While there’s not much you can do about data breaches that happen from the services you use, since it’s up to each company to fix these security holes, there are steps you can take to protect your phone from sharing private information with apps.

Read More: Protect Your Personal Information When Using Public Wi-Fi

Here are 4 ways you can protect yourself from getting hacked, targeted for ads, and exposing your personal data for companies to collect.

Be Vigilant With Your Apps
One of the best ways to protect your data is to audit your apps, which can help you learn which apps are connected to your social media sites. Checking your privacy settings for Facebook, Google, and Twitter can help you see which apps are linked to those accounts.

On Facebook, go to the top-right corner, hit the down arrow, click Settings and check the Apps tab. Here you can choose which apps retain access of your personal information. In Google, go to Settings and hit “Connected apps & sites,” and on Twitter, you go to “Settings and privacy” and hit the Apps page. At that point, you can minimize which apps are linked to each social account.

Delete Old Apps
If there are some old games and apps you’re no longer using that are still hanging around, make sure to delete them. By getting rid of them, these apps will not be able to collect any additional personal information about you, along with all the data stored within them.

Change Your Password Every 6 Months
Another good rule of thumb is to change your password every 6 months to keep passwords fresh and prevent hacking attacks targeted at you. If someone manages to get their hands on your hashed password, they’ll be able to use decryption methods to attain the full password. You could change your passwords more often than every 6 months, but make that the minimum amount of time to update your passwords.

Read Privacy Policies
Some apps may have lengthy privacy policies, but these are worth reading because they give you a solid idea how much data each app shares or guards. If you need to connect your personal data to the app, make sure the app comes from a reliable source and you know exactly how much information it’s gathering.

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Read More: 5 Things You Should Never Post on Social Media

While it’s ideal that to keep an eye out for these attacks, it also helps to have someone watching your back. dfndr security offers an Anti-Hacking feature that any Android user can quickly take advantage of. The anti-hacking technology scans and blocks potential malicious links that may appear on your smartphone. This ability means you can enjoy Snapchatting with a bit less worry.

However, there are additional steps you can take to ensure that not only your Snapchat account is secure but also your other social media accounts remain safe online.

Keep an Eyebrow Raised For Phishing
While there isn’t a desire to instill paranoia, there’s a need to acknowledge that hackers and scammers are continually using phishing techniques to steal information. In the recent Snapchat attack, users received messages from other compromised users that asked them to look at a link. Once the link was clicked on, a fake Snapchat login screen opened and prompted users to enter their login information. This scam allowed hackers to walk away with thousands of usernames and passwords.

Always be cautious when clicking any links. If you aren’t sure where they are headed – it might be best to stay away. If you do click through to a website that asks for your login information, check the address bar by tapping on it with your finger. You can then examine it to ensure the site is authentic and not a phishing scam.

Never Go Without Two Layers of Defense
Most social networks, including Snapchat, now offer the ability to enable two-factor authentication on your account; this means even if a malicious individual steals your password, they would be prompted to enter a unique one-time code to log in. This one-time code is typically texted to your smartphone, so they would never receive it. Enabling two-factor adds another layer of security to your online life and verifies that you’re identity when logging in to an account.

Take Back Your Account
Sometimes, even with the best of intentions, we find ourselves victimized by hackers. You may notice your social account has been compromised if your friends receive weird spam-like messages from you or you get alerts that someone is attempting to sign in from a different location. With Snapchat specifically, only one device can be logged in at a time, so you’re always being prompted to login when using the app, it may be a sign that someone else has been there.

Snapchat advises all users to take the first step of changing your password as soon as you believe your account has been compromised. Also, verify that your email address and mobile number on file are up to date. Lastly, remember to turn on that two-factor authentication, doing that small gesture will keep you snapping in safety for a long while.

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One of Snapchat’s most advanced — and exciting — features are filters. Many of those boast facial recognition, where it turns its user into a different character whenever it’s used. But how does that technology work, and what does Snapchat know about you that you may not have realized? Find out below.

Read More: How to Get All of Your Social Media Updates in One Place

Snapchat’s Facial Recognition
The Snapchat filters that we all adore come from a Ukrainian startup called Looksery, which was acquired for an impressive $150 million by Snapchat. While the company tries to keep it under wraps exactly how their technology works, there’s been research done on the topic.

To put it in layman’s terms, the app uses computer vision to spot you based on contrast patterns that can commonly be found in the human face. It uses a general “map” or “graph” to find people’s faces and overlay the features of these filters. To make this work, Snapchat trained their system with hundreds or even thousands of different faces, manually marking them where features lay: nose, mouth, eyes, and overall face. That means that when each of us uses the filters on our own faces, the program can use up to 24 frames per second to use its “point-mask” to shift to match your specific face.

