Snapchat's 'Chat' update brings text messaging and video calling to Android, iOS app

Until now messages or snaps sent on Snapchat would disappear within few moments thus making it very difficult to chat with someone the way one could on other apps. But now Snapchat wants to make that kind of interaction possible too. So the latest update to the app brings a “Chat” tool to let Snapchat users text or video chat with their friends. According to a post on Snapchat’s official blog, users will simply have to swipe across a friend’s name in the Snapchat inbox to start a text-based chat. A user can send snaps, videos and exchange text messages with friend. A button on the bottom of the screen will turn blue whenever your friend is in the chat screen and reading the message. To start a video call with this friend, simply hit the blue button and you are instantly connected. Snapchat has retained the feature of automatically erasing a message once the chat is complete. However, if you want to save an important bit of information from the chat you can tap on a particular message to save it for future reference. Snapchat users will be able to have a live video conversation To start video streaming a user will need to tap and hold the blue button on their screen. In less than three seconds the streaming will start on the screen of the other user. To keep the streaming active keep the finger on the screen. This is similar to what Snapchat users do when viewing a snap. A user can move from front camera to rear camera by just move the finger towards top half of the screen. What Snapchat has essentially done is tried to grab all the usage share from competing apps such as Facebook Messenger, Kik, Instagram and WhatsApp. Now with self-deleting chats and instant video chats, Snapchat users have more reason to keep using the app and in a neat twist of sorts, as other apps try to app Snapchat's self-destructing features, Snapchat has taken a leaf from their book for its latest update. The latest Snapchat update is now available on Play Store and App Store.