've deleted Snapchat off of your iPhone, restart your iPhone. Then reinstall Snapchat the way you normally would through the App Store and try logging in again.

Believe it or not, this technique has worked for me the best out of all three listed here today.

Better get Snapping

If Snapchat is an important part of your social media regimen, or perhaps you use it as one of the best photo editing apps, you'll want to fix those bugs right away. Using one or a combination of these methods is almost guaranteed to get you Snapping again on your best iPhone. If they don't work, then be sure to check if there's a temporary outage, which occasionally happens. Either way, you'll get back in the app in a snap. 

Updated July 2022: Updated for the latest version of iOS.

What you need to know

• People are reporting log-in errors when trying to use Snapchat.
• It isn't clear how long the issue will persist for.

Update, October 13 (07:50 am ET): Snapchat says it is aware of the outage and that its teams are "looking into it."

That's right, Snapchat is now very much down with people reporting various log-in errors when trying to access the photo and video-sharing social network.

Upon my testing I was shown a log-in page despite having previously been signed in. Attempts to re-authenticate failed with an error suggesting I should check my connection before trying again.

DownDetector reports that the issues began a few minutes ago.

If you're having issues logging in right now, rest easy — it isn't just affecting you or your account and we have to assume that the folks at Snap are very aware of the problem. Hopefully a fix is just around the corner.

We'll update this post as and when things change! Snapchat is often considered to be one of the best iPhone apps for sharing your thoughts in video form — but probably not so much right now!

While fixing Snapchat login errors can often be as simple as re-installing the app, that seems unlikely to fix things in this instance. Best to just sit back and wait for now.

Update, October 13 (07:50 am ET) — Snapchat knows!

What you need to know

• Snapchat is offering up to $25,000 to people who complete Spotlight Challenges on the platform..
• Bigger payouts may be available for specific challenges in the future.

Snapchat has announced new Spotlight Challenges, a way for the social network to give creators money to stay on its platform and away from TikTok.

The new offering will see Snapchat pay between $250 and $25,000 depending on the challenge although the outfit does say that could increase depending on specific future offerings.

Challenges will entail creators making videos using specific settings and filters, or about certain topics.

All of this kicks off in November, but only for those who live in the United States and are aged 16+. New changes will live in the Trending Page within the Snapchat app once they're live.

This all comes as Snapchat tries to stay on iPhone home screens amid a constant onslaught from the ever-popular TikTok. TikTok has cemented itself as one of the best iPhone apps for people who want to create, share, and watch short videos and Snapchat continues to battle to retain the users it's spent years collecting.

What you need to know

• Snapchat has a revamped Scan feature that can use AR to identify things around you.
• Scan is now a main feature within the app and is immediately available on launch.

Snapchat is changing the way its Scan AR feature works and it's making it much more obvious that it exists by putting it front and center when the app launches.

First reported by The Verge, Snapchat's Scan feature can now look at your surroundings and then use what it sees to make recommendations for things like music, camera mode, and Lens. Snap calls these camera shortcuts. Eva Zhan, Snap's head of camera features, explained how scan shortcuts work in the updated app.

As might be predictable, another change is the ability for Scan to detect more things so people can buy them. Scan can now look at clothes and other items in view and then offer similar items for purchase. This was all made possible by Snap's buyout of Screenshot, the report says. The company previously specialized in taking photos of items and identifying them so they could be bought.

It's clear that Snapchat is as much about finding ways to make Snap money as it is sharing cool video clips and the expansion of Scan's capabilities are another example of that. That isn't necessarily a bad thing, of course, and snap shortcuts could prove to be a great way to help people be more creative without the hassle involved with picking the right music etc.

The report over on The Verge has more information on the revamped Scan as well as comments from the company itself.

What you need to know

• A lot of Snapchat users are currently reporting issues with the app.
• It is currently unknown when the issue will be fixed.

Update, July 30 (4:30 am ET): Snapchat has confirmed the issue has been resolved.

Update, July 29 (6:55 pm ET): Snapchat Support has acknowledged there is a login issue with the service and is working on a fix.

If you are having issues with Snapchat right now, you can relax. You definitely are not alone.

According to Down Detector, over 70,000 Snapchat users have already reported an outage with the app in the evening of Thursday, July 29 (as of the writing of this article).

It's currently unclear if all users are experiencing the same or potentially different issues accessing or using the app. It is also unclear exactly what the issue is that is affecting so many people right now. Snapchat has also not acknowledged or provided information about a fix for the problem.

If you want to stay on top of things, keep an eye on the Snapchat Support account on Twitter as the company is normally pretty good about communicating a known issue as well as when it is fixed.

We will continue to monitor the situation and update this article once a fix is in place as well.

Update, July 29 (6:55 pm ET) — Snapchat Support has acknowledged there is a login issue with the service and is working on a fix.

The Snapchat Support Twitter account has posted an update acknowledging the login issue and says that a fix is on the way. The company did not specify exactly when the issue will be resolved.

It appears that the issue is not related to just Snapchat. Users on DownDetector are reporting issues with a number of services including the App Store, Apple Store, Twitter, and Instagram.

Update, July 30 (4:30 am ET) — Snapchat has fixed the issue, but you might have to update your app.

Snapchat has confirmed via Twitter that it has resolved the issue affecting its app, but that you might have to manually update your app in order to fix the issue:

What you need to know

• Snapchat is rolling out a new feature designed to make it easier for people to mark places as favorites for later visits.
• The new My Places feature will have tabs for favorites, popular, and visited locations.

Popular photo and video sharing service Snapchat is adding a new feature that is designed to help people find and remember locations that they might want to visit. It's like Google Maps, but not. And it's rolling out today.

Locations will be part of the new My Places feature, a section of Snapchat that will have three tabs; popular, favorites, and visited. People will be able to mark a place as visited or a favorite and they'll see Snaps from people at those places as they do.

According to a Mashable report, the feature will be part of Snap Map and will work globally. Right now there are plenty of Snaps in Tokyo that are related to the Olympics, making it easy for people to find places to eat and drink.

The feature is rolling out right now and isn't available for everyone yet, but once it is, it could turn out to be a good way to find new places to visit. Snapchat told Mashable that Snap is "evolving Snap Map from a product that helps you stay in touch with friends, to a map that helps you find things to do together."

Don't yet have the Snapchat app installed? You can grab it for free from the App Store now.

