What is Snapchat App? How does Snapchat work?

What is Snapchat App?

One of the hottest mobile apps, fastest growing apps in the world and also one of the most controversial - SnapChat is an application for iPhones, iPads,  Android and other devices that allows users to send photos to specific users or subscribers. However, unlike many other apps in the market, SnapChat allows users to set a 1 second to 10 second expiration of the photo, and then it's gone for good. Anything shared through the service self-destructs, leaving no evidence that it existed. SnapChat also allows Snapchatters to choose to have their photo or video saved in their phone’s photo gallery or just sent to friends. The application by default, Snaps disappear from the screen once they are viewed - unless your friend decides to keep it, such as with a screenshot or separate camera. Snaps are meant to make conversation more spontaneous, visual and fun! The best part is that Snapchat doesn’t eat up your phone's memory.

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The Beginning!

Snapchat was developed by Evan Spiegel, Bobby Murphy, and Reggie Brown,then Stanford University students. The application was launched in September 2011.

Evan Spiegel and Bobby Murphy were of the view that emoticons were not enough to transmit the emotion of a person that could be sent with a text message. But they were also nervous that a quick snap of a cellphone camera showing a particular emotion might end up being inappropriate for a social media site where the picture could be posted for all the world to see. So the concept of a time-limited photo sharing and the most loved application among the teenagers was born.

Here's what the Snapchat creators had to say on their blog

My co-founder Bobby and I met at Stanford in 2009. I was a freshman studying Product Design and Bobby was a junior working on his B.S. in Mathematical and Computational Science. Our first project was Future Freshman – a site that would forever improve the way high school students applied to college. Or so we thought. The site failed to get traction but we learned something important — we loved working together.

In April 2011 we moved into the not yet lucrative world of mobile photo sharing. With most photo apps on the market advertising ways to make photos prettier or more stylized, we thought there was an opportunity to do something different. We wanted a place to share awkward selfies and funny photos with our friends.

And after hearing hilarious stories about emergency detagging of Facebook photos before job interviews and photoshopping blemishes out of candid shots before they hit the Internet (because your world would crumble if anyone found out you had a pimple on the 38th day of 9th grade), there had to be a better solution.

We quickly got the first prototype up and running and continued to develop it throughout the following summer in Los Angeles. We worked tirelessly - except on beach days - with great input from close friends and family. Then in September 2011 we launched in the AppStore.

To get a better sense of how people were using Snapchat and what we could do to make it better, we reached out to some of our users. We were thrilled to hear that most of them were high school students who were using Snapchat as a new way to pass notes in class—behind-the-back photos of teachers and funny faces were sent back and forth throughout the day. Server data supported this and we saw peaks of activity during the school day and dips on the weekends.

We still can’t see any of the Snaps sent through our service, but we have tweets, emails, and Snapchat-tagged photos on Instagram to keep us tuned in to what our creative users are doing.

Snapchat isn’t about capturing the traditional Kodak moment. It’s about communicating with the full range of human emotion — not just what appears to be pretty or perfect. Like when I think I’m good at imitating the face of a star-nosed mole, or if I want to show my friend the girl I have a crush on (it would be awkward if that got around), and when I’m away at college and miss my Mom…er…my friends.

We’re building a photo app that doesn’t conform to unrealistic notions of beauty or perfection but rather creates a space to be funny, honest or whatever else you might feel like at the moment you take and share a Snap.

We love the app — couldn’t go a day without it — and we’re super excited about the future.

The Volume!

Snapchat is reported to have an active users of 100 million. In May 2014, the app's users were sending 700 million photos and videos per day, while Snapchat Stories content was being viewed 500 million times per day. The company has a valuation of $10-$20 billion depending on various sources.

How Snapchat Works!

Once the SnapChat application is downloaded from the App Store or from Google Play, like any other applications the user registers and sets a password. The application then accesses your contacts on your cell phone to load friends to the application, or you can add other friends beyond your contact list by inviting them.

Once you load the app and login, you can take a snap, you can edit it and add caption or other "doodles." Then finally you select its destination from your friends list to send the photo to and set a timeframe from 1 to 10 seconds. Once the photo message is sent, the receiver has the time set by the timer to look at the photo before the message "self-destructs."

Friends can then take their own photo to reply or just send a message back.

In our next post we will show you how to Download Snapchat Application from app market and Install it on your device.

Happy Snapping!

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