Snapchat has quietly released yet another update for its ephemeral messaging app after the one it released recently which brought video playback controls and other improvements. This update just adds one major feature to Snapchat which is going to make chatting with friends much easier in the app. The feature is called Story Replies and it allows users to reply to their friends on Snapchat without having to leave a story.
Users can now immediately start chatting with a friend when viewing their Story, for those who are unaware, Snapchat Stories are basically a collection of videos and photos.
One only needs to swipe up when viewing a friend’s Snapchat Story to start chatting with them right away. This eliminates the need for them to first leave the clip and then start a chat. The recipient will get a notification about the new chat that’s linked to the snap that the user swiped up on to initiate the chat.
This update also adds a minor improvement to the lenses feature that has already been available in the app. It’s now possible to use lenses in snapchat with the rear camera, previously lenses could only be used with just the selfie-taking camera. In order to activate this all users need to do is push and hold a face to bring up the different kind of lenses, a separate store where lenses are sold was also added to the app in the previous update.