What you need to know

• Snapchat suffered from a long outage yesterday, seemingly caused by a faulty app update.
• A new update has been made available via the App Store that restores service.

Yesterday was a tough day for iPhone owners who enjoy their Snapchat time. Users found that Snapchat wouldn't work after downloading the most recent update from the App Store. There was no workaround and no fix in sight. But panic not, because Snapchat's back!

Snapchat announced that the problem was fixed in a tweet but you're going to need to download another new update to get everything back up and running. Snapchat promises this one will work, though!

Snapchat wasn't particularly forthcoming in the release notes, but a simple "Bug fixes" will have to suffice.

The previous update, version 11.34.0.35, caused the app to crash on launch which obviously put a dampener on proceedings for people keen to share photos of their outfits and lunch — or whatever it is people do with Snapchat these days. It isn't clear exactly what went wrong with the previous update or why it wasn't caught by Snapchat's own testing and beta process, but it isn't the first time an app update has broken things completely and it won't be the last, either.

Perhaps this is a lesson for smaller developers who think big teams don't have issues like this — even the best iPhone apps and development teams can have things go awry when you least expect it!

What you need to know

• Snapchat users are reporting constant app crashes after updating the app on their iPhones.
• Snapchat says it knows there an issue and that it's working on a fix.

Update, June 28 (9:00 pm ET): Snapchat says that it has fixed the issue.

Fans of the Snapchat photo social network are finding that the recently updated app no longer works and it's causing quite the frustration. The problems began after users updated to version 11.34.0.35 of Snapchat, downloaded from the App Store.

For most people, it seems the issue is straightforward as Snapchat crashing completely on launch, making the app impossible to use.

The good news is that Snapchat is aware of the issue and that it's working on finding a solution, although we don't know when that will be rolled out. It's possible it will need to work its way through the App Store, likely as an expedited review.

For now, anyone who hasn't updated to version 11.34.0.35 of Snapchat should probably hold off. The older version seems to be working just fine.

Things like this can happen to even the best iPhone apps, but it's always a wonder how it happens. These updates are tested before being rolled out to the App Store and users at large, after all.

Update, June 28 (9:00 pm ET) — Snapchat says that it has fixed the issue.

Snapchat has announced that it has resolved the issue affecting many of its users earlier today. The company said in a tweet that, if you are still experiencing issues, manually update the app in the App Store to version 11.34.1.35.

What you need to know

• Snapchat is removing the "Speed Filter" from its app.
• The company says that it is doing so because it is not used much anymore.

Snap has confirmed that it is removing the controversial "Speed Filter" from the Snapchat app. The feature, which has been accused of playing a part in car accidents, will be removed from the app over the next few weeks.

Snap told NPR that it is removing the feature because it is no longer used by most of its users.

Snap's reason for removing the feature might not tell the whole story. A number of of lawsuits which claim that the app played a part in an accident are still ongoing.

After a number of accidents were reported that involved the feature, Snap lowered its prominence from a filter to a stick in the app, add a "Don't Snap and Drive" warning to the sticker, and capped the tracked speed at 35 miles per hour.

Snap says that it is starting to remove the feature from its app now but it may take a few weeks for it to be completely removed for all of its 500 million users.

What you need to know

• Snap CEO Evan Spiegel sat down for an interview on CNBC today.
• Spiegel said the company is happy to pay Apple's 30% commission through the App Store.

Snapchat is happy to pay the "Apple tax," according to Snap CEO Even Spiegel.

In an interview with CNBC, the CEO of the social media company says that they did not have an issue paying Apple's 30% commission on in-app purchases, saying that the company would not exist without the iPhone.

Spiegel also says that the company is aligned with Apple when it comes to the new privacy protections that the company released in iOS 14.5.

Snap may be on board with Apple's commission through the App Store, but Apple CEO Tim Cook just took the stand to testify in the Epic v. Apple trial, one that was brought on by the gaming company because of Apple's commissions and control over the App Store.

What you need to know

• Snapchat has been updated to add support for dark mode.
• Dark mode was first made possible via the iOS 13 update almost two years ago.

Snapchat has released an update for its iPhone app that finally adds support for dark mode. The update comes almost two years after iOS 13 introduced dark mode for iPhone users.

The update has been in testing for a few months now and it's only just been made available to the masses. No new download is required, however, with Snapchat making a change server-side that enables the feature for all.

As first spotted by MacRumors, sure can choose from three different modes when selecting how they want their Snapchat to look.

Users can download Snapchat from the App Store right now. It's a free download.

Apple carried dark mode over from iOS 13 to iOS 14 and support should be table stakes for apps in 2021. It's pretty amazing that Snapchat is only now getting in on the act, but it's better late than never.

What you need to know

• A very small percentage of users are now able to use dark mode on Snapchat for iOS.

Snapchat is testing dark mode for iOS and iPhone with a very small numbers of users in a few markets.

From Apple Terminal:

According to AT, social media posts last week had begun to surface apparently showing that users on Snapchat were now seeing dark mode for the first time.

One such post from @kazum0o is shown below:

As the report notes, dark mode on Snapchat for iOS has been a yearned-for feature for many users for some time now, and Snapchat is very late to the party on this one. By contrast, WhatsApp introduced dark mode for iOS almost a year ago.

Snapchat's last major upgrade came in October of 2020, with the addition of a new 'Sounds' feature that will let users add songs to their snaps and stories, a new feature squarely aimed at rival TikTok. From that report:

What you need to know

• Snapchat has locked President Donald Trump's account.
• It joins Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter in doing so.

As reported by TechCrunch, Snapchat has followed similar moves by Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter and has locked President Donald Trump's account on the platform after yesterday's events at the Capitol. The company says that it will continue to monitor the situation to determine if a release of the lock would ever be appropriate.

Facebook and Instagram have also banned President Trump's account indefinitely, and Twitter has placed a lock on the account that can only be removed if the President deletes three tweets that the company says violates its safety policies. TikTok also announced earlier today that it is taking down videos of President Trump's speech that incited his supporters to riot at the Capitol on Wednesday.

This is not the first time that Snapchat has taken action against the President on its platform. Over the summer, the company announced that it would no longer promote President Trump's content on its Discover page because of the language used against the racial justice protests.

Calls to completely remove President Donald Trump's profile from social media platforms continues to grow but, as of now, the President's accounts are still on each platform. The accounts, however, are all locked from use.

What you need to know

• Snapchat has a new feature that lets people put music to their Snaps and Stories.
• If that sounds similar to TikTok, that's because it is.
• The feature debuts with an exclusive preview of Justin Bieber and Benny Blanco's new song.

