For those who don’t know, Snapchat is a messaging application available for various platforms that allows sending and receiving multimedia messages between the users. The application is widely used for video calling purposes because of its high-quality, fast, and reliable video communication features as well as some additional functions like Snapchat filters that allow users to enhance their video calls with certain filters and enhancements. The application is free to use making it one of the most widely used video calling apps on any platform there is.
So, for now, let’s put that aside. Is Snapchat an exception when it comes to those applications or services like WhatsApp, Facebook, Google Chrome, etc. that we saw a few disadvantages in? I don’t think so. Like any application that has ever created, Snapchat also comes with a lot of disadvantages. So, as always, we are going to take a deep dive into the advantages and disadvantages of Snapchat to let you know more about the application in general. So, without wasting our valuable time, let’s directly dive into it.
Advantages of Snapchat
- Very Easy to Signup: Like any other social media or messaging applications, it is extremely easy to signup for a Snapchat account. The way it should be, users will never face difficulties in creating Snapchat accounts because that’s what they want to help the app to dominate the industry. All you have to do is downloading the Snapchat app from the respective app stores based on the type of operating system your device runs and signing up for an account by providing necessary information.
- Seamless Secure Messaging: The messages that you send through Snapchat is protected with the extreme layer of security measures to ensure that there is no possibility for anyone else to get access to your private messaging sessions. In addition to that, the messages will be automatically deleted after 24 hours of both the parties viewing the messages. According to Snapchat, the servers will clear the message history every 30 days. That means, your messages will no longer exist anywhere related to Snapchat after 30 days.
- Video Calls with a lot of Features: Snapchat is primarily being used for its video calling features and the sweetening functions such as Snapchat filters. If you ever come across those YouTube videos with puppy faces and stars around, that is probably going to be from Snapchat. Snapchat makes it a lot more fun to have video call sessions than any other video calling applications out there. And the aforementioned filters and effects are the ones helping it mostly.
- Media will be auto-deleted: Any media files you share on Snapchat will be automatically removed from the platform within a specified time limit. So, you do not have to worry about those old media files that you have shared and no longer want to. This makes Snapchat unique from other applications such as WhatsApp or Facebook where the shared information stays forever or as long as you decide to block the other person.
- A Great UI: Just like any other popular communication platforms there is, Snapchat also has a greatly designed user-interface to let you navigate throughout the application with ease. No matter how less-experienced you are with such video calling applications on your device, the app will help you with anything you want to accomplish that is possible on Snapchat. Apart from that, there is a ton of instructions and guides available on their official website which you can browse through to find solutions for your problems.
Disadvantages of Snapchat
- You cannot share content outside the platform: If you ever used any other social media apps or communication applications in the past, you might have noticed that most of them contain any type of options to share content outside the platform with your friends or family. But one of the major drawbacks of Snapchat is that it doesn’t allow sharing information outside of the platform. So, if you are planning to forward some messages or media files on your Snapchat account, you probably can’t do that.
- Like any other social media apps, Addictive: I am not quite sure if this is a disadvantage of the application as it is common among any engaging or entertaining applications that ever created. However, Snapchat is also an addictive app because of the features it has, the quality of the communication and things you can do with it. Some people may find this as an advantage, but when it reaches a level that affects your daily activities and seduces you to stay away from your ‘Real Life’, it is kinda bad.
- A limit on the video length: Earlier, the Snapchat had a 10-second limit for the length of videos that can be shared on the platform. Recently, they made it 60-seconds, which is still not enough for certain requirements. So, if you want to share a long video with someone, you will have to split it into 1-minute sessions over and over again until you finally share everything you want.
- Automatic deletion of the Snapchat stories and videos: From one point of view, this is an advantage to many people who do not want to keep a history of their conversation. However, for most of them, it isn’t. If you ever want to take a look back at your conversation with your loved ones whom you chatted with on the Snapchat, it will not be possible. So, if you want such a feature that keeps the conversation history, Snapchat may not be the best app out there.
- No Advanced Analytics tools: We all know that certain applications such as Facebook provide analytics of the engagement on the account. However, when it comes to Snapchat, there are no analytics tools available on the platform except the report of the views and screenshots. So, if you are planning to do some promotions on the platform for your brand or a profile of yourself, do not expect an advanced report from the application.
So, that was it. The pros and cons of Snapchat. If you are planning to use the application or want to know better about it, this list might help you with the same.