Snapchat for Android is getting a major redesign

Snapchat users on Android have sometimes felt like second-tier citizens when it comes to the app’s features and performance, in comparison to iOS users of the popular social networking app. Today, Snap Inc. announced that it is developing a major revamp of the Snapchat Android app that it says will be created “from the ground up.”

In an investor note as part of its third quarter 2017 financial results, Snap CEO Evan Speigel admitted that the company needs to get more new Snapchat Android users to increase its overall customer base. In order to achieve this, Speigel stated that the company’s development team will be creating the new Snapchat app for Android, based on what the team has learned about Android app development for the past five years. Indeed, Speigel said the new Android version will be “a huge focus over the coming year” for the Snapchat dev team. Already, the team has improved performance in the current Android app version, so much so that it saw “significantly more Android users added” in September compared to new iOS users.

There’s no word on exactly when the revamped Snapchat Android app will launch, but the company said it will be available first in a limited number of markets before it rolls out worldwide.

At the same time, Speigel said that the Snapchat team is also working on an overall redesign of the app, in an effort to make it easier to use among a wider audience. Speigel said that the company is willing to take a risk on this redesign, even though it might be “disruptive to our business in the short term.” Again, there’s no word on when the Snapchat redesign will go live.

This news comes as Snap reported a lower-than-expected number of 4.5 million new Snapchat users for the third quarter of 2017. It stated that there are currently 178 million daily active users of Snapchat.

How do you feel about Snap putting extra effort into creating a new Android version of Snapchat? Let us know your opinion in the comments!