Ever since 2009, the world has become connected like never before thanks to the emergence of various social media platforms like Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Snapchat, etc. 

Within a year of their launch, most of the social media platforms in existence today had built and launched their own mobile app for Android as well as iOS platforms. Despite this, many people prefer using Snapchat on PC along with many other apps. 

In this article, we’re going to discuss interesting topics like Snapchat online features, the reason behind Snapchat’s immense popularity, how you can use Snapchat for your desktop, the limitations of doing that, whether Snapchat is safe to use on your PC, and a few other interesting topics. So, kindly keep reading to find out. 

What is Snapchat?

Snapchat is an instant messaging app that supports various multimedia features. It was developed by an American company called Snap Inc. in July 2021. As of today, the app has 293 million users and witnesses a 23% increase in its user base year on year. 

Sharing one’s stories, discovering various news channels via the ‘Discover’ option, and storing various passwords in the private “My Eyes Only” section of the app are some of the most popular activities done on Snapchat. Snapchat is especially popular among the youth population in developing and developed nations.   

Salient features of Snapchat 

Listed below are some of the most popular and robust Snapchat online features that make Snapchat very popular among the youth and a sought-after social media platform.

3D Bitmoji 

A Bitmoji in Snapchat is similar to an ‘avatar’ used in Yahoo Messenger except that it is a lively 3D figure that can be customized a lot more to suit your present mood and status. Around 70% of Snapchat’s users actively change their Bitmojis every day. Hence, one can even expect an upgrade to this feature of Snapchat in the near future. 

Every part of the 3D Bitmoji is customizable like hair color, eye color, skin color, the outfit worn, the footwear worn, accessories, the present mood of the Bitmoji, current status, etc. This extreme degree of customization has enhanced the popularity and user engagement of the 3D Bitmoji feature as well as that of Snapchat. 

Augmented Reality (AR) lens

The AR lens feature of Snapchat’s web version and app version enables a user to customize his or her appearance to a great degree. Using this feature, a user can decorate his or her appearance in many ways and even modify himself or herself to look like any animal that’s cute. 

The AR lens feature of Snapchat web app and mobile app really adds a lot of fun to using the application. This feature is one of the main reasons why Snapchat is fun to use and has become a hit among the masses. 

The upgraded Group Chat feature

Group Chat is one of the most convenient features of any chatting or social media platform. It enables a person to chat with multiple people at the same time while not bothering about addressing multiple annoying pings at the same time as in the case of 1:1 chats. As of 2023, Snapchat’s Group Chat feature enables a user to chat with a staggering 200 of his or her friends simultaneously! 

One can even expect an upgrade in group management options, group chat filters, and Bitmojis used in Snapchat’s Group Chat feature in the near future as this feature is very popular among teenagers and working professionals these days.  

Snapchat Map 2.0

This is another prominent and handy feature of Snapchat that enables a user to keep track of his friends’ locations and status on a real-time basis. This feature enables a user to see from which live location his or her friends are “snapping”. 

Another very interesting upgrade to this feature that was incorporated in 2022 is “Heat Maps”. Heat Maps show popular locations from around the world where Snapchat users have shared their stories. 

If you think that a particular suggestion given by Heatmap is appealing to you, you can go ahead and share your exciting story with your friends on Snapchat from that location. You can also use 3D Bitmojis and various filters in the stories and snaps that you create with the help of the Snapchat Map 2.0 feature. 

Auto delete of stories within 24 hours

This is another very convenient feature of Snapchat that most of the other social media platforms don’t have. Very often, people require their stories to be deleted in a few days or even the very next day. 

Examples of this include but are not limited to a user creating a story about what he or she had for dinner, lunch, or breakfast somewhere, a user sharing the story of his newborn baby, a user sharing the story of the moment he got wedded or engaged, a user sharing the story of him or her seeing a match in any stadium, etc. Snapchat’s 24-hour auto story delete feature makes it convenient for users to keep their stories up to date and thereby relevant to the present day.  

Playing games without a hitch

Playing games is a major and fun activity that people do on most social media platforms (on all social media platforms that allow it). To play a game on Snapchat, all you have to do is click on any available friend online and click on the ‘Rocket’ icon on the bottom right corner of your screen. 

