The photo-messaging service, which is wildly popular with teens, unleashed a big update on Thursday that drove its young users to distraction and disrupted classrooms. Snapchat, launched in 2011, lets users send photo messages that vanish after just a
Ellis Hamburger takes an exclusive look at the new Snapchat app, which lets you text friends and do live video calls, but not exactly how you'd think.
To help build and power its new cross-platform video chat service, Snapchat acquired software company AddLive, sources tell The Verge. Snapchat confirmed the deal to The Verge, saying "We are excited to welcome the AddLive team to the Snapchat family.
What is the thing you send on Snapchat? Since time immemorial (or fall 2012), I would've answered: a snap. The first syllable of the service's name—denoting a picture-with-a-half-life—was Snapchat's unambiguous atomic unit, its clear medium of exchange.
Snapchat's founders are hoping to transform the company's product into something more sophisticated and sleek, a primary hub for mobile messaging.