Snapchat for Web: Chat and make video calls on desktop

Image: Mint

As many smartphone services are moving the web, Snapchat is joining the train. It is bringing snapping, chatting, and video calling features to the desktop via its new web app. This was the first time the platform made its service available off smartphones.

Snapchat for web allows you to log in with a Snapchat account to send private messages or call friends on the desktop. As the excitement grows, unfortunately, Snapchat Web will not be available to everyone. It will be only exclusive to Snapchat Plus subscribers before others.

This Snapchat for Web is coming as the first prominent feature since the company launched its the paid tier sometime in June. This feature will be available first to subscribers in the US, UK, Canada, Australia, and New Zealand. However, it will not be available on all browsers - it will only work on Google’s Chrome browser. Apple users browsing with Safari will not be able to access the app; they should download Chrome. 

According to Nathan Boyd, the Head of Messaging Product, Snapchat, offering a web option makes a lot of sense because users today frequently make use of desktop computers/laptops more. Although Snapchat was designed as a visual-first messaging app, branching to the web is a game changer.

Snapchat for web offers you extra space to chat and call using the same window, with Snap’s AR Lenses coming soon. During the pandemic, users make use of computers more. Also, as the new school year approaches, Snap strategized to offer users more products on the web over time.

Snapchat for web works like its mobile option because it also opens to your webcam like the mobile option. In addition, on the Web version, you can edit your Bitmoji. Snap places itself basically as an AR platform for its Lenses; however, the core of its app use is private, temporary messaging, and calling.

With that, Snapchat for Web is poised to compete with Discord and WhatsApp from Meta, which already has its desktop game up tight. According to Boyd, Snap’s 100 million users call each other on Snapchat monthly, staying up to an average of more than 30 minutes on the call a day. He added that chatting is usually the last thing people do before closing the app.

Boyd said, “We are always looking for ways to meet our community where they are,” he says in an interview. “It just felt like something that was an unmet opportunity.”

In conclusion, it is a firm belief that when Snap mentioned the Snapchat for Web app to its subscriber, it was the first sign that revealed that Snap is taking its paid tier users seriously since it’s another way of making money for the company. 

The heat is seriously on Snap to monetize its 332 million daily active subscribers, which is way more than Twitter’s users since revenue growth is slowing. Snapchat for web after launch will not come with ads which is a bid to keep loyalists returning to the app. However, it should be noted that ads are Snap’s primary revenue source.

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