You can then choose the game you want to play with your friend. All the games on Snapchat launch and run without a hitch. This feature is available on the Snapchat web app also. Some of the most frequently played games on Snapchat are Snakes and Ladders, Bitmoji Tennis, Subway Surfers, Let’s Go Hoops, Super Snappy Bowling, etc. 

This feature is only available on versions of Snapchat that were released on or before 2019. You can still use the older versions of Snapchat on the internet or you can download older Snapchat app versions from Play Store or The App Store.     

Why did Snapchat’s popularity skyrocket in recent months?

Apart from the above-mentioned features, the following are some other handy and robust features due to which Snapchat’s popularity has skyrocketed in recent months. 

Plethora of Picture filters

Filters can make even an ordinary picture look beautiful or intriguing and attract a lot of likes and user engagement. Snapchat has quite a few picture filters that you can apply quite easily to your photos (just select the filter option, swipe left, and choose the appropriate photo filter) to make them look beautiful, comical, or intriguing. 

Some of the different types of filters that you can apply to your photos on Snapchat are temperature, geo, and speed filters. Geo filters enable you to easily decorate your photos and add stylish captions to them. You can also choose the location range up to which your geo-filtered photos will be visible. 

There are two types of geo-filters namely Community Geo-Filter and On-Demand Geo-Filter. The location range of the Community Geo-Filter is predetermined based on which popular tourist spot you’re on and it is a free tool/feature. 

The location range of the On-Demand Geo-Filter needs to be determined by the user and it is a paid feature. The wider the chosen location range of the On-Demand Geo-Filter, the more the user will have to pay to use it. 

The Community Geo-Filter is mostly used by people on tours (mostly personal tours) and the On-Demand Geo-Filter is mostly used by people hosting special events like birthday parties, weddings, engagements, childbirth, celebrity meetings, etc. 

Self-facing flash

If you’ve switched off your bedroom lights and later realized that you forgot to or want to take a selfie to share with your friends, colleagues, or family, don’t fret. Snapchat’s self-facing flash will come to your rescue. 

After enabling this feature, all you need to do is click on the button to take your picture. A white flash will be seen and the app or web application will set your photo background to white so that a decent-quality selfie can be taken and shared. 

The Discover feature 

Snapchat’s algorithm is designed in such a way that it suggests only relevant and personalized news channels to people so that their Snapchat dashboard remains interesting and free of junk content. Since Snapchat’s news channel suggestions are relevant and personalized by its algorithm, they witness high clicks and viewership. 

This is an easy and effective way for a Snapchat user to be updated with the current news and trends. Just like Snapchat stories, Snapchat’s news channel suggestions and news channels’ content are also updated in a 24-hour time frame. Can you think of a more interesting and convenient way to stay updated with the current news and trends?

Why do people prefer using mobile apps like Snapchat on their PCs these days?

While modern mobile apps are loaded with features and give high clarity to their users, the sizes of most modern smartphones are not enough to enable users to view any kind of content without straining their eyes a little bit. This is especially true for gaming apps.  

Secondly, most people do their official work on laptops or desktops even to this day. Hence, a mobile app like Snapchat that can also be launched and managed on PCs is very handy and convenient for people. That’s why most people prefer using apps like Snapchat on their PCs rather than their mobile phones. Snapchat browser access is the need of the hour these days.  

Top 5 ways to get Snapchat Browser Access on PCs

Now that you know about the conveniences of using mobile apps like Snapchat on PCs, you might be pondering about the ways in which you can use Snapchat on your PC. Well, the answer is that you need to install an Android or a Mac OS emulator on your PC (whichever OS you have) to use Snapchat because Snap Inc. did not design Snapchat to run on Mac OS or Windows. That being said, there are quite a few Android cum Mac OS emulators to choose from which are discussed in detail below. 

Go to Snapchat’s official website

Snapchat’s official website has some code embedded in it that acts as an Android cum Mac OS emulator. An emulator is software that acts as an interface between your PC’s OS and any application (in this case Snapchat) that cannot run on your PC’s OS.