How Much Does Snapchat Know?
This cool (but slightly creepy) process does pose a question: How much does Snapchat know about us? Should we be taking measures while using the app to protect our identity? While the tool does seem to have a lot of information on us — our contact list, our name, our location, and even our current activities — it doesn’t seem that the application can detect too much about us via the facial recognition apps. It may learn more about our facial features and the structure of our face, but it’s not presenting anything too crazy at the moment. This means that we can snap away using these fun and quirky filters without fear.

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Memories

Before getting into the details of Memory storage, Snapchat users should have a sufficient knowledge of how the feature works. By default, Memories will not save Snapchats or Snap Stories unless users manually select the downward facing arrow. To change this, users can access the Memories section of settings and select the “Auto-Save Stories” option under “Save To” and all future Snapchat Stories will be saved. To access Memories and view saved Snapchats, simply swipe up on the main camera screen on the app and all saved photos will appear. Within Memories, users have access to their saved snaps, their phone’s camera roll, and a passcode-protected “My Eyes Only” section.

Read More: Background App Refresh on Android, Explained

Storage

When Snapchats and Snap Stories are saved in Memories, they are automatically backed up on the cloud for users. This factor means that users can access their snapchat stories from any device that they choose to log into and that a lost or stolen phone doesn’t mean photos and videos are gone forever. Each user has access to unlimited cloud storage through Snap’s contract with the Google App Engine cloud.

However, while photo storage occurs in the cloud, your Memories cache can grow swiftly and take up a significant portion of your phone’s storage. This cache is a container for Snaps and Snapchat Stories you’ve recently taken and other account data that allows your memories to load quickly. Clearing this cache will free up space without actually deleting Memories, only clearing locally stored Memories content. To do this, tap the ghost icon at the top of the main screen and then the settings icon. Then, scroll down the settings window to tap “Clear Cache,” then “Clear Memories Cache,” and confirm.

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What Happened?

A gun safety nonprofit, Everytown for Gun Safety, was running an anti-gun violence awareness campaign featuring videos of families who’d lost relatives to guns on Snapchat. In the middle of the campaign, Snapchat sent the nonprofit — backed by former New York City mayor, Michael Bloomberg — a message that they would start running the NRA (a pro-gun lobbying organization) on its campaign if the nonprofit didn’t pay Snapchat for advertising. The NRA, of course, opposes the kind of gun reform that Everytown supports.

Who Was Involved?

Everytown for Gun Safety contacted Snapchat about advertising on National Gun Violence Awareness Day. Snapchat’s head of political sales, Rob Saliterman, said that the charity would have to pay $150,000 to Snapchat if they wanted users to be able to use custom filters and lenses to participate in the event.

At the same time (and without connection to the political sales team), Snapchat’s news team spoke to Everytown about partnering up for the Awareness Day. Because Everytown’s anti-violence campaign featured celebrities like Sarah Silverman and Kim Kardashian, Snapchat offered to display the campaign on Snapchat for free, in a Live Story.

The nonprofit, then, thought they didn’t need to pay the $150,000 originally requested by the political sales arm of Snapchat. However, Saliterman, the head of that department wrote:

“I just learned our News Team is doing a Live Story on National Gun Violence Awareness Day.” He then said: “I would urgently like to speak with you about advertising opportunities within the story, as there will be three ad slots. We are also talking to the NRA about running ads within the story.”

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Snapchat’s Musical Partnership
However, even within the past few months, Snapchat’s involvement in the music industry has strengthened. In December, the company announced their integration with one of the world’s most popular apps, Shazam. This allowed users to open the camera and film their surroundings while identifying the song that’s playing in the background. Snapchat users were able to discover new music and share it with friends easily, while promoting new artists and records at the same time.

Read More: Snapchat Introduces New Snapcodes Update

Snapchat Previews New Songs
Snapchat has taken the relationship with the music industry one step further by creating Snap filters which feature exclusive new music, sometimes even before the songs have been released (with the artist’s permission, of course). The first lens filter that had music in the background sampled the song “Now and Later” by Sage the Gemini. This resulted in Sage the Gemini gaining over 4 million followers on Spotify. More recently, Ed Sheeran turned to Snapchat to give a brief 30-second preview of a new song; this, too, was only available for a weekend before it disappeared.

A Personal Touch
Artists and producers alike have taken to the Snapchat model, as it doesn’t breach any licensing laws and has no threat of piracy, unlike YouTube or Facebook where the content is uploaded “forever.” Furthermore, because of the personal touch of filming from an individual’s perspective (without character limits), fans can access exclusive events like the VMAs through what feels like a candid lens. Music videos and performances were uploaded directly for millions of viewers to watch instantaneously, without editing or special effects.

The Future of Snapchat
Many artists and DJs also have their own Snapchat accounts, which allows them to market themselves in an open way. As Snapchat continues to grow from their partnerships with other creative enterprises, it’s quite probable that more song previews and exclusive premieres will continue to be showcased on the app — even if only for a few hours.

