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Guess What’s Happening To Snapchat?

Android users will be jumping for joy

Guess What's Happening To Snapchat?

Android users, get excited!

Back in November Snapchat’s Founder and CEO, Evan Spiegel, announced a new app was going to be rebuilt for its Android users.

Almost a year later and Snapchat Alpha is available… kind of.

Android users of Snapchat are now able to access the new update as long as their smartphone has root access.

 

Tech investigator Jane Manchun Wong uncovered this new update on Aug 16.

Can’t figure out how to enable Snapchat Alpha? Have no idea what root access is? Don’t worry.

According to Engadget “You might not want to rush to try the test release. As the alpha status implies, this is a very rough-around-the-edges app with missing controls (including access to Snapcodes on profiles) and buggy behavior.”

Why is Snapchat for Android Getting A New Redesign?

The primary focus of developing the new interface was to address Android user’s problems regarding performance. Apparently, the new update is significantly faster when compared to its predecessor.

As for the design, the settings menu is simpler with the Stories UI now looking very similar to that of Instagram’s, the navigation bar is black instead of transparent and icons are a bit more noticeable, giving the app a much cleaner feel.

This new update comes a few weeks after Snap Inc., Snapchat’s parent company, received an investment of approx. Dhs918 million ($250 million) from Saudi billionaire Prince Alwaleed Bin Talal.

Saudi users count for nine percent of Snapchat’s worldwide user base and almost seven million people within the country use Android smartphones.

With a noticeably faster performance and some nice user interface updates, the new Snapchat Alpha looks very promising. We can’t wait to test it out!

Have you tried Snapchat Alpha? What are your thoughts? Let us know in the comments below.

Written by Suketh Shetty and Laura Kell