Snapchat took us all by surprise on Tuesday by dropping a big ol’ update on us: Chat 2.0. But what is Snapchat Chat 2.0, exactly? It's... well, it's a lot of things. New features abound in the update, from new video chatting tools to stickers, and it’s going to take your Snap game to a whole new level.
The Snapchat team introduced us all to Chat 2.0 in a post on the app's blog, promising that the update will result in easier video chatting with your favorite Snap users. That’s right: You can video chat on Snapchat. The feature itself has actually been around for a while; Chat 1.0 debuted on May 1, 2014. But now, with the release of Chat 2.0, you can “start by sending a few chats, and when your friend shows up, start talking or video chatting instantly with one tap,” according to the Snapchat blog. Chat 2.0 includes the ability to watch, to listen, to watch and listen, and to send an audio note that functions sort of like a voicemail (that is, if you send one, it'll be waiting for your pal the next time they open the app). Oh, and let’s not forget the stickers — similarly to Facebook and WhatsApp, you can also now send your pals a sticker saying exactly what you mean in pictorial form.
No, not scratch and sniff stickers. Alas, the one thing we still can't really do over our phones is smell things. Yet.
Anyway, CNN Money describes the whole thing as “a video call that works like a private livestream”: It enables you to choose exactly who you want to chat with before you start broadcasting; then your friends can join the conversation either with their own video and/or audio, or they can simply watch what you’re doing and then text you back. However, unlike the public livestreaming apps that have become popular lately (think Periscope and Facebook Live), your Snapchat Chat 2.0 videos aren’t saved anywhere — as CNN writes, “whatever you film can’t be saved to your phone.”
According to Snapchat, the original idea behind Chat was for it to be “the best way to communicate — second only to hanging out face-to-face.” The 2.0 update goes a long way towards achieving that goal, giving users a whole slew of ways to interact with each other. Neat, right?
Almost as neat as J. Lo vomiting rainbows.
Chat 2.0 isn’t the only new feature Snapchat has rolled out today, either; Auto-Advance Stories are also now a thing. Basically Auto-Advance Stories work like the autoplay feature on YouTube: As soon as you finish watching one Story, the next one starts playing automatically. If you want to skip the Story that just started playing, swipe to move ahead to the next one; and if you don’t want to watch anymore Stories at all, pull down to exit. And last but not least, Snapchat has updated its Terms of Service and Privacy Policy, which you can see at the Snapchat Privacy Center.
Snap well, my friends!
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