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Snap’s first major project was Snapchat Spectacles, which are sunglasses that allow you to record short clips of video. These videos are then sent wirelessly back to the Snapchat app, for you to send to friends and family. They allow others to see the world as you do, and to capture moments that you might not be able to capture quickly enough with a phone or camera.

Read More: Snapchat Has Revealed a New Search Function

Snap is Working on a Drone
According to The New York Times, Snap is now working on a drone that can take pictures and record video from a bird’s eye view. Like Snapchat Spectacles, the drone is expected to then wirelessly transmit photos and video back to the app. You can then share the videos or photos with other users, or save them to your device.

Little information has leaked about the drones, however. It is still unknown how serious this project is — it could be released to the public, or it could not be. If it is released, it’s still unclear as to when it could possibly become available for consumers to purchase. Still, it is likely to be successful among Snapchat’s main user base — teenagers.

Snap’s Success
Either way, Snap is moving in the right direction by expanding its offerings. Snapchat has had a lot of success over the years, especially among teenagers. More than two billion messages are sent via Snapchat per day, and the average user opens the app about 18 times per day. They’ve had so much success that Facebook and Instagram have both introduced many features that mimic Snapchat features. In other news, The New York Times also reported that Snap’s stock has gone up. The company is now worth almost $25 billion.

The Future of Snap
In addition to drones, Snapchat is also very interested in the future of augmented reality. Snap already considers Snapchat to be a form of augmented reality, by offering users the chance to add amusing filters, such as dog ears or a flower crown, to a selfie. Snap’s CEO believes that augmented reality should be utilized for a more effective way to communicate and that it offers much more than a simple photograph.

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Before you update the app, make sure that you have enough space on your device for app and software updates, in addition to new apps, files, and photos. Many social networking apps, and messaging apps like WhatsApp, bloat in size over time because of all of the data they collect and store. To prepare for the update, clean out your WhatsApp app with dfndr security’s WhatsApp Cleaner. Doing so will remove old, unwanted files so that you have more space on your device. If you want to keep any old files, though, you can still do so — you can specifically select which files you want to remove from your phone. Click here to remove old, unwanted files from WhatsApp:

Another Way to Keep in Touch With Friends and Family
Unlike Snapchat and Instagram, the feature is only available to your WhatsApp contacts — other WhatsApp users that you don’t know can’t see your status updates. You can share your status updates with select individuals or all of your contacts. Since WhatsApp originally started as a way for you to keep in touch with friends and family — especially if they’re spread out over many countries — this new status feature is a great way to celebrate their birthday. It gives you a more personal way to stay in touch with others.

What Does the Status Update Offer?
Previously, you were only able to add text to your WhatsApp status update. Now, you can add photos, videos, and GIFs to better express yourself. You can share videos up to 45 seconds long — a serious improvement from other video-sharing apps. Similar to Snapchat and Instagram, your status updates only last a certain amount of time. After 24 hours, your WhatsApp status will disappear. This is meant to encourage you to constantly update your status. If anyone responds to your status update, you’ll see it in a private message, not a public comment chain. Further, like the rest of WhatsApp’s offerings, all of your status updates will feature end-to-end encryption.

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That’s why it’s important to use dfndr’s WhatsApp Cleaner regularly to clean out the app by discarding old and unwanted files. Doing so will help to free up space on your phone for new photos, apps, and more. WhatsApp Cleaner will even show you exactly how much space you can save by removing old files. You can choose which files, and from which date, you want to remove. That way, you won’t delete any old files that you want to keep on the app. Click here to start removing old WhatsApp files:

WhatsApp Status
Facebook and Instagram have already introduced Snapchat-like features on their apps, so it was only a matter of time before WhatsApp joined them. WhatsApp is now adding a Stories-like feature that allows users to post videos or photos to their status update. The new feature will be called WhatsApp Status, and like Stories, it will allow users to post photos or videos in a timed sequence. The photos or videos will then disappear after 24 hours.

However, WhatsApp Status offers more than posting timed photos and videos. You can share GIFs to your status and post videos that are up to 45 seconds long — quite a difference from other Stories features that only allow 10 seconds of video. As with the rest of WhatsApp, all Status updates have end-to-end encryption, so no need to worry about the privacy of your content. In addition to that, all Status updates will only be shared with your contacts.

How to Use WhatsApp Status
Make sure that your WhatsApp app is updated to the latest version. If you’re using the latest version, you’ll see a Status bar at the top of the screen. You can add a Status update by clicking the “+” button at the bottom of the screen. You can choose a photo, video, or GIF from your gallery, or else take a new photo or video. Your Status update will then appear in the Status bar, and you’ll be able to see how many people view it. The privacy of your Status update can also be adjusted, and your contacts can reply to your update, if desired.

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Even though Twitter has many of the same features as the other social networking apps — you can “friend” users, share articles and photos, and communicate with a variety of people, among others — Twitter has not seen the same success. Further, Twitter is probably not your primary news source, unlike Facebook — more than 50% of Facebook users receive their news from the social network. Since characters on Twitter are limited to 140, this social network hasn’t been the best outlet for typing out extensive news stories. However, it has been successful at delivering breaking news quickly.

