Snapchat update breaks app's front-facing flash, users claim

The bright flash still shows up — but it doesn’t seem to actually light up people’s faces

Andrew Griffin
Wednesday 20 January 2016 11:10 GMT
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Two men were shown 'humiliating' the woman who attempted to fight back in the social media video
Two men were shown 'humiliating' the woman who attempted to fight back in the social media video (Getty Images)

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An update to Snapchat appears to have broken the front-facing flash feature.

The app — often celebrated and derided as the primary way of taking selfies — now won’t let people take pictures of themselves in the dark.

The flash still goes off, and appears to work. But it appears to be mis-timed, meaning that the pictures don’t actually get lit up by it.

Snapchat’s front-facing flash works by turning the phone’s screen extra-bright, so that it lights up the face or faces of the people in front of it.

It is turned on by selecting the flash option from the top-left of the screen, turning it on, and then taking a picture.

But many people are complaining that the newly-released update has stopped the feature working.

Snapchat has been approached for comment.

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