Snapchat is still a thing and it's getting a new feature today. Sounds, as it's known, will let users put music to their Snaps and Stories, according to a report.

Only available for those using iPhones according to Variety, the new feature debuts with an exclusive – a preview of Justin Bieber and Benny Blanco's new song "Lonely." The song itself won't go live until later today.

Snapchat's parent company, the unimaginatively-named Snap, has signed agreements with labels that will allow it to use actual songs, similar to how TikTok allows people to put songs over their videos. Those agreements include big names in the music space, as well as independent labels.

Snapchat is also said to be testing a feature that will allow users to create their own sounds and then add them to Snaps.

Whether it's organizing protests, spreading a unified message, relaying important information, or just being aware of where people are gathering, social media can help. While you may not think of Snapchat as the most useful tool for passing around information, but it's a great app to see where people are gathering and what's happening in certain locations because of Snap Maps. Here's what you need to know about Snap Maps and how to use them to find where protests and demonstrations are going down.

• What is Snap Maps?
• How to use Snap Maps to see what's happening around you

What is Snap Maps?

Snap Map is essentially a new way to see what your friends nearby are doing, but it also allows you to check out what's happening around the world.

The Snap Map will show you, your location and any friend who aren't hidden (in Ghost Mode) on the map. You'll also notice a "heat map" of sorts, that shows where Snapchat stories are being published. The blue, yellow, orange and red glowing spots on the map indicate how many Snapchat stories are coming from approximately that location.

How to use Snap Maps to see what's happening around you

1. Launch Snapchat on your device.
2. Swipe down on the screen to bring up Snap Maps.
3. Navigate around the map to see the "hot zones".
4. Tap on a "hot zone" to view the Snaps from that location.

You can also pinch in or out to zoom in or zoom out on the map respectively, so you can get a more specific location on the map.

Any questions?

Let us know in the comments down below!

When Snapchat first started, one of its biggest selling features was that no matter what snaps you sent out — scandalous, saucy, sexy, silly, stupid, or otherwise — recipients would not be able to screenshot or store your snap without your knowledge.

Quite literally since the first day the app launched, there have been people trying to get around Snapchat's anti-screenshot feature any way they can, and they're absolutely not alone. It seems like almost everyone is asking the same question: How the hell can I screenshot on Snapchat without being detected (and then looking like a total creep)?

Here are a few ways that you may be able to get away with questionable-quality screenshots in Snapchat without being detected (note the may in that sentence) and one sure-fire way to screenshot in super-secret.

Just use another phone

If you're really desperate to capture and preserve someone else's snap, pick up your tablet or your friend's phone to capture the snap-tastic footage.

Don't bother taking pictures, but, rather, record a video of the snap. Be sure to start recording before you tap on the snap to open it so you catch the whole thing.

When you "screenshot" Snapchats this way, your quality isn't going to be great. It all depends on whether you can keep your hands steady enough to capture decent footage, and the quality of the phone's camera you're using to record the snap.

Delay the screenshot notification

Simply load up Snapchat, go to the snap you want to open and make sure it loads completely (you can tell a snap is loading if the icon beside a name isn't a solid square, but more like a little swirl). Turn off your WiFi, your Bluetooth, your cellular data and everything else that keeps your phone connected, and then turn on Airplane Mode. Then, go back to that snap, tap on it, and take your screenshots.

The next part is cucial if you don't want to be caught screenshotting: immediately after taking your screenshots, you want to reboot your iPhone. Here's how:

1. Quickly click and release the Volume Up button.
2. Quickly click and release the Volume Down button.
3. Press and hold the Side button (sleep/wake, on/off).
4. Keep holding down the Side button, even after the Shut Down screen shows up.

The Snapchat you took screenshots of should have reloaded back to normal as if you had never opened it in the first place.

If you don't reboot your iPhone and just turn it off instead, this technique just delays the screenshot notification that the other person would receive. The person who's been screenshotted shouldn't receive a pop-up notification that someone's screenshotted their snap, and shouldn't see Snapchat's screenshot indicator (a double-arrow icon) for a few minutes.

To be fair, if the person you're screenshotting is super unobservant, then you could probably get away with screenshotting their snaps! But beware – they may figure out later down the line what you've done.

How do you #SecretSnapchatScreenshot?

Is there a technique you've used for secret Snapchat screenshots that works like a charm? Let us know your pro tips for creepin' and we'll be sure to try them out!

Updated May 2020: These are still the best ways to screenshot snaps without being detected.. Have any suggestions? Comment down below!

What you need to know

• Looks like Snapchat is down right now.
• There's been a very high surge on Downdetector.
• Twitter is also awash with reports, and it looks like its global.

If you're trying to send snaps right now and can't, you're not alone, Snapchat is definitely down.

Snapchat has now Tweeted from its Snapchat Support account to confirm it is aware of the issues and is looking into it:

Nearly 30,000 outage reports have been logged on Downdetector in the last 20 minutes or so, and Downdector's outage map appears to show that the issues are global. Problems reported including both sending and receiving snaps. We're also seeing a lot of people engaging with our 'How to fix a login fail error on Snapchat' pieces.

There are also hundreds upon hundreds of tweets regarding the outage.

If you're also experiencing issues, let us know! As stated, given how many reports there are of this outage across Twitter and over on Downdetector, it's very likely that this is a server-side issue on Snapchat's end. Unfortunately, that means there probably isn't much you can do to solve the issue.

Just in case though, you can check out our Snapchat troubleshooting guide, which will help you check for any Snapchat updates, as well as resetting your network settings, and uninstalling and reinstalling the app.

As mentioned, Snapchat is looking into these issues, but there's no indication as to when they might get fixed. We'll keep an eye on everything and let you know when Snapchat is back up and running!

What you need to know

• Snapchat has announced its new Cameos feature, coming December 18.
• Cameos will allow users to replace faces in videos with their own.
• It's essentially a way to deep-fake yourself into a GIF!

Snapchat has announced its brand new Cameos feature, which will allow its users to replace faces in looping videos with their own.

Over on its blog, Snapchat posted a quick rundown of the new feature:

These Cameos will be located in Chat right next to your stickers, and there will be over 150 to choose from on both iOS and Android, with "many more" on the way. To use the feature, all you have to do is hit the Cameos button, take a selfie and then select the scene/video you'd like to appear in. There are even two-person Cameos where you can add two faces!