Read More: Twitter’s Problem with User Abuse and Hate Speech

The searching required for finding news on Twitter can also dissuade people from using it as a news outlet. For example, you often have to dig through multiple hashtags and read through a number of pointless tweets to find what you’re looking for. However, the “explore” tab on Twitter is about to change all of this.

The explore feature on Twitter conglomerate all of their users’ favorite interests into one news section. Utilizing advanced algorithmic technologies, Twitter personally tailor your explore tabs to your needs. For example, if you frequently search for sports on Twitter, then you can expect to see plenty of sports information on your explore feature. The accounts you follow are also taken into account for your explore tab.

News is now easier than ever to access on Twitter thanks to this development. Instead of searching all over Twitter to find your news, it is now right in front of your eyes on the explore tab. Moreover, these links lead to other websites, not just other short tweets. Thus, if there is a piece of breaking news on your explore tab, you will be redirected to a news website when you click on the story.

As a result, Twitter is now a much more attractive site for the dissemination of news. Facebook now has a viable competitor when it comes to news on social media outlets. Hopefully this news competition will facilitate a variety of different means to access your daily news sources on social media.

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The update was released in late January, and is predicted to make it even easier for brands to share their content and products within the Snapchat app itself. Users will no longer have to leave the app interface to view the content, and instead will just need to interact with the Snapcode itself. To make a Snapcode, all a user needs to do is manually enter the URL into the entry field and it will create the link. Users will be able to create a link to any website, no matter the content or if it features an inappropriate topic.

Read More: What Are the Best Snapchat Filters to Use?

In order to create the Snapcode, users can go to “Settings” and select “Snapcodes.” Then, they will select the “Create Snapcode” option and then type in the link to the URL field. Once that is done, they can simply click the “Create” button at the bottom of the screen and personalize the Snapcode with an image. Then, the Snapcode can be shared via Snapchat, text, or by taking a photo, just like with the original Snapcodes.

The original Snapcodes were introduced to the app in January 2015 after Snapchat acquired Scan.me. They originally allowed users to more easily find one another on the app, since the app is lacking a search option for users by their actual names. Instead, the app only allows users to search by username.

This new functionality could help Snapchat compete with Instagram, after launching their Instastory feature last year. Instagram allows companies and individuals to put URLs directly in their stories. And though Snapchat doesn’t yet have that same option, these new QR codes could be their alternative. This new update closely follows a redesign within the app, making the navigation simpler for Android and iOS users after its release on January 22.

All of these new updates to Snapchat are close on the heels of the company’s announcement of Snapchat’s parent company, Snap Inc., filing for a $3 billion IPO with the SEC, with a valuation that could reach $25 billion, according to the Wall Street Journal.

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Facebook and Messenger

It should come as no surprise that both the Facebook app and its Messenger app were among the most downloaded apps of the year. With over one billion regular users, Facebook is the most popular social network in the world, and Messenger is its instant messaging service. With text, voice, and video messaging capabilities between individuals or groups, as well as the option to call friends around the world, Messenger has become one of the most widely used methods of smartphone communication.

Read More: A Round-Up of the Five Best Online Banking Apps

YouTube

YouTube, the go-to place for video content on the Internet, was also extremely popular. According to the video hub, about 1/3 of the people who use the Internet use YouTube. Every single day people around the world watch hundreds of millions of hours of YouTube content. And the majority of them do so using their smartphones.

Instagram

As of December 2016, the community boasted 600 million Instagrammers; 100 million of them joined in the last six months. It was the year that they introduced Instagram Stories, a feature that lets users post photos and videos that appear as a slideshow and last for 24 hours. The update has been widely embraced, even though it is very similar to Snapchat’s Stories feature.

Snapchat

Speaking of Snapchat, the photo and video-sending app was also among the most used apps of the year. The app allows users to share images and short videos that disappear after seconds, as well as slideshows that last a day. In the US, 60% of young smartphone users are on Snapchat. And now, with seemingly endless opportunities to get creative by taking advantage of filters, geotags, stickers, and drawing capabilities, it’s no wonder the app was so popular in 2016.

Pokémon Go

This app exploded onto the digital scene in 2016. Harnessing the popularity of Pokémon over the last two decades, the app uses augmented reality, which connects real-world locations and geography with virtual components. Within days of the app’s release, millions of users were walking the streets of their neighborhoods in search of Pokémon to catch. Although the initial fervor around the app has died down considerably, there’s no doubt that Pokémon Go was one of the most popular apps of the year.

