14 DAY TRIAL // Snapchat, one of the most popular instant messaging services for mobile devices has just received an important update that brings two new major features, the ability to chat with friends by text and visually.
In order to chat with a friend, you will only need to swipe right on their name and start chatting right away. The developers have also confirmed that the conversation will automatically be deleted if one of the participants leaves the chat screen or the phone enters sleep mode.
“Swipe right on a friend’s name in your Snapchat inbox to start chatting. When you leave the chat screen, messages viewed by both you and your friend will be cleared – but either of you can always tap or screenshot to save anything you’d like to keep (addresses, to-do lists, etc.)!
We let you know when a friend is Here in your Chat so that you can give each other your full attention. And if you’re both Here, simply press and hold to share live video – and Chat face-to-face!” says Team Snapchat in a blog post.
It is also worth mentioning that while engaged in a text conversation, users can take screenshots from that conversation if they want to keep it for later view. Besides taking screenshots of a conversation, users can also tap-to-save a conversation if they want to keep that information stored on their devices.
More importantly, Snapchat users will now be able to make video calls at no costs at all: “we also learned that conversation feels better when it’s visual. So we decided to make sure that every time you launch Snapchat we take you straight to the camera. It’s the fastest way to capture and share a moment on your smartphone.”
The latest update for Snapchat may bring additional changes as well, but the official changelog has yet to be released on Google Play Store. For the time being, there’s no telling what other improvements the developers have added, but we suspect that some under the hood enhancements have been included as well.
The new update is rolled out slowly in Google Play and App Store, so it might not be available right away for all Snapchat users.
Those who already have the application installed on their devices should be automatically notified of the update, while new users can now download Snapchat for Android for free via Google Play store.
Keep in mind that while the application is compatible with all devices powered by Android 2.2 and up, some features require Android 4.0 or higher.