Snapchat completely rebuilt its Android app to be faster and work better with more devices

Ben Schoon | Apr 8 2019 - 4:07 pm PT

Snapchat announced today that, after months of work, the popular social app will start rolling out a brand new version of its Android app. In an effort to squash bugs, improve compatibility, and just be faster in general.

The new Snapchat for Android looks just like the one before, but the app has been reworked completely from the ground up. This has been in the works since 2018 in an effort to bring the Android version of Snapchat up to par with the iOS counterpart. Immediately after installing from the Play Store, users should notice a less buggy, much faster experience.

Android Authority sat down in an interview with the folks at Snapchat to further explain why this radical rewrite was done. Originally, Snapchat didn’t know about the issues with its Android app, but once they found out, it became clear a full rewrite would be needed. Apparently, the variation of how the camera is treated from Android device to Android device was one of many roadblocks developers faced.

In addition to the full rewrite, the interview goes on to mention that Snapchat is now using a much wider variety of devices to test its app. The developers further say that their “ideal goal was that people shouldn’t really notice that the app is actually entirely changed up from underneath them except everything should be way faster.”

To @Android. Love, Snapchat. #SnapForAndroid pic.twitter.com/MGOFQYa9Cj

— Snapchat (@Snapchat) April 8, 2019

Snapchat hopes that this Android rewrite will help put the app right up with its iOS counterpart in terms of performance and features. They believe that the rewite will “put the gap to rest for good.” One of the developers even goes so far as to say that he “wouldn’t be surprised” if new features hit Android before iOS. As Engadget points out, though, that’s not true just yet, as the platform’s new “Charms” are still iOS only.