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With phones getting more and more bloated with information, apps, pictures, and videos, your phone — and apps — can sometimes slow down at the worst times. Therefore, It’s frustrating when Snapchat takes too long to load, crashes, or glitches. You want to use the app to send instant photos and messages in the moment. So what happens when the moment passes because the app wasn’t functioning properly? Delays not only hurt the moment but also your experience with the moment. As such, it’s better when Snapchat works at its maximum potential so you’re not delayed or slowed down.

Read more: Quality Smartphone Photo Editing Apps You Can Get for Free

Speed Up Your Device with DFNDR

You may already know that DFNDR will extend your battery life and secure your information and personal data, but did you know it will also optimize your apps and make them run smoothly and more efficiently, too? DFNDR will work to optimize your phone so that all of your apps are working in the way they should be, at the speed they should be. That means that, with DFNDR, Snapchat will no longer freeze or lag, so that you can continue using Snapchat to capture a moment, in the moment.

DFNDR helps to make Snapchat run efficiently by optimizing your device through its cleanup and performance features. The cleanup features will allow you to manage your apps more efficiently and remove any unnecessary files from your device. The performance features include the memory booster and game booster, which will ensure that your apps run faster. They’ll help you to better manage your storage and device memory, so that your apps perform efficiently. If you’ve already downloaded DFNDR, click the button below to try these features and feel the difference:

Get DFNDR for Your Device

DFNDR is an all-in-one app that will ensure your phone is secure and operating efficiently. Download the DFNDR app for your Android for unbeatable, 24/7 protection against malware and all security threats — even in the event that your phone is lost or stolen, thanks to DFNDR’s additional anti-theft features.

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Getting a Handle on the Basics

To be an active participant, you’ll want to capture and share various moments of your life. Even those that seem most trivial contribute to the app’s charming frivolity.

• Take a photo. Focus your Android on the object or scene of interest and click the circular button at the bottom center of the display screen. Note: the lightning bolt icon on the upper left allows you to set off the flash in darker settings. The camera icon on the upper right revolves the camera for an inward facing selfie.
• Make a video. Hold down the on-screen button as you capture your video.
• Customizing content. Once you have your photo or video, you can click the “T” icon to add text, then pinch to resize it, and toggle the color bar to change the text color. The pencil icon on the upper right is a drawing tool you can use. Finally, you can swipe to add filters.
• Save or Share. Once you’re happy with your finished product you can save your work to your photo library (by clicking the arrow icon at the bottom of the screen) or add it to your storyline feed (by clicking the square with a “+” icon).

Read More: What Information Does Facebook Collect About Its Users?

Using Pre-Existing Content

To add photos or videos already in your photo library, you’d have to use an intermediary application called SnapRoll.

• Find and download Snaproll from the Play Store.
• From the app, you can upload and edit footage from your library.
• Once your content is ready to post, click “Share.”
• A list of options will appear. Choose Snapchat as the destination to transfer your media to.

Remember: don’t be afraid to explore. Search for interesting content, and find and connect with friends using the messaging system and the comments function. Happy snapping!

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Origins
Twitter bought Vine in 2012 for $30 million, attempting to get into the short video market. For a while, it looked like the sky was the limit for Vine. Users took the format and ran with it, creating unique and sometimes strange clips that could quickly go viral. “Vine stars” were born as aspiring actors, musicians, and comedians all began using the app to gain large followings.

Read More: These Are Some of the Best Gif Messaging Apps

At its peak in 2014, Vine certainly didn’t look like it was going away anytime soon, and Vine stars could snag massive paychecks by creating Vines specifically for brands. Alas, it couldn’t go on forever, and in October 2016, Twitter let the remaining Vine users know that it would be shuttering the app for good.

A Fall from Grace
What happened? In short, competitors emerged that allowed users to engage each other in a similar and more popular format. Instagram introduced 15-second videos to its audience in June 2013, and later increased that limit to a full minute. Then there was the explosion of Snapchat and its 10-second videos. As millions of users turned to Instagram and Snapchat for their video fix, the interest in Vine began to die off.

Vine did relax its 6-second constraint in 2016, but it was simply too little too late. Twitter had been hoping to find a buyer for the app, but was unable to, adding to an already complicated financial picture for the social media giant. Last year Twitter cut 300 jobs, and announced that the end of Vine would coincide with another round of layoffs totaling about 9% if its employees, or roughly 350 people.

The Silver Lining
Luckily for those who have enjoyed the wild and creative Vines that were once so popular, Twitter did announce that it would keep previously created Vines online for viewing. So while the app may be a relic of the past, you can still watch all your favorite Vines if you feel like reminiscing.

Vine may be gone, but it’s a reminder of how quickly things can change when it comes to apps and social networks. Sometimes there aren’t any hard and fast answers as to why an app takes off — or why users ditch it.

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How Lifestage Works

There are a few ways the app differs from Snapchat. With Lifestage you must locate your school through the app. You’ll create a video bio, where you’ll record videos as a response to questions about yourself. You’re then “graded” according to your activity on the app, and given an emoji beside your name that shows how frequently you engage with the app. Then you can create and share a video profile of “moments” you like and dislike, and view your classmates’ video profiles. You can also add drawings or stickers to your videos.

