Snap Inc. rolled out a Do Not Disturb feature to Snapchat, and ironically, there was no major announcement on its arrival to the popular communications app.
The new Snapchat feature comes amid intensifying competition from rivals such as Facebook Messenger and WhatsApp. However, it appears that Snap is doing pretty well.
Snapchat Do Not Disturb Feature: What's It About?
The Do Not Disturb feature was quietly launched a few weeks ago, but many Snapchat users do not know about it. According to a TechCrunch report, it was rolled out a few weeks ago.
To use Snapchat's quietly added feature, users can tap and hold on a person or group. This will mute notifications coming from them, but the people will not be blocked and the user will stay within the group. The people and groups muted under the Do Not Disturb feature will not know that they have been silenced by the user.
The new feature should come in handy for users who want to stop receiving notifications from certain friends, but do not want to sever connections with them on the app. With muted notifications, Snapchat users may also be moved to check the app more often, leading to more usage and engagement.
The Do Not Disturb feature, which has been present in Facebook Messenger and Apple's iMessage for years, comes after a few important additions to Snapchat. In January, Snapchat started allowing users to share photos and videos with other users outside the app, and a subsequent update added hundreds of customization options for the app's Bitmoji avatars. Earlier this month, Snapchat launched an in-app Snap Store, where users can purchase merchandise such as the $20 Dancing Hot Dog Plushie.
Snap Inc. Finished 2017 Strong
Snap Inc. is adding tons of features to Snapchat to stay afloat amid competition from many other messaging apps. However, according to the company's results for the fourth quarter of 2017, Snap is doing pretty well.
For the fourth quarter of 2017, Snap recorded a revenue of $285.7 million, which is a 72 percent increase compared with the same quarter in 2016. The figure, boosted by surprising growth in user numbers and advertising revenue, exceeded analyst estimates of $253 million.
This is actually the first time that Snap beat Wall Street expectations, allowing the company to finish 2017 strong.
Snapchat added 8.9 million daily active users in the period, the biggest gain since the third quarter of 2016. The app now boasts of 187 million daily active users, also beating analyst expectations of 184 million users by the end of 2017.
