Snapchat update: New version of app will change some of the most-hated parts of redesign
The redesign isn't being reverted – but it is being altered
Your support helps us to tell the story
From reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The Independent is on the ground when the story is developing. Whether it's investigating the financials of Elon Musk's pro-Trump PAC or producing our latest documentary, 'The A Word', which shines a light on the American women fighting for reproductive rights, we know how important it is to parse out the facts from the messaging.
At such a critical moment in US history, we need reporters on the ground. Your donation allows us to keep sending journalists to speak to both sides of the story.
The Independent is trusted by Americans across the entire political spectrum. And unlike many other quality news outlets, we choose not to lock Americans out of our reporting and analysis with paywalls. We believe quality journalism should be available to everyone, paid for by those who can afford it.
Your support makes all the difference.Snapchat has altered the most controversial part of its much-hated new update.
The company is changing the way that the friends and publishers pages in the app – the central part of the redesign, and the one that has become so intensely hated – will appear. While it's not getting rid of the recent update entirely, it is undertaking a change in the way it presents itself to users.
The changes are far from an effort to revert back to the old, more popular version of the app. Snapchat has committed not to do that, and has told its users they should get used to the new design in time.
But it does change some of the parts of the new look app that have proven most controversial. Specifically, it alters the way that the friends and discover pages are organised, making it easier to see specific people and sort through stories.
The update will allow people to look at different tabs within each page: friends with active stories and groups chats will appear on page, with publishers, creators and the community separated in the discover tab.
Snapchat has done that in order to make people more able to find the stories they want. It addresses the most complained about part of the new update, which is that people said it had made it much harder to actually see the things they wanted to watch.
Friends will still be separated from publishers and influencers, meaning that the most controversial change won't be reversed. But by allowing those two pages to separated up, Snapchat presumably hopes that people will engage more with the latter – addressing complaints from influencers like Chrissy Teigen that the change had made it feel like followers were no longer anything like friends.
Snapchat said the feature will be rolling out "soon" on iOS, and coming to Android "in the coming weeks".
The changes were announced in an update that gave significantly more focus to Giphy updates that will allow people to put moving stickers onto their pictures. Those are used by clicking on the sticker button as normal and searching for the moving gifs, and will appear like the existing moving stickers on Instagram.
Join our commenting forum
Join thought-provoking conversations, follow other Independent readers and see their replies
Comments