Read More: Order and Recommend Food to Your Friends on Facebook

How the App Fails

Unfortunately, there is a lack of privacy, and occasionally authenticity, associated with the app. A disclaimer for the app states that all Lifestage posts are public and can be viewed by anyone — those who attend the same school, those who don’t, and anyone else who has access to the app. Further, there’s the potential for teenagers or adults to claim that they go to a school they don’t attend. These two issues could be a deal-breaker for teenagers who want a safe, private social networking presence. With Snapchat and other social media apps, you can choose who sees your content. With Lifestage, all of your content is fair game to anyone — even an adult, who may be thousands of miles away, who claims to go to your school.

Further, this app might not be an attractive option for teenagers who want privacy from helicopter parents or teachers, or are looking to edit their online presence for college applications. Not to mention the design of the app is more juvenile and maximalist in design than Snapchat, which may be unappealing, and even insulting, to anyone past their pre-teen years. All of these reasons could explain why Lifestage has yet to attract a large teenage base — and why it most likely won’t. The whole app begs the question: did Facebook really think this through? Regardless, Facebook will soon know which elements of Lifestage are more successful than others, and perhaps add those features to Facebook or other apps.

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The league will allow players to send snapchats to the channel as well, so you can see what your favorite team is doing in the locker room before and after the game. Fans will also be able to send snapchats to the channel with a chance of them getting posted. For example, these channels frequently show users Snapchatting major highlights of the game, so one can live vicariously through another Snapchatter and experience the game live.

Read More: Top Apps for Streaming Sporting Events on Your Android

Because Snapchat has over 150 million young Millennial users, it seems as if the NFL has found the perfect medium to extend to their target audience. The NFL will join Snapchat with several “Discover” channels. Other Discover channels include Buzzfeed, the Wall Street Journal, ESPN, Vox Media, Cosmopolitan, Vogue, and more. This will be an effective way to advance publicity, as Discover channels receive over 70 million unique views a month, according to Snapchat.

While most Discover options only receive one channel for viewers to click on, the NFL has been given several due to the high volume of viewers they have received. For example, while Cosmopolitan only gets one news slot for their material, the NFL gets several slots for all of their games and news networks. This means that you can click on a channel to see updates on all of the different games occurring on Sundays.

Another positive byproduct of the NFL/Snapchat duo is the publicity outside of the country. According to Snapchat, only 60% of channel viewers come from the USA, whereas 40% of the views come from outside of America. Thus, more foreign crowds are being exposed to the tradition of American football. Products such as Bud Light, Ford, and Gillette run ads within the NFL channel to help supplement their revenue. However, the league is much more focused on publicity over profit for their partnership with Snapchat.

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Well, now you can pretend your favorite celebrities are in your friend circle by adding them on Snapchat. You probably already follow them on the previously mentioned social media websites, so why not add them on Snapchat? On Snapchat you’ll get more of your celebrity fix with additional and original content, exclusive information and news, and amusing photos with the ever-popular dog or face swap filters.

Read More: You Can Influence Your Snapchat Best Friends List

However, unlike Instagram, Snapchat doesn’t verify a celebrity’s Snapchat account, which can make it slightly more difficult to track them down. But you’ll know pretty quickly whether or not you’ve found the right Chris Pratt or Kendall Jenner.

Information to Keep in Mind
Before adding celebrities on Snapchat, keep in mind that most celebrities only allow their “stories” to be public. So, if you’re looking to send photos, videos, or messages to your favorite celebrity, this might not be the app to use. Every now and then a celebrity will change his or her privacy settings so that he/she can receive and answer snaps from fans.

How to Add Celebrities
Adding celebrities on Snapchat can be an easy process, depending on who you’re looking for. There are many websites that actually list some of the most popular celebrities on Snapchat and their usernames, to make it even easier. Nonetheless, you might find that to be unnecessary if you’re only looking for a few big names.

1. Open the app and click on the Snapchat icon (a ghost), located at the top of the screen. This is where you can edit your settings, view your Snapcode, add friends, and view those you’re already friends with.
2. Click on “Add Friends,” and then “Add by Username.”
3. If you already found a list of celebrity Snapchat usernames, try entering one now. Otherwise, simply type in a celebrity’s name, such as Gigi Hadid or Kim Kardashian. This method doesn’t work with every celebrity — hence why you might need an actual username — but it’s certainly the easiest place to start.

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The Bitmoji app is soaring in popularity. It makes sense. After all, Snapchat purchased Bitstrips earlier this year for a whopping $100 million dollars; this week, Snapchat announced that Bitmoji would now be usable from within the app. That’s huge news for Bitmoji fans.

