Snapchat is without a doubt one of the most used social media platforms of the decade. According to Statista, the video-sharing app had 187 million daily active users alone. To cater to such a mass number, Snapchat releases updates for its users on a regular basis with some major improvements which benefit the Snapchatters. On the contrary, the latest update by Snapchat hasn’t really fared so well and has caused an angry reaction from most of its regular users.
The update came a couple of days ago and has since then been the major cause of public outroar on various sites like Twitter and Facebook. Snapchat has undergone a major design overhaul and you won’t feel like it’s the same app you have been using for a long time. Of course, the reason behind Snapchat going for an update like this is simple: To make money.
What is the update all about?
We all were just used to swiping left to view the stories of our friends and those whom we have followed. Now, with the update, you have to swipe right on your camera screen to the rather familiar “chat” screen which has completely changed now. All your Snapchat “chats” and stories would be under one place making it more crowded than ever. Personally, as a Snapchat user, I have a lot of friends over on Snapchat, and all those streaks which I have, I sure think it was a bad idea for Snapchat to implement this. It is just too messed up.
Snapchat calls this as the new Friends page. Not only will there be your own chats and friend’s stories, but there shall be group chats too, and that group chats will have their own group stories too in the same place. It is sure going to cause a lot of confusion amongst its users. This is because, in order to watch a story, you can’t press the name of the person since that would open your chat with the person instead. Therefore, what you will need to do is tap on the bubble of the friend whose story you want to see. The bubble is the circular preview which we all are familiar with.
Another major change is that once you view ones’ story it will not just to the next one, but rather give you a preview of what the other’s story is going to be about. Either you tap on it to view, or you can just skip it by swiping. Else, you may also try swiping down if you are done to exit. The major problem again comes with the number of friends. I as a person just want to view everyone’s story in one go rather than tapping again to preview.
Not only this, but it isn’t simple either to rewatch the story. For that, you will have to open your chat with the person, and then tap on the bubble next to it. Oh, and one thing more, celebrity accounts stories won’t be there in the Friends pane, but rather be in the “Discovery” pane.
People react angrily towards the update as Twitter goes Frenzy
For most of the people, who have their automatic updates turned on, their app got updated itself. Therefore, they can’t do much about it, especially if they are an iPhone user. As per a Snapchat spokesperson, “Updates as big as this one can take a little getting used to, but we hope the community will enjoy it once they settle in.” Though, we hardly think this can be the case here.
People have joked on Twitter about starting an online petition to get the older version of the app back. Not only this, but people have voiced their concerns on Twitter as well, and some got pretty angry too.
Do not update snapchat! It is a horrible design. Stories are mixed in with your snaps. pic.twitter.com/iabgXi7k1i
— Skylar North (@BigDaddySkylar) February 7, 2018
This just didn’t stop this but some even related to the confusion when turning on the friend’s shower. According to her, it is even more confusing than that.
The new Snapchat update is more complicated than trying to turn on your friends shower.
— Amber Frank (@ItsAmberFrank) February 7, 2018
And then there were those hoping the update wouldn’t really be that bad as related to them by their friends, but it didn’t really turn out as they expected…
https://twitter.com/_ksteez/status/961109388433002496
Currently, on iOS, there isn’t any way to downgrade the app to our beloved previous versions. Though, if you happen to have a Jailbroken Device, then you might still have a chance. Good news is that it is possible for Android users to downgrade the app version by removing the app and then installing an older ‘apk’ of the app which is available online. Though our sources tell us that Snapchat is soon going to give in to the public outcry and will revert back their previous design starting with Android.
What we can all do is just wait and hope that Snaphat releases an update in near time, so that all this mess can be settled out pretty quickly.