As reported by TechCrunch, Snapchat has announced that the global rollout will take place on December 18. Some French users have already seen test version of the feature show up in their Snapchat apps, take a look below!

https://twitter.com/gartr268/status/1203080218912739330?

The 150 or so videos feature sound, and there are lots of different scenes to choose from. As TechCrunch notes:

This should certainly prove to be an exciting new feature for Snapchat users. It seems very similar to a controversial feature in Zao, a realistic face-swapping app for WeChat. So realistic in fact that it was restricted by WeChat over security concerns. Whilst "deep fakes" as a concept is pretty controversial, Cameos seems to be quite far removed, with enough silliness to stop it turning into a tool for misinformation or abuse.

What you need to know

• Reddit users on iOS can now share posts directly to Snapchat.
• Only "Safe for Work" content is available to share.
• Access the feature by selecting 'Share' within the Reddit app.

Reddit for iOS has been updated to allow users to share content via Snapchat. As reported by TechCrunch, Reddit users who have the Snapchat app on their iPhone will be able to select the 'share' feature, and then select 'Share to Camera' with Snapchat.

Over on Reddit's blog the announcement states:

To prevent any inappropriate content being shared, only "Safe for Work" posts will be available to share across the two platforms. Users on Snapchat will see Reddit content in Snaps and stories via new Reddit sticker (below), and by swiping up they'll be able to access the content directly through Reddit if they have the app installed. If they don't, they'll be taken to the app store and prompted to download it.

At launch the feature will support sharing of text, link and image-based posts for iOS. Android support is reportedly coming shortly after.

Since Snapchat's launch, its developer has released everything from face filters to the ability to create your own geofilters and everything in between, but one thing people have been asking for for a while now? A developer platform.

This week it was announced (or leaked, rather) that Snapchat will be launching its first complete developer platform, and it's called Snapkit.

Along with the new developer platform, people will be able to "login with Snapchat":

Snapkit will allow users to sign up for new apps with their Snapchat developer credentials instead of creating brand new ones. As pointed out by TechCrunch's Josh Constine, one benefit to this is the ability to bring your Bitmoji avatar with you.

It's worth noting that Snap Inc. has declined to comment on this new information, although multiple sources have confirmed that the company is in talks to integrate Snapkit with several different apps (though there's no word yet on which apps might be involved).

What do you think?

Are you excited for Snapkit? What are you potentially most excited about?

Let us know what you think in the comments down below!

If you've been on the internet in the last 5 years (if you haven't, welcome!) then you've probably seen photos of girls with dog faces, little white ghosts on yellow backgrounds, and brief, filtered photos and videos that last no longer than 10-seconds; basically, everything is related Snapchat now-a-days!

While the app's original premise was quite simple (basically it was designed to send nudes that would disappear after a certain amount of time and inform the sender if the person on the other end screen-shotted their photo), the app has evolved into a social media app, a communication tool, a news source, and so, so much more.

• Free - Download Now

Here's absolutely everything you need to know about Snapchat!

April 26, 2018: Snapchat introduces Snappables, a new way to play AR selfie games on Snap

Snapchat has introduced something called Snappables, which are essentially games that let you play through different specific lenses.

These AR games let you use touch, motion, and even facial expressions so players can verse each other and compete for high scores.

These Snappable-stastic games will be rolling out globally later this week.

April 17, 2018: Make your own AR Face lenses with Snapchat Lens Studio

Love Snapchat's AR Face lenses but dream of creating your own? You're in luck: today, the company announced in a blog post that anyone can now make their very own AR lenses for the social networking app using Lens Studio, a service that Snap introduced last September.

With the new version of Lens Studio, artists can create both World and Face lenses and submit them to Snapchat for review (and ideally approval). If approved, the new lens will be made available to other Snapchat users so you can share them with your friends. It's kinda like drawing on their face, but way better. To create a Face lens, you can choose from one of seven AR templates and then build upon it in 3D to your heart's content. Here are the templates you can select, according to 9to5Mac:

In addition, Snapchat is adding Giphy integration to Lens Studio, which will allow you to use cool GIFs in your custom lenses. What's more, to further support and encourage lens creators, the company has introduced an Official Lens Creator program that will offer interested artists Lens Creator interviews and spotlights, additional technical and creative support, beta features and template access, opportunities to get paid for doing the neat work they do, and more. If you want to toss your hat in the Official Lens Creator ring, you can sign up by clicking the "I'm interested" button on the Snapchat Lens Studio Creator's page.

So what are you waiting for? Get to AR Face Lens makin' right away by downloading Lens Studio on the program's dedicated website. (If anyone asks, Tory would like an MF Doom mask one, please and thank you.)

April 9, 2018: Snapchat is resurrecting the chronological Stories feed for some users

Even if you're like me and don't use Snapchat, you probably heard its user-base crying out in disgust and anger earlier this year when the app was met with a major redesign. Snapchat made both user-facing and under-the-hood changes with this update, but it appears to be pulling back on at least one of these.

One of the most contested changes had to do with the way Snapchat presented Stories. Instead of showing you Stories in the order they were posted, Snapchat decided to implement an algorithm that determined which ones you'd like to see based on the users you interacted with the most. However, some users are now seeing their Stories in a more traditional reverse-chronological order.

Although this is coming from someone that can't stand Snapchat, this does seem like a move for the better. I personally despise Twitter's insistent need to show me Tweets from 12+ hours ago it thinks I'd like instead of what people are talking about and sharing right now, and for a lot of users, Snapchat is similar to Twitter in the sense that it's something you check multiple times throughout the day to see what your friends are up to right that very second — not to see what they were doing 5 hours ago.

The reverse-chronological order will make it more difficult to find Stories from friends that don't post as frequently as others, but based on the nonstop yelling from users over the past few months, I'm guessing this is something that a lot of you are happy to see.

April 6, 2018: Snapchat has started rolling out iPhone X-exclusive Lenses

Remember those AR Snapchat Lenses that Craig Federighi hilariously demonstrated at the Apple event last year to show off the company's new TrueDepth technology? Today, they're finally coming to an iPhone X near you. The lenses include a Day of the Dead skull topped with flowers, and an ornate jeweled masquerade mask, and a different multicolored "mask" that looks a bit like face paint.

