Snapchat’s innovative approach to messaging involving messages that delete themselves after a set time took the world of technology by storm, but as the years have passed and the app hasn’t been able to grow its user base, is Snapchat getting deleted in 2023?
There are no official statements or press releases about a planned shutdown and so Snapchat is likely to last through 2023 as it still has a solid business model and there are many plans on expansions to Snapchat features such as augmented reality (AR).
Let’s look at why Snapchat is rumored to shut down, why it is unlikely to shut down, and dig deeper into why these claims constantly swirl around Snapchat to get a better handle on how it is going.
Is Snapchat Shutting Down?
Rumors about Snapchat’s demise have been circling for many years, with several taking shape in 2017. There has been no official word on a planned shutdown from either Snapchat or from the owners Snap Inc.
Twitter has been partnering with Snapchat for some time to bring in native integration between the two platforms, allowing users to do interactive embeds to take full advantage of a Snap rather than just a screenshot.
Snapchat has also been trialing out new technology such as the AR Lenses to bring more functionality to the app and move it out of merely a social media and messaging platform.
For example, users can use the AR Filters to apply a virtual Halloween costume to see what it looks like on them, and the idea is to push this out to all clothes shopping websites.
Snapchat has even partnered with music festivals to bring a combination of interactive maps, lenses and even a friend finder via their app.
The Austin City Limits Festival allows you to open up the ACL AR Compass/Festival Planner to show you where you are on a 3D map, and also display the stages, acts, and even select from your friends to find out their relative location to you.
Snapchat has often been at the forefront of technology, first offering the auto deletion of content that has taken the interest of the younger generation, and then offering innovative AR features as well as Snap Maps and Stories, long before Facebook or Instagram.
Stories and short content have taken over social media, with even YouTube now heavily focusing on maximum minute-long videos.
Snapchat’s success has often been attributed to how similar the way you use Snapchat is to real life communication; not being stored and thus not having that common issue of historical posts coming back to haunt or embarrass you later.
Shutdown Rumors for Snapchat
Rumors regarding the shutdown of Snapchat have originated from many unsourced stories, hashtags and other gossip threads that don’t do much more than making a vague reference to a future shutdown.
TikTok and Twitter seem to be the most common originators of the rumors, with rumors not limited to possible shutdowns. One of the biggest recent claims is of a massive upcoming update that was supposed to occur on 1 October 2022.
One of the most controversial changes to Snapchat was the removal of Public Best Friends in 2015, switching it to be a local, private list that only you can see.
Users have been asking for it to be returned, and although Snapchat hadn’t mentioned either way what was happening with it, for some reason many started claiming that the October 2022 update would bring it back, but so far Snapchat has remained quiet.
With daily users still hitting nearly 300 million worldwide and $2.5 billion in annual revenue, Snapchat is not exactly hurting or going out of existence in the blink of an eye. [1] This is over 80% up from the 158 million daily users in 2016.
Year-on-year growth of active users has slowed in recent years but still shows promise, with a larger share outside the United States also reflecting greater popularity among overseas demographic groups.
This is shored up by a wide range of upcoming features and over 800 patents registered in Snapchat’s name.
