How Snapchat’s Newest Feature Changed The App

If you’re the kind of person who adopts technology early, enjoys spontaneity and has friends, there’s a good chance you’ve been using the ephemeral social platform Snapchat at some point before reading this. If you loved Snapchat as it was, and are against any changes to the platform, you may not want to read this article.That’s because Snapchat released a major update, adding a “Memories” feature that changes the Snapchat experience as you once knew it.

With Memories, you can save Snaps and parts of your Story inside the app, edit them however you feel, and repost them. If you want to get a taste of Memories, simply download the latest app update. Then, open the app, take a photo of whatever you desire, hit the download button (or go into your settings and select the auto-save option), and then, on the camera screen, swipe up to access the Memories menu. There, you’ll find all the Snaps and Stories you’ve saved. You’ll be able to edit your photos or videos by adding text, drawing, or including a geotag. You can then add those photos and videos back to your Story, or send them out to your friends.

As if those changes weren’t radical enough, you now can sync the app up with your camera roll, and add photos from your camera to your Story (or send them as Snaps to your friends)! On top of everything else, you’ll also be able to save private Snapchat photos in a password-protected section of the Memories feature called “My Eyes Only.”

If you’re wondering what this new feature is going to change, a few noticeable variations will occur in regard to what Stories and Snaps will look like and how you interact with the app. As far as appearances go, the interface appears more polished and, since users can now share media taken outside of the app and curate exactly what gets posted, so too will the content you see from your friends. Also, since users will be able to keep their old Snaps and Stories and share them again through the app, Snapchat will no longer have that ephemeral feeling – posts now feel more permanent and less fleeting, which was what made Snapchat such a smashing success in the first place.

With all of these changes, Snapchat has lost that raw, imperfect feeling that made sharing video and photos with friends fun and the platform unique. Only time will tell whether that ends up playing in Snapchat’s favor, or causes dissatisfaction and a diaspora of users in the long run.