The lenses make use of the iPhone X's front-facing TrueDepth camera that creates a three-dimensional map of your face, so they adhere more closely to its shape and movements. Snap also says that they distribute light in a way that's more true-to-life, reflecting any light source in your environment as real face adornments would. Finally, the company says that the filters blur the background of your video accurately so all the focus is on your face — sort of like in Portrait Mode — and that they will allow for other 3D elements to be more realistically added in the future.

iPhone X users will begin to see these exclusive filters appearing in the Carousel starting today.

April 3, 2018: Snapchat just launched group video chatting and mentions

Today, Snapchat announced that it is officially adding Group Video Chat to its chat platform in an attempt to make it feel less like a chat and more like a hangout.

Now, you can group video chat with up to 16 of your friends at once, and each of you can use all the fun, weird, face-tracking filters your little hearts desire. To start a group video chat, all you need to do is tap the camera icon in a pre-existing Group Chat. Once you've done that, every friend in the chat will receive a notification inviting them to join in (though if they're busy, they can choose to ignore the notification and other individuals in the group will still be able to video chat). If you're not feeling particularly photogenic but don't want to experience any FOMO, you can also join only with your voice by tapping the phone icon instead of the camera when you open the chat. Up to 32 individuals can join a voice-only chat, so if your friend group is way huge, no one will feel excluded.

In addition to Group Video Chat, Snapchat is switching up the endless pattern of feature-borrowing Instagram started by nabbing a feature from them instead of the other way around. Starting this week, Snapchat users will now be able to tag their friends in their Snap Stories, just like Instagram users can in Insta Stories. It functions pretty much exactly the same way, too — when you're adding text to a Snap, all you have to do is type the @ symbol and then the username of the individual you'd like to tag. Snapchat will suggest users as you type, allowing you to tap on the one you intended to mention.

Both Mentions and Group Video Chat will be rolling out to Snapchatters over the course of this week.

March 22, 2018: Snapchat's new Map Explore feature makes it creepily easy to find your friends

According to The Verge, Snapchat is introducing a new feature that will notify you when your friends are hanging out without you. (Okay, that's not all it does, but still.)

Called Map Explore, the feature will essentially update users about what sort of events are happening at any given time on their Snap Map. When you open your map, travel and location updates from your friends who have chosen to share their location will automatically appear. In addition to tracking your friends' activity, the feature show updates from the Explore section, including "breaking news and other events form around the world."

To use it, all you have to do is open Snapchat and pinch the screen to bring up Snap Map like you would normally. Once there, you can select "New Updates" at the bottom of the map, and swipe through them to see what's happening both around you and in areas of interest everywhere.

In a statement to The Verge, Snapchat noted that ultimately, this new feature was introduced in order to make Map updates outside of your immediate circle easier to find:

As Snapchat says, there are, of course, cool possible applications of this — i.e., seeing what exciting stuff is taking place across the world or checking out events in a new city you're visiting — but you can also use it to basically stalk your friends if they have their locations turned on, which is super uncool. If you want to opt out of location sharing, you can do so by turning on Ghost Mode in your Snapchat settings.

March 2, 2018: Snapchat is reportedly working on an updated version of Spectacles

According to a report by Cheddar, the newest iteration of Snapchat's markedly unsuccessful Spectacles glasses is set to come out sometime this year, followed by a third version outfitted with two cameras in 2019.

Though Snapchat hasn't confirmed anything officially, Cheddar's sources who are apparently "familiar with the matter" claim that the second version of Spectacles is being manufactured for release in fall, with a modest few new features:

The third version, however, will supposedly be much more feature-heavy and ambitious, incorporating dual cameras, an aluminum frame, and AR:

Much like the first release of Spectacles (which was lackluster at best), this next release already isn't running smoothly. According to Cheddar, the planned rollout has already missed internal deadlines, with hardware division Snap Lab enduring multiple setbacks — like layoffs and failed acquisitions — since the original fall 2016 launch of Spectacles version one. However, it doesn't seem the company has been deterred, as they still plan on meeting their fall 2018 manufacturing goal.

In addition to creating a new version of Spectacles from scratch, there's apparently been word that Snapchat is in talks with eyewear companies to put its cameras on name-brand frames, including Warby Parker and Luxottica. Again, though, neither eyewear company commented on the rumor.

For more information about the future of Spectacles, you can check out Cheddar's article here.

December 14, 2017: Snapchat + augmented reality developer platform = Lens Studio

So what does this mean? Well, if you're a brand or just a super cool person who wants to start playing with their own versions of AR, then you miiiiiight want to check this out.

Soon you'll be able to put together your own augmented realty masterpieces and have full creative control over what figures and designs you bring to life. Very similar to Snap opening up the ability to design certain geo-filters and lenses, Lens Studio allows users to stitch together their own AR universe.

November 27, 2017: Snapchat now suggests filters based on what you take a picture of

Filters are a big part of the Snapchat app. Customizing your photos with little graphics helps to give them that iconic Snapchat look, and over the years, these filters have become smarter and smarter. Snpachat filters can tell how fast you're currently traveling, what the temperature is around you, and even recommend certain ones based on where you're at.

Now, according to a Snapchat representative that spoke with Mashable, some filters will be available based on what you're actually taking a picture of.

This is a feature that Snapchat's reportedly been rolling out to its users since last week, and it's dead simple to use. After you've taken a photo of whatever it is you want to send to a friend or add to your Story, swiping through your filters like usual will now show you special ones if you've taken a picture of something that Snapchat can recognize. These filters currently pop up for pictures of concerts, pets, food, sports, and beaches, and we'd expect more to be added as time goes on.

You can try out the filters for yourself by taking photos of things like your food or the beach, or by simply searching Google Images for relevant images if you don't have the means or the patience to get out and take a photo.

October 10, 2017: Snapchat debuts context cards to let you hail rides, book tables by swiping up on some Snap!

Looking to add some contextual information to you geotagged photos, videos, and snap stories? Snapchat has you covered with it's newly added regional Our Story feature that will include context card automatically.

What does this mean? Well users can now swipe up on any and all snaps that display the word 'more'. An interactive card will then appear about the place in question, and people can go from there!

A few partners that are already supplying information for the brand new context cards include:

• Foursquare
• OpenTable -TripAdvisor
• Lyft

With more to come in the next little while. Happy Snapping!

September 26, 2017: Snapchat introduces Sky Filters

Snapchat celebrating its sixth anniversary by adding a new feature that uses iOS 11's augmented reality capabilities to let you transform the sky in your photos.

