Snapchat enables for web video calling and conversations

Snapchat enables for web video calling and conversations

Through a new web app, Snapchat is providing features like snapping, chatting, and video calling to computers for the first time. This extends the company's service beyond smartphones.

You can call pals on a PC using Snapchat for Web by logging in with your Snapchat account. The web platform is the first big feature launch since Snap launched its paid tier in June, and at first it will only be available to Snapchat Plus users. Access will be given first to subscribers in the US, UK, Canada, Australia, and New Zealand. Only Google's Chrome browser will work with Snapchat; Apple's Safari will not.

Although Snapchat was designed as a visual-first messaging software, Nathan Boyd, the head of messaging product, claims that an web version makes sense because more of its users use desktop computers. With Snap's AR Lenses soon available, Snapchat for Web gives users more space to chat and call in the same window. Boyd stated Snap hopes to gradually expand the number of its products available web as people use computers more often as a result of the pandemic and the upcoming start of the new school year.

Snap positions itself mainly as an AR platform for its Lenses, private, transient messaging and calling are still the main use cases for the program. In immediate competition with Discord and WhatsApp from Meta, which is also available on desktop, is the web version of Snapchat. Boyd claims that every month, 100 million people use Snapchat to make calls to each other, chatting for an average of more than 30 minutes per day, and that people often communicate with one another before uninstalling the app.

In an interview, he says, "We are always looking for ways to reach our people where they are." "It seemed like an unexplored opportunity,"

The reality that the web expansion was first made available to subscribers shows how seriously the company is taking its premium tier as an additional revenue stream. Since leadership has warned that revenue growth is slowing, Snap is under more pressure than ever to monetize its 332 million daily active users, which is more people than Twitter. The goal is to keep committed users coming back even though Snap's primary source of income—ads—will initially be missing from the desktop version.

Source: The Verge