For a certain group of smartphone users, Snapchat has become the staple social media app. Video calls are useful for sending pictures or even sharing your location with a group of friends! Basically, it has become the Swiss Army Knife of the media – an incredibly useful tool for communicating with friends and loved ones in any form you want. Snapchat’s popularity has grown enormous, and the stigma surrounding the app as “just a way to send private photos to other users” has more or less surpassed the app. Snap Inc., the parent company behind Snapchat, had a successful IPO launch in 2017, comparable to other launches from networks like Facebook and LinkedIn.
Late last year Snapchat added support for group chats and finally completed one of the most requested features. Group chats have become popular with apps like iMessage, Facebook Messenger, and classic MMS messages used to convey messages and meanings between friends, colleagues, and other users who are planning an event or communicating with each other. Before groups were added to Snapchat, sending the same snap to multiple users required you to tap each username separately. After the message was sent, each photo or video was reviewed independently, and any responses were likewise kept in two-way communication.
But Snapchat’s addition of group messages changed all that. Sending an instant message to a group of people is as easy as clicking a box inside the app. You can see who’s seen the app and view their replies in a single thread (every user can read the same replies), so it feels a lot more like a social app than before, and at the same time Snapchat is building a community around it for your funny snaps and silly ten-second videos. to create the same safe environment.
But how do you get started with creating a group within Snapchat? Like many features in the app, it can actually be a bit hidden if you’re not sure what you’re doing. Fortunately, we are here to help you. Let’s take a look at how to make and use a group chat within Snapchat.
Creating a Chat Group
First, you’ll want to make sure Snapchat is updated to the latest version by checking the App Store on iOS or Google Play on Android for updates. As of June 2017 Snapchat v.10.11 is the newest version available, but of course this will change as new updates and features become available.
After updating your app, open Snapchat (here it works on iOS, but Snapchat looks almost the same on both operating systems) and swipe right to access your chat screen. Alternatively, you can tap the “chat” icon at the bottom left of your screen. Here you’ll see every conversation thread you’ve started with your friends on Snapchat, sorted from most used to least used. This is where you can create a new chat group with up to sixteen friends or at least three friends. Start by tapping the new chat icon in the upper-right corner of your screen. This will open a dialog to start chatting with your best friends and recent connections.
Now, you’re probably wondering – and rightfully so – where do we go from here? As with a standard messaging app, we want to focus on adding friends to a group message. From this list, you can search and add new friends from both your best friends list, your recent contacts list, and your full contacts list. Click as many times as you want to add to the group, the chat interface icon will appear below, but remember: Once you reach the maximum limit on groups (sixteen people), Snapchat will cut you off.
Ok, with your friends selected and ready to go, hit the “Chat” button at the bottom of your screen to start the group chat. It will bring up a chat interface that will allow you to see who is in the group chat and you can also change the name of the group by tapping the pencil icon and editing the group chat name above.
Sending a Snap to Your Group Chat
All right, you’ve created your group chat. But now, just to keep the conversation going, you have to throw some stuff in there. Once you’ve named your group chat, it’s time to do just that. Use this bar at the bottom of the screen to send anything you want. Text chat also works, but if you want to have fun with it, send a video or photo, send a sticker, send a bunch of emojis, or even send a Bitmoji message to say hello. If you are interested in it, you can also upload screenshots and other photos from your gallery here.
After you send your snap or text, you can view several different pieces of information. You can see who is “online” right now, that is, inside the instant conversation. You can see who viewed your message, snap or anything, and of course since this is a group message you can read everyone’s replies in a single thread, each commenter giving their own color when replying to your message. . This makes Snapchat groups feel more like a traditional messaging service than anything offered by the app, but don’t be fooled. You will lose these issues twenty-four hours after they happen. It’s Snapchat after all. Until then, feel free to browse the messages and re-read their content until it disappears.
Group Chat Options
Sure, it wouldn’t be a messaging app without a few options, and in fact, you can change a few different settings by tapping the triple horizontal line in the top left corner of your screen in the group chat you’ve created. . You will be able to see every member in your group listed by name. From here, you can independently send snapshots and chats to each group member and automatically share snap codes with others. You can also check and change notifications for the group, edit your group name, add users to the group (as long as space is available), and leave the group permanently if you’re no longer interested in the conversation. Unfortunately, you cannot kick or boot users from the group, even if you created the original chat.
Leaving the group deletes everything you shared in a group conversation that hasn’t been deleted yet. Of course, if someone took a screenshot of the chat (which would trigger a notification to all other users), you’ll still be able to see who took a screenshot of the chat and who didn’t. This prevents users in groups from taking a screenshot of the chat and leaving immediately without any results. Finally, it’s worth mentioning that you can start a quick chat with another user by tapping their name at the bottom of the screen.
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With group chats, you can create and start chats with multiple users at the same time. The best thing about group chats: You can do everything you would normally do in a standard Snap chat, but with multiple friends at once, eliminating the need to switch between multiple individual chat conversations. In many ways, this mirrors the improvements we’ve seen in early versions of SMS and MMS, and again in apps like Hangouts or iMessage. Conversations are more fun when they involve a large number of people, but it’s also easier to maintain a dialogue and communicate. If you want to have a side-by-side or quick chat with someone in your group chat, Snapchat makes that easy too. Just tap on the contact’s name and the quick chat opens with a private conversation
All these communication options are what make Snapchat such a great and viable option for communication. It makes it easy to keep friends and loved ones close with jokes, updates on what you’re up to, and anything else you want to share, even if snaps, videos, and conversations disappear after a limited amount of time. Group chats were once a pipe dream for many Snapchat users, and we couldn’t be happier that they’re here now.
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