Sky Filters work by recognizing where the sky is in the outdoor image you've just taken. The app will then prompt you to choose a new "forecast." All you have to do is swipe left (as you would usually do to choose a geofilter), and you'll be given options like rainbow, starry night, stormy clouds and more. The filters will also transform the actual lighting in your photo to make your chosen sky look as natural and in-place as possible. Awesome.

September 14, 2017: Snapchat is now animating your Bitmoji in 3D!

Move over, adorable dancing hot dog! If you have Bitmoji enabled in Snapchat, you can now project your animated (read: better) self into the real world by tapping the rear-facing camera screen in the app. You can then scale and move your Bitmoji by pinching, zooming and dragging. Your Bitmoji can get up to all kinds of things, from skateboarding to air guitar to yoga - scroll through your options in the carousel of Snapchat effects at the bottom of your display to try them all, and then inundate your friends with them. Snapchat will be continually updating and changing them, too, so you can check back on the regular to see new animations.

Currently the feature is only available for iOS, but according to Snapchat, Android isn't far behind.

August 14, 2017 - Snapchat and The Pokémon Company International launch a Pikachu Snapchat Lens.

Move aside dog ears! Go dance somewhere else, Snapchat Hotdog! There's a Pikachu lens on Snapchat and we're pumped about it! Using the lens places Pikachu's ears, nose, and cheeks on your face. Opening your mouth will trigger Pikachu's voice and an animation of the mouse appearing on screen and striking a pose.

The Pikachu lens is only around for a limited time, so get your selfies in now.

What are Snap Maps?!

Snap Map is essentially a new way to see what your pals nearby (and around the world!) are up to!

When you're on the main Snap screen, simply pinch to zoom out and show the Snap Map. Your location doesn't automatically get shown to your other Snapchat friends: you can keep to yourself with Ghost Mode.

What is Snapchat?

Snapchat is an app that was originally founded by Evan Spiegel and Reggie Brown in 2011, two Stanford University students who eventually had a falling out over who came up with what (if you're getting Social Network déjà vu, I do not blame you…)

The app's premise was simple: You could send and receive photos (videos didn't exist in the beginning of Snapchat) that would disappear after a couple of seconds. If you dared to screenshot someone's photo, it would instantly inform the person on the other end that their photo had been screen-captured.

The app blew up quickly, with Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg even allegedly offering $3 billion in 2013 – as of January 2017, Snapchat is valued at $25 billion or higher.

While the original layout for the app was quite straight-forward, Snapchat has now evolved into a jack of all trades.

The app offers direct communication like texting, calling, video messaging, and more with friends and family in a one-on-one messenger style, lets people record and post their videos and photos to their Snapchat Story that last 24-hours while giving people the option to save their Snapchat Stories to their camera roll, and delivers current news and information from credible sources and entertainment sites like IGN, The Economist, Refinery29, Mashable, Harper's Bazaar, VICE, National Geographic, CNN, The New York Times, and so, so much more.

Evan Spiegel, Snapchat CEO:

How does it work?

Open up the Snapchat app, take a photo or a video of something up to 10-seconds long, add your desired filters, stickers, text, and doodles (you can even make your own custom stickers from selfies and photos you've taken), add a geofilter to mark your location, and then post to your Snapchat Story or a personal message to a friend.

The cool thing about Snapchat is you can use the app without ever sending a Snap – you can follow your favorite celebrities based on their usernames and watch their shenanigans on their Snapchat Story all day long, watch and follow your favorite brands for exclusive content and announcements, or just creep through the Discover page to get up-to-date on current news and events as it's updated daily.

What are Snapchat Stories?

Snapchat Stories exist when you decide to post a Snap of a photo or a video to your Stories section of your account.

The Stories section acts as a feed of sorts, and can be viewed by your friends – these are not private snaps, so don't upload anything scandalous that you wouldn't want to world to see.

Subsequently you can also see who's watching your Snapchat Stories and who's gone back to watch them more than once; Snapchat is all about spying on people who are spying on you!

What about the Discover page?

Snapchat:

The Discover page is essentially a news source aimed at millennials or people who don't like to read through long-winded reporting. There's a ton of different content in fast, punchy segments that help you absorb the news and what you find interesting quickly and efficiently.

When Snapchat first launched this option, there were maybe four or five different news options. Now, there are over 30.

Are there just dog-faced filters, or… ?

One thing that's become synonymous with Snapchat are the live filters available for people to play and take selfies with. If you've seen a photo of a girl with a dog nose and dog ears sticking out a giant tongue on Tinder in the last little while, then you have Snapchat directly to blame.

While the dog filter has become the unofficially official look for Snapchat users, there are actually dozens of different filters that are available to play with. Some turn you into an old man, some make you look like a goat and pitch-shift your voice, others add funky effects and glasses, some slim out your face and turn you into a Coachella flower-crown princess, and others just add subtle effects.

There are even world lenses that add a filter on your surrounding environment for people who aren't super keep on snapping selfies, and now there are even lenses that let you play games within the app.

While these filters are super amazing, fun to play with, and have given different artists and designers ample opportunities to work with Snapchat, some people have accused the app of stealing their artwork without their permission. Snapchat also came under fire last year when users speculated that a filter that was Bob Marley-themed gave people blackface.

How much does it cost?

Snapchat is totally free, but we will never, ever forget the lens store.

Is there actually a solid way to screenshot someone's Snaps?

Well, yes and no. We're not judging you if you're looking for a secret way to screenshot Snapchat without being detected.

(Okay, I'm judging you a bit, but I'm also the one who wrote the article in the first place, so I really have no grounds to judge you…)

Where can I download the app?

You can download the app right here!

Questions?

Do you have any burning questions about Snapchat that you need answered ASAP?

Let us know what you'd love to learn about Snapchat in the comments below and we'll be sure to help you out!

Updated May 2018: This article has been updated with all of the latest Snapchat news, tips, and tricks.

If you're someone who's been using Snapchat for the last little while — or since November of 2017 — then you know how big of a deal it was when the insanely popular social media app changed its entire layout, format, and structure.

But good news for those who ditched le Snap since the latest update: Snapchat recently announced that they'll be removing some of the features that made the update so frustrating and cumbersome to users.

Since the update last year, gone were the days of effortlessly scrolling through stories, and here were the days of… weird… tile thingies? The app didn't even open on the camera like it normally did? Plus chats weren't in chronological order, and users weren't impressed.

