Skip to main content

Here is what users are saying about that new Snapchat redesign

Snapchat
dennizn/123RF
When Snapchat announced a redesign of the user interface last year, the company said the change could be temporarily disruptive and many users that have access to the update would probably agree. The reorganized Snapchat is only live in a handful of countries including Australia, Canada, and the U.K., with a global rollout planned before the end of March.

Even with the slow rollout, the reviews of the update have been largely negative and there are now even Change.com petitions to fix or remove the update. The updated user interface splits public posts from friends with a left swipe for friends and a right swipe for publishers, but there are a few other changes mixed in with the new organization scheme. So should you go in and turn off the automatic updates? Here’s what some users saying about the new design.

Snaps aren’t in chronological order

Instead of chronological order,  Snaps and Stories are algorithmically ranked based on the users you interact with the most.

Publishers may be separated from friends, but mixed with users you don’t follow

Stories are harder to find

Stories, Snaps and messages are all mixed in on a left swipe to access the friend section rather than located in separate spots. Re-watching a friend’s Story also now requires navigating to their profile.

Or not

With more ads

Hey, Snapchat’s gotta pay the bills. Snapchat just posted a profit in the last quarter of 2017 after a rough year on Wall Street — and of course, some of that is from advertising.

Making Snapchat easier for new users can confuse current users

But while you’re updating…

At least the Bitmojis are good…

But Snapchat isn’t done updating

Snapchat saw its highest user growth numbers yet in the last quarter of 2017, along with growth among users older than 35. Snapchat isn’t done updating the app though — CEO Evan Spiegel said the team has already started optimizing the update based on feedback but that the team will continue optimizing the new design through the next several months.

Hillary K. Grigonis
Hillary never planned on becoming a photographer—and then she was handed a camera at her first writing job and she's been…
Snapchat Planets: What’s the order, and what do they mean?
Snapchat Planets being shown on the Snapchat app on iPhone.

Snapchat is one of the most popular social/messaging apps around. We all know you can use it to send photos and videos to friends, watch their Stories, and follow content from other creators. But do you know about Snapchat Planets?

You may already be familiar with Snapchat Planets if you use Snapchat Plus. If you're not, it might be a reason to try out Snapchat's premium features. It is available through the Snapchat app on any mobile device, such as the Google Pixel 8 or iPhone 15.
What are Snapchat Planets?

Read more
What Apple isn’t telling you about the new iPad Pro’s OLED display
Watching video on M4 iPad Pro.

Tandem OLED! Awesome, right? Wait … hold the phone. Tandem OLED? What in the what?

Did Apple geniuses just smash together two OLED panels and, et voilà, a brand new, unprecedentedly awesome display is born, exclusive to the new iPad Pro? Well, not exactly. There’s more to it than that, and in the end, it’s great news for all of us.
Digging into the world of Tandem OLED

Read more
Google just announced 7 big Android updates. Here’s what’s new
Text editing in Google Messages.

If you have an Android phone or tablet or a Wear OS watch, you should sit up and pay attention. Google has just announced a bundle of new features it's rolling out soon, and from Google Messages updates to a better hotspot experience, there's a lot to dig into.

Earlier this year, Google was spotted testing a new edit feature for its RCS-powered Google Messages app. Well, it has finally made its way to the app with the latest Android feature drop.

Read more