INSUBCONTINENT EXCLUSIVE:
Leak says Snap will finally embrace developersSnapchat is secretly planning the launch of its first full-fledged developer platform,
The platform’s prototypes indicate it will let other apps offer a “login with Snapchat” options, use the Bitmoji avatars it acquired
and host a version of Snap’s full-featured camera software that can share back to Snapchat. Multiple sources confirm Snap Inc
is currently in talks with several app developers to integrate Snapkit.The platform could breathe new life into plateauing Snapchat by
colonizing the mobile app ecosystem with its login buttons and content
Facebook used a similar strategy to become a ubiquitous utility with tentacles touching everyone’s business
But teens, long skeptical of Facebook and unsettled by the recent Cambridge Analytica scandal, could look to Snapchat for a privacy-safe way
to log in to other apps without creating a new username and password.Snap Inc
declined to comment on this story.Years of developer neglectSnapchat is making a big course correction in its strategy here after years of
rejecting outside developers
In 2014, unofficial apps that let you surreptitiously save Snaps but required your Snapchat credentials caused data breaches, leading the
company to reiterate its ban on using them
It also shut off sharing from a popular third-party music video sharing app called Mindie
In fact, Snap’s terms of service still say “You will not use or develop any third-party applications that interact with the Services or
other users’ content or information without our written consent.”A year ago I wrote that “Snap’s anti-developer attitude is an
augmented liability” since it would be tough to populate the physical world with AR experiences unless it has help like Facebook had
By December, Snapchat had launched Lens Studio, which lets brands and developers build limited AR content for the app
And it’s been building out its cadre of marketing and analytics partners with which brands can work.Yet until now, Snapchat hadn’t
created functionality that developers could use in their own apps
We don’t know when it will be announced or launched, or who will be the initial developers who take advantage of it
But with Snapchat slipping to its lowest user growth rate ever after being pummeled by competition from Facebook and Instagram, the company
needs more than a puppy face filter to regain the spotlight.SnapPlat
According to sources familiar with Snap’s discussions with potential
developers, Snapkit’s login with Snapchat feature is designed to let users sign up for new apps with their Snapchat credentials instead of
Because Snap doesn’t collect much personal info about you, unlike Facebook, there’s less data to worry about accidentally giving to
developers or them misusing
Displaying its branded button on various app’s signup pages could lure in new Snapchat users or reengage lapsed ones
It’s also the key to developing tighter ties between Snap and other apps, even if users sign up for apps another way.One benefit of
another app knowing who you are on Snapchat, which the company plans to provide with Snapkit, is the ability to bring your Bitmoji avatar
Snapchat acquired Bitmoji’s parent company Bitstrips for just $64.2 million in 2016, but the cartoonish personalized avatar app has been a
staple of the top 10 chart since
It remains one of Snapchat’s most differentiated offerings, as Facebook has only recently begun work on its clone called Facebook
Avatars.While Bitmoji has offered a keyboard full of your avatar in different scenes, Snapkit could make it easy to add yours as stickers on
photos or in other ways in third-party apps
Seeing them across the mobile universe could inspire more users to create their own Bitmoji lookalike.Snapchat is also working on a way for
developers to integrate its editing tool-laden and AR-equipped camera into their own apps
Instead of having to reinvent the wheel if they want to permit visual sharing and inevitably building a poor knockoff, apps could just add
Snapchat’s polished camera
The idea is the photos and videos shot with the camera could then be used in that app as well as shared back to Snapchat
Similar to Facebook and Instagram Stories opening up to posts from third-parties, this could inject fresh forms of content into Snapchat at
a time when usage is slipping.Launching a platform also means Snapchat will take on new risks, as third-parties with access to user data
Snap also will have to convince developers that making it easier for its 191 million daily users to join their apps is worth the engineering
resources, given how that community is dwarfed by the multi-billion user Google and Facebook login systems
Login with Snapchat could be especially popular with teen-focused anonymous, or dating, apps you don’t want connected to your Facebook
profile.Snapchat has struggled to get out of Facebook’s shadow despite inventing or acquiring what would become some of the hottest trends
could develop alliances with a platform that leverages its differentiators — a teen audience that doesn’t care for Facebook, inherent
privacy and custom avatars
Through an army of developers, Snapchat might find the firepower to challenge the blue empire.For more on Snapchat and its competitors,
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