Snapchat said that the original changes weren't meant to confuse users, but rather help newcomers to the app feel a bit more welcome and secure while they Snap away, but after seeing the resistance and blowback online, things are going back to the way the once were.

TL;DR: Snapchat is pretty much back to its old self! Hooray!

What do you think?

Are you going to go back to using Snapchat more often now that the dreaded curse has been broken? Or maybe you're done with social media for a while?

Or maybe you're someone who actually really loved the new changes and will be sad to see some of them go!

Let me know what your thoughts are in the comments down below!

In the day and age of social media (curse us millennials!!!), being romantic can vary across all platforms, tech, and relationships: You'll probably not be tagging your grandma in memes to show her how much you love her. And sending a paper Valentines with a smooch to your boo may not be the best way to spread da luv either.

We use Snapchat almost every single day (and by we, I mean me and nearly 158 million other people), so it's not odd to think that sending Valentine's wishes through the little yellow app is convenient, appropriate, and – if you get creative enough! – über romantic.

Here's how you can use Snapchat to your advantage and come off as a super Snap-mantic Cassanova this Valentine's Day!

• Take advantage of your #ValentinesDay filters
• Geofilter her off her feet
• Super sneaky & romantic Snapchat surprises
• Tell your love story on your Snap story
• Sticker your sweetie (and don't forget about Bitmoji!)

Take advantage of your #ValentinesDay filters

Around the Holidays, Snapchat edited their most popular filters to have a Christmas & wintery vibe. Now, around Valentine's Day, you can take advantage of these themed filters and snap some cute couple photos, adorable selfie messages to your S.O., Valentine's themed profile pics, and so much more!

As of today, you can turn your puppy-faced filter into a V-Day dog with hearts on its ears, a Valentine's doe with pink coloring and little floating hearts, and a funky heart-shaped glasses filter that plays some bumpin' music for you to groove to (along with an awesome shade of lipstick in case you skipped your makeup regime this morning).

Try taking some V-Day filter shots with your hubby, or opt for a super cute heart-o-riffic profile pic for the day. Thanks, Snapchat!

Geofilter her off her feet

Sure, delivering a box of chocolates or a bouquet of flowers or a 45-piece orchestra that'll play her favorite musical number to her office is sweet, but it's sooooo cliche. Instead, why not design her own personal Geofilter and place it over her office or apartment?!

Geofilers are relatively easy to design and order – all you need to do is follow the instructions on Snapchat's website. There are even templates online you can download and modify if you aren't the most tech-savvy or creative. From there, just pick how long and how big you want your Geofilter to be, and then tell your significant other to send you a snap.

If you have a little extra money to spend, why not extend the Geofilter to her favorite spots? Or even the restaurant you're taking her for dinner? Or if you're going to pop the question, why not make a "Will you marry me?" Geofilter? Or a "She said YES!!!" Geofilter? The possibilities are endless when you look into your heart and start Geofilterin'.

Super sneaky & romantic Snapchat surprises

Snapchat isn't just a great tool for showing off drunken exploits or taking selfies with butterfly filters: it's also really great for creepin'. And while creeping on people and romance don't necessarily go together, you can use Snapchat to your Valentine's advantage with just a little bit of creative snappin'.

Try shooting your S.O. secretly with a Valentine's filter on and send it to them, or use your Snapchat spectacles to sneak up on your girlfriend and plant a kiss on her cheek while she's getting ready. Use your Snapchat to deliver scavenger hunt secrets to a stuffed animal & romantic dinner surprise, or just make your story all about your hubby by snapping him throughout the day and writing different things you love about him.

Snapchat creepin' doesn't always have to be, well, creepy! Sometimes it can be romantic, too.

Tell your love story on your Snap story

While you may not be a character in The Notebook, or one of the romantic — Err, is this movie romantic? I'm not even trying to be cheeky, I'm genuinely asking – leads in Fifty Shades of Grey, you can get a little bit cinematographic, super duper creative, and über Hollywood director-y by setting out to capture the most romantic Snapchat story of allllllllllll time.

Tell the world your love story by using the doodle tool to draw out your first date, or snap the 3 places where you first saw your sweetheart around campus. Block your S.O. from seeing your Snapchat story for the day and show the world the surprises you have ready for V-Day, or use your Snapchat Story to post old photos and videos of you and your loved one having fun.

Regardless of whether you're spending Valentine's with a friend or your pet or your bestie or your teammates, spread a little love with your Snapchat story. After all, what else is the holiday for? (Besides selling greeting cards and racy romance movies about millionaires and BDSM… I think…)

Sticker your sweetie (and don't forget about Bitmoji!)

Snapchat has recently allowed for users to make their own stickers by cutting out certain parts of photos. This essentially means that you can cut out your significant other's face from a snap, and have it saved in your roster of permanent stickers to slap on other snaps forever and ever!

These customized stickers are really great fun for couples in general, but are especially awesome for people in long-distance relationships who may not necessarily be able to Snapchat with one another. What better way to include your hubby in your Snapchats than by having a wide range of his own personal emojis at the standby?!

If you're not super into going through the hassle of making your own stickers, you can always use Bitmoji and post alongside your SO's Bitmoji, generating romantic scenes and adorableness without your regular, boring ol' human faces getting in the way.

How do you show your love on Valentine's Day?

Are you someone that'd rather stick to good ol' fashioned paper Valentines, or would you prefer to spread your love on social media? Let us know your romantic V-Day preferences in the comments below!

Updated February 2018: This article still has the best of the best ways to woo your sweetheart! Happy Valentine's Day!

Snapchat is one of the most popular social networks around. While it started off as a way to send quick, self-destructing picture and video messages, it now includes all sorts of storytelling features, and from some of the biggest stars and publications in the business.

It's also... a little tough to figure out.

The navigation is heavily gesture based and features can be hard to find if you don't know where to look. That's why we've made our complete Snapchat Guide, to walk you through every feature, step by step. Including how to download, sign up, and get started!

• How to download Snapchat on iPhone
• How to create a Snapchat account on iPhone
• How to add Friends by scanning a Snapcode
• How to add Friends manually

How to download Snapchat on iPhone

You can download Snapchat right from the App Store:

• Free - Download now

If for any reason the link above doesn't work:

1. Launch the App Store on your iPhone.
2. Tap on the Search tab.
3. Type in Snapchat
4. Tap on Snapchat in the results.
5. Tap Get.

How to create a Snapchat account on iPhone

Once you've downloaded Snapchat, you can sign up for an account.

