Snapchat has been expanding to desktops

 After being a smartphone app for over a decade, Snapchat is now making its way to the web.

Snapchat has been expanding to desktops after operating only on mobile devices for more than a decade.

The parent company of the well-known photo and messaging app, Snap, announced on Monday that it is launching Snapchat for Web, which enables users to message and video call their friends from their computers.

It's an important shift for a business that previously served as nothing more than a landing page for its website, attracting youthful consumers with a viral photo-sharing app for mobile phones. Snap may be admitting that its customers have matured and that many of them now work on large displays at home or in the workplace by switching to desktop computers.

 

Along with Snapchat+ members in the US, UK, and Canada, only users from Australia and New Zealand will initially have access to Snapchat's new desktop version. In June, Snap introduced Snapchat+, a $3.99 monthly subscription that offers users access to more sophisticated features like customizing the appearance of their app icon and seeing who has viewed their post.

The online version of the mobile app will be a more condensed version, concentrating mostly on the messaging component of the app rather than its Stories element.

Messages and any Snaps users view on their desktop PCs will be deleted immediately after viewing, much like the core Snap program.

In the future, Snap promises to add additional app features to the desktop version, including the option for users to add Lenses to their video conversations to spice them up. Currently, users must use the Chrome browser to view Snapchat on Web, but the firm announced that it will soon support other browsers and may eventually develop a desktop application.

 

On Thursday, Snap will present second-quarter financial results following a challenging first half of the year for the firm. A day after the business indicated it would miss its projection, Snap's stock fell 43% in May, and it has fallen over 70% this year.

Because Snap is the first of the main developers of ad-supported apps to release financial results this quarter, analysts will pay close attention to the company's performance. As inflation spread across the economy, many advertising has cut back on their spending.

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Snap stated in May that "the macroeconomic climate has worsened farther and faster than expected" after it released advice on April 21, 2022.