So, what are they, really? A Bitmoji is an avatar that represents you. It’s an avatar of a more personalized nature than emoji. For example, you get to decide what hair, eyebrows, face shape, clothing, even facial lines, and make-up (just to name a few), that you want for your avatar. Some people prefer to make theirs as similar to themselves as possible, while other people go for an alter-ego kind of look. Either way, the choice is yours.

Read More: Using Emoji Videos and Photos on Snapchat

Why You Need a Bitmoji Right Now

It doesn’t end there. Bitmoji represent different emotions. They may have anger or sadness. They could show a love for food or even riff on various internet memes. There are many options and take expressing yourself via text or chat to a new, more personal level, than the simple emoticons.

To get started with Bitmoji is simple. Head to the app store so you can install the Bitmoji keyboard on your Android device. From there, you will look for it within your chat apps. After it is ready to go, you can find it in your list of shortcuts.

The perks of using Bitmoji from within Snapchat is a fun feature: friendmoji! These are hilarious ways to feature you and a friend with two person bitmojis.

With Bitmoji, you aren’t limited to only one particular platform or text messaging. You can use your Bitmoji from Facebook Messenger, iMessage, Google Hangouts, and Whatsapp.

Connect your Snapchat and Bitmoji accounts:

1. Get into your Snapchat app.
2. Click on the ghost icon at the top of your camera screen.
3. Click on the settings icon.
4. Click on “Bitmoji.”
5. Click on the option to link your Bitmoji.
6. Allow Snapchat to use your current Bitmoji avatar

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Instead, users can instantly send quick snapshots with short blurbs to their contacts, which disappear quickly, allowing users to avoid having to take public responsibility for thoughtless statements that they make on social media. This type of social media platform may raise less security concerns in the minds of users when compared to other social networking sites. However, Snapchat does pose some security concerns that users should know about.

What are Snapchat’s Security Concerns?

One of the most significant security concerns that Snapchat poses is that users are more likely to share more intimate images and statements that they would not post on other social media platforms.

Users who believe that their communications over the app are only temporary and not stored on a permanent timeline often share things that they may find inappropriate to share on other social media sites. Furthermore, Snapchat, similar to other social networking apps, also poses the risk of dangerous internet users posing as friends to interact with vulnerable targets.

Read More: The Best Celebrities to Follow on Snapchat

How to Make Snapchat More Secure

Users need to be aware that the seemingly temporary pictures can easily be made permanent by the receiver simply taking a screenshot. Thus, it is important not to send out any photos or text that you do not want the people you interact with on the app to have forever.

Another way to make your use of Snapchat more secure is to utilize a password which you change often; this will prevent unauthorized users from accessing your account. In addition, limit the people who can view your personal photos and information to only the people that you know. Moreover, be sure that you are aware of who your online friends are — do not add users that you do not know to your friends list.

PSafe Total can also enhance your security while you interact on Snapchat by preventing malicious online threats and viruses from affecting your Android device with its anti-virus technology. You can even use PSafe Total’s Applock feature to add a second password to your Snapchat app.

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Snapchat Best Friends?
Your best friends on snapchat are simply the ones you interact with most frequently. These best friends appear at the top of your contact list. This is intended to make snapchat more convenient for you — if you tend to Snapchat someone a lot, they make it easier for you to send them snaps.

Read More: Reasons to Download Snapchat Right Now

How to Select Buddies to Be on Your Best Friends List
In short, you can’t. However, you can increase your frequency of interaction with the desired friend that you want on your best friend. Snapchat utilizes something called a “Magical Snapchat Friendship Algorithm” to devise your list.

What do the Friend Emojis mean?
If you look at your friends list, you will notice an array of emojis next to some of their names. These can be a little bit confusing. While you can customize which emoji means what, here are the standard uses.

• Heart – “BFF.” This appears next to your top best friend when you are also their number 1 best friend, for two weeks in a row.
• 2 Hearts – “Super BFF.” Same as BFF, but two months instead of two weeks.
• Yellow Heart – When you and your #1 best friend are both at the top of each other’s lists.
• Fire – “Snapstreak!” Appears with a number next to it. This number represents how many days in a row you and your friend have snapchatted. If you go 24 hours without snapping this person, you lose the snapstreak.
• Baby – “New friend.” This appears next to someone who is new to your friends list.

What is a Snapchat Score?
Your snapchat score is indicative of how often you use your Snapchat. According to Snapchat, a “special equation” is used to help devise this number. It is decided by:

• # of snaps sent
• # of snaps received
• # of stories posted

The fourth one is unknown — Snapchat uses another algorithm to help figure out this mysterious number.

If you want to learn more about social media or smartphone apps, visit the PSafe blog!

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Four years ago, Facebook bought Instagram for $1 billion in cash and stock. Facebook tried to take over Snapchat, too — they put forth a hefty $3 billion acquisition offer back in 2013. But Snapchat walked away, and now boasts more than 150 million users every day.

