SnapChat Review
Launched in 2011 with only three people at the helm (and initially named "Picabo"), Snapchat has grown into one of the biggest social media apps to date in just seven years and is especially popular among the youth thanks to its privacy features. As of February 2018, the app has a total of 187 million users active on a daily basis.
Costs:
None. The app for sexting is free to download and has no features that can be unlocked through in-app purchasing.
Top Features:
There's a lot Snapchat has going for it:
- Disappearing pictures, messages, videos (greater privacy)
- Innovative and fun to use augmented reality filters
- Your customizable emoji (through Bitmoji)
- Easily edit pictures before sharing
- Picture/Video stories
- Discover section
- Easily contact friends (and block strangers)
Editor's Verdict:
There's a lot of reason to praise Snapchat for its novelty: the disappearing text feature. Over time as our technology continued to evolve, people found it was easy to share pictures and their thoughts online, but at the same time found it was harder to keep their thoughts private. That's why Snapchat's off-the-record messaging feature made it such an intensive hit when it hit the market, especially among teens who enjoyed sending their friends texts and pictures for a short laugh, but nothing they could be embarrassed about in the future (since all messages are deleted by default).
What's even more impressive is the company's dedication to privacy and improving their system, when before people could take screenshots of conversations and pictures sent to them over Snapchat, anyone who does this now would alert the sender and risk having a mutual understanding of privacy breached (but you can also save the photos with consent too).
As far as features go, Snapchat was the pioneer for almost all of the key features that it boasts of. Be it augmented reality filters, a discover section that feeds you news and snaps from your favorite celebrities and channels or topics you might (we'll get back to this point later) be interested in, or Stories, a feature that lets you share all the happenings in your day with your friends through a number of short videos or pictures, all of which disappear after 24 hours to make way for your next day's update. Even though other social media platforms soon "adopted" (read copied) these features into their apps like Facebook Messenger and Instagram, Snapchat still stands at the top of the group thanks to its entrepreneurial strive and competent design.
That's not to say Snapchat is without its flaws, however. Using Snapchat requires a high level of maturity, good judgement and overall knowing who you can trust. The prospect of sending a nude on Snapchat may be enticing (for those who are so inclined), but the fact that you'll get notified if someone saves that photo won't stop the other person form breaching your trust should he/she want to. So, it's not recommended for kids, at least not those who aren't yet aware of the risks of social media. Moreover, the discovery section is more or less of an advertisement block where you're "suggested" content you might be interested in. Not a huge issue, but still an eyebrow-raiser.