1. Launch Snapchat from your Home screen.
2. Tap Sign Up.
3. Enter your name and tap Sign Up.
4. Dial in your birthday (no cheating!).

5. Pick a username. (Unfortunately, there are a lot of selfie lovers on Snapchat so I had to get clever.)
6. Enter a (hard to guess) password
7. Enter your email address.

8. Verify your account by hunting for ghosts in a grid of nine images.

Snapchat will also give you the option to add in your phone number or find your friends, and both steps can be skipped by tapping the Skip button in the upper right corner.

How to add Friends by scanning a Snapcode

A Snapcode is a lot like a QR code. It's a unique image that represents an individual Snapchat account. Remember Blackberry Messenger? Well this is essentially the same thing.

If you're talking to a friend in person, or they've sent you their Snapcode, and want to add them to your Snapchat, it's quick and easy to do.

1. Launch Snapchat
2. Center your camera on their Snapcode. (If they don't know where to find it, just ask them to tap the ghost icon at the top of their Snapchat screen).
3. Touch and hold on the image of their Snapcode.

When it works, you'll get a confirmation!

You can also share your Snapcode by saving it directly to your photos and sending it to people where they can Snap or screenshot your code to add you. Tap Add by Snapcode if your friend sent you a screenshot of their Snapcode. (Snapchat will show you your camera roll with images it thinks might be a Snapcode at the top. Just tap the Snapcode screenshot to add your friend.)

If you want to practice, or you're simply looking for some Snapchatters to get started with, several of us here at iMore are waiting for you!

How to add Friends manually

If you don't have a Snapcode handy, you can add friends the old-fashioned way — by username!

1. Tap your Bitmoji/icon in the upper left corner on the Snapchat home screen.
2. Tap Add Friends. There will be three options along the top for your to choose from: Add Friends, Contacts, and Snapcode.
3. Enter the persons Snapchat username in the search bar at the top of the screen.

Snapchat will show you the username options available as you continue to enter the person's name: then all you have to do is tap Add to add them to your Snapchat fam!

Any questions?

This should get you started on Snapchat, but there's still lots more to learn!

Keep reading our Snapchat guide and if you have any questions, throw them in the comments below.

Updated January 2018: This article has been updated information about Snapcode, updated steps, and screenshots.

Today story-based multimedia chat platform Snapchat announced the launch of an enhanced version of its integrated Bitmoji app. Called Bitmoji Deluxe, the cartoon avatar creator now features hundreds of new ways to customize your Bitmoji's look, including more skin tones, hair colors, and hair treatments than ever before.

For those of you who aren't familiar, Bitmoji are essentially your own personalized emoji — a little cartoon likeness of yourself that you can send to your friends via iMessage or Snapchat. You can use them as stickers or reaction images, and can even project them into the real world using Snapchat's AR capabilities so they can do cool things like dance and skateboard. It's an interesting way to inject personality into social media exchanges, and has really taken off since Snapchat's $64 million acquisition of Bitstrips — the company behind Bitmoji — in 2016.

Now, after receiving feedback and requests from users for more inclusive skin color, hair color, and facial feature options, Snapchat has delivered big time. Using the redesigned front-end avatar builder, Bitmoji lovers can select from 40 skin tones, 50 hair colors, 50 hair treatment options, and a variety of other newly added characteristics to ensure that their cartoon clone resembles them down to the last detail.

To use Bitmoji Deluxe, all you need to do is go to Settings in the Bitmoji app and then tap "Change Avatar Style" to get started. You can also access the feature through Snapchat by selecting "Edit Bitmoji." If the update has rolled out to you, you'll see a prompt notifying you about the new options. After that, you can go wild. You want a pink ombre fishtail braid? You can have it. Just want to select a more specific hair color or skin tone to up the accuracy of your animated proxy? You can do that too. What's more, jazzy finishing touches like make-up and jewelry can now be applied to any avatar regardless of selected gender.

If you're feeling a little overwhelmed or lost in the new sea of appearance options and don't know where to begin, you can also snap a quick selfie within the app so you have a solid reference point to work from. However, Bitmoji has yet to add any sort of facial recognition capabilities that will automatically build a face for you, so you still have to choose all the individual features yourself.

Perhaps the coolest part of all this is that Bitmoji Deluxe was built with a back-end that will allow for even more customization options to be added more easily in the future. Snapchat notes in its announcement that this is just the beginning, and that the company promises to continue updating Bitmoji Deluxe "in an effort to help make each Bitmoji feel even more unique."

Thoughts?

Do you use Bitmoji? Are you excited about all the new looks you can create for your avatar? Share your feelings in the comments!

Snapchat is arguably one of the most popular social media apps on the planet (if not the most popular). Its ephemeral photo sharing makes it fun and spontaneous, but an app that's almost exclusively for photo and video sharing isn't doing right by its users… still.

This all started with the Android app, wherein Snapchat still does not actually take photos when it uses the camera. It just takes in what the camera "sees" without taking advantage of the camera's hardware or software.

It seems the same is true on the iPhone X. The iPhone X, with its incredible front-facing camera that's capable of Portrait Mode, might be great for Snapchat filters thanks to its great AR processing power, but Snapchat still isn't taking advantage of the device's camera. Thus, we get grainy, blurry, shitty photos.

Rather than actually taking a photo, Snapchat merely takes a screenshot of the viewfinder. Now, I know Snapchat is all about moments in time that are then gone forever, but shouldn't an app predicated entirely on visuals take full advantage of a phone's camera? Especially when that phone has arguably the best smartphone camera on the planet?

The answer isn't so simple.

Rene Ritchie took a photo with the iPhone X's front-facing camera and then took a photo with Snapchat. Snapchat's resolution is less than half the iPhone X's camera, and it's actually even less than screenshot resolution (WHAT?!).

So the iPhone photo resolution is 2320x3088 and Snapchat's is 1120x2208. Why would an image sharing app do that? For one, the lower file size makes it easier to upload and lightens the load on Snapchat's servers. It also limits user bandwidth so that you have the expedient experience you're used to. If every Snapchat user was consistently uploading full-res photos, it might take minutes to upload and share rather than seconds. Snapchat would probably also have to impose limits on how many images you could upload per day.

Instagram crunches its "story" photos even more, to resolutions of 750x1334, so before you start calling Snapchat in a rage, remember that the "bandwidth crunch is real," to quote Rene.

Here's the thing: Does it even matter with Snapchat? What do you think? Sound off in the comments below.