Read More: 5 Apps to Enhance Your Instagram Game

In the years since, Facebook has tried to lure consumers away from the ever-growing Snapchat, which continues to gain substantial amounts of users. However, Facebook’s newest innovation, Instagram Stories, certainly mimics the popular aspects of its major competitor. Could it dethrone Snapchat in the world of disappearing images?

How To Use Instagram Stories
Anyone who is already using Snapchat will easily pick up on how to use the new Instagram Stories feature. Update your Instagram app to reflect the new home screen layout that highlights stories at the top of your feed.

You can easily add your own photo or video by tapping the plus sign in the upper left-hand corner or by swiping right on your phone. This screen looks a whole lot like Snapchat with its full screen view from your camera phone. Choose whether you want the camera to face toward or away from you by pressing the lower right-hand button.

Snap your shot or film that video by pressing down on the shutter button located in the middle of the screen. Need flash? You can find that on the left-hand side.

Once you take a pic, you can add text or draw on it — just like with Snapchat. There are a few tools to choose from, like a slider to adjust the thickness of your line, nine colors to play around with, and a glowing marker for a dash of laser-like fun.

Ready to share your masterpiece? Tap the checkmark at the bottom of your screen to share it to your Story, where it will remain live for twenty-four hours. Tip: you can also save it to your “Camera Roll” if you hit the right-hand download button.

SnapChat Copycat
If you are a fan of Snapchat, you will enjoy this new Instagram addition. It’s just one more option to play around with your images and video and make them your own.

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1. It’s a Great Way to Keep up With Friends

Whether you’re at the beach, on a plane, or bored at the office, Snapchat is an awesome and unique way to share the goings-on in your life with friends as well as to see what’s going on in their lives too. People Snap everything from makeup routines to hilariously long lines at Starbucks, all to show (rather than tell) their friends what their lives are all about. You can even include text with your images, so you can show off your fancy cocktail or ask the ever-important question, “legs or hot dogs?”

2. Everyone is on Snapchat

And we mean everyone. Not only can you keep up with friends using this popular app, you can also get a glimpse into the lives of some of your favorite celebrities. Celebrities of all stripes – including DJ Khaled, most of the Kardashians, Ryan Seacrest, Justin Bieber, and Jared Leto – enjoy using Snapchat to show off their daily exploits and sometimes to debut new content and products as well.

3. Brands Are on There, Too

Snapchat not only allows you to get a glimpse into the lives of your favorite celebs, it also lets you learn more about your favorite brands, too. It’s especially popular with top beauty and fashion brands like Glossier, Too Faced, and H&M. Snapchat is by no means limited to women’s products. Brands like Gatorade, General Electric, and Sour Patch Kids have all taken advantage of the platform to reach customers in fun and unique ways, with great success.

4. The Filters Are Really Awesome

Ever wondered what you’d look like with Sia’s hair, as a monster, or face-swapped with your best friend? You can do all that and so much more using Snapchat’s legendary facial filters. They add and subtract filters frequently, but leave a few user favorites like the glossy-eyed flower crown and, of course, the face swap filter. Because really, who doesn’t want to know how they’d look if they were a dog?

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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.

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Pricing
For every 20,000 square feet covered, you’ll pay approximately $5 per hour used. You can purchase your geofilter for up to thirty days, and you cannot go over 5 million square feet. To put that into perspective, the most you can spend on one geofilter is $180,000! Wowza.

Getting Approval
You should give at least two business days for your geofilter to be approved by Snapchat. Although you can submit one day before, it’s best to play it safe. If you’re planning on playing with Snapchat’s guidelines, make sure you give yourself even more time for approval in case  Snapchat decides to turn down your submission. Make sure you plan ahead!

Read More: 4 Snapchat Accounts You Need to Follow Right Now

How to Submit
Submitting your geofilter is simple. Just go to Snapchat’s website, make an account, and log in. Next step: make your filter. You can use Photoshop, Illustrator, or any other photo editing program. Alternatively, Snapchat provides templates that you can play around with as well. If you decide to make your own, keep in mind that your files must be 1080px by 1920px, under 300KB in size, and saved as a .PNG with a transparent background.

Before submitting your filter, you should test it on a few photos to make sure it’s versatile, and will look good over different images. Try to avoid taking up more than ⅓ of the screen, and make sure the geofilter is valuable to the user, rather than just you, or your advertising effort.

After making your filter, upload it to the website using the self-serve tool. Then fill in the timeframe for your geofilter’s availability, the location, and the name. Once the form is complete, hit submit! You should receive an email from Snapchat letting you know your submission has been received. Soon enough, you’ll get an email declaring its approval or rejection, a bill for the geofilter, and an announcement that your geofilter is live!

Show’s Over
Once your geofilter has expired, you can look at the “metrics” tab on your account to see the number of uses, and views. Keep in mind that the views will continue to change, even after your filter has expired, depending on how many people view your filter in previous snaps and stories. Ready to put this knowledge to the test? Check out our tips on how to get more Snapchat followers, so more people can see your handiwork!

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