Snap has officially jumped into the paid subscription game and launched Snapchat Plus. Snap launched the new subscription service shortly after it confirmed that it was testing Snapchat Plus with select users. This confirmation came immediately after app researcher Alessandro Paluzzi tweeted a thread of screenshots initially revealing Snapchat Plus.
Like Twitter Blue before it, you don’t need to subscribe to Snapchat Plus to use and enjoy the app. Instead, it’s a way for Snap to offer elevated features to people who use Snapchat the most.
One of the most contentious features of Snapchat Plus is the ability to pin anyone on your Friends list as your #1 BFF. This feature is reminiscent of the Top 8 Friends list on MySpace, only it’s much more limited — highlighting one person as your “BFF” instead of a group of close friends.
Listing a friend as your #1 BFF gives you the privilege of tracking their whereabouts within the last 24 hours, assuming that the friend in question shared their location with you in the first place. You can also see your orbit with your BFF and see how many friends have rewatched your story.
Here's how the #Snapchat+ badge will appear in the profile 👇🏻 pic.twitter.com/S5zrjZmVWH
— Alessandro Paluzzi (@alex193a) June 16, 2022
Subscribing to Snapchat Plus will also award you with a star badge on your profile. Unlike Twitter’s verified checkmark, you don’t have to jump through a lot of hoops to get it. The star badge only shows that you’re a Snapchat Plus subscriber and nothin
Snapchat Plus will give you access to exclusive custom Snapchat icons to give your profile a little more personality. Some icons have plain colors in the background, while others have your country’s flags and flowers. The classic Snapchat icon with the ghost sticking its tongue out makes a return here, as do new neon Snapchat icons with a plus sign hovering over the ghost.
Subscribing to Snapchat Plus will cost $4 per month. Previous reports hinted at multiple subscription tiers, but at the time of publication, only the $4/month option is available.
The absence of ads is a privilege that comes with most premium subscription plans. However, Jacob Andreou, Snap’s SVP of Product, told The Verge that “ads are going to be the core of our business model for the long term.”
In other words, being subscribed to Snapchat Plus won’t allow you to turn off the ads that play in between Stories. It’s unknown whether ad-free subscription plans for Snapchat Plus will be possible if and when they’re introduced.
Snapchat Plus is available to Snapchat users in the U.S., Canada, U.K., France, Germany, Australia, New Zealand, Saudi Arabia, and the United Arab Emirates. Snap said that Snapchat Plus will roll out to other countries at later dates.
Two new highly requested iCloud plugins just got added to ChatGPT, giving people who rely on Apple’s Mail and Calendar services a way to search emails, check appointments, and manage their schedules directly through the chatbot.
The integration is rolling out to all ChatGPT plans, including the free tier. You can access it on the web, desktop, and iOS.
Google Play is borrowing one of the Nintendo Switch’s most useful little tricks. A new Sidekick tool called Playbacks captures a short clip after something interesting has already happened, sparing players from running a screen recorder throughout an entire game.
Playbacks is part of Google Play Store v53.8 and keeps saved clips on the phone. Google first announced it earlier this month, but the new Play Store update marks its arrival for players. Anyone who has watched a perfect win vanish because the record button came too late already understands the appeal.
Samsung’s scandal over its Game Optimizing Service, or GOS, has returned with a bill attached. South Korea’s Fair Trade Commission has tentatively fined the company 20.1 billion won, or about $15.1 million, over gaming claims made for the Galaxy S21, Galaxy S22, and Tab S8.
The regulator says Samsung promoted the devices as gaming powerhouses without disclosing that GOS placed preset CPU and GPU limits on certain demanding games. Samsung disputes that conclusion, calling GOS a legitimate way to manage heat.