It must be noted that Snapchat’s official website is still under development and does not support all the features that Snapchat’s app has but you can expect full-fledged feature support from Snapchat’s official website before the end of next year (2024). The features of the Snapchat app that you can access from Snapchat’s official website are:

• Access to your newsfeed on Snapchat.
• 1:1 messaging to your friends on Snapchat.
• Group chat.
• AR lens.

The disadvantage of using Snapchat’s official website is that many features of Snapchat like photo filters, geo-filters, Snapchat Map 2.0, Discover, etcetera are not available but one can expect these features to be incorporated into Snapchat’s official website before the end of next year (2024) so that Snapchat’s official website can give a full-fledged feature support to its users. 

Use Bluestacks emulator for Android OS

If you have installed the Snapchat app on an Android smartphone, you must install the Bluestacks emulator on your PC to access at least some of the features of your Smartchat app. Some of the reasons why the Bluestacks emulator is very popular are:

• It is free software to install and use (no free trial of the demo version and paying for the full version after that) on your PC. 
• It enables quick transfer of Android apps from your smartphone to your PC.    
• This emulator can also detect shady Android apps and delete or quarantine them (as you please). 
• Bluestacks emulator is a very robust Android emulator and can run many sophisticated Android games swiftly and seamlessly on your PC.
• There are sound options to adjust your app’s volume, take screenshots, and rotate your screen on the emulator. 
• Bluestacks is 100% legal by the US law and 100% safe to run. It has no malware, virus, or phishing software that can harm your PC or leak your personal information. It is also the most robust and efficient commercial Android emulator. 

Use the Nox App Player emulator  

If you have installed the Snapchat app on an iPhone or iPad, then you must install the Nox App Player emulator for Mac OS cum Windows OS. This emulator can run on both OS platforms and is therefore very desirable to use. 

Nox App Player is similar in robustness and swiftness to the Bluestacks emulator. The advantages of using the Nox App Player emulator are as follows:

• The Nox App Player emulator is free to install and use.
• The Nox App Player emulator can be installed on both Windows and Mac OS which makes it very flexible and thereby desirable to use. 
• The Nox App Player emulator is a very robust and efficient emulator. It can run even high-end Android and iOS games swiftly and seamlessly which makes it a hit, especially among the youth population in the world. 
• Nox App Player emulator enables a user to transfer both Android and iOS apps to his PC. 
• It has a ton of graphics and sound options that you can use to fine-tune your Android or iOS apps when they are running. 
• It is compatible with a wide range of hardware devices like printers, modems, speakers, etc.

Use LD Player emulator

This is an Android emulator that is robust and efficient like Bluestacks. It is especially popular for supporting high-end Android gaming apps. It has also become popular for the following reasons:

• The LD Player emulator can be installed for free on any Windows PC.
• The LD Player emulator can support high-end Android games on your PC quite effortlessly and seamlessly. 
• Transfer of Android apps from your Android smartphone to your Windows PC is facilitated by LD Player emulator. 
• The LD Player emulator has a built-in GPS Location app which you can use to share your current location with your friends on Snapchat. 
• The LD Player emulator can run multiple Android apps on your PC without a hitch. It is a highly swift and seamless Android emulator. 

Use KOPlayer emulator

This Android emulator is especially popular for its speedy and seamless performance. Its specialty is that it can run multiple Android apps on your PC simultaneously without a hitch. 

You will feel like you’re running the Android apps on your Android smartphone instead of on your PC. It must be noted that this Android emulator will only run on Windows 10 and above. Following are the reasons that this Android emulator has become popular:

• The KOPlayer emulator can be installed for free on any Windows PC.
• It supports high-end Android gaming apps.
• It can run multiple Android applications at a time without a hitch. 
• Transfer of Android apps from your Android smartphone to your Windows PC is facilitated by the KOPlayer emulator. 

Is Snapchat safe to use on PCs?

Snapchat has advanced security features installed on its app as well as its official website. Even all of the above-mentioned emulators are 100% safe to use. However, it must be noted that data security and hacking is a cat-and-mouse game where better ways to hack and secure data are constantly being devised. 

That being said, the vast majority of Snapchat users believe that both its official website and mobile app are safe to use and so far, no cases of data theft or account misuse have been reported. So, go ahead. Install Snapchat on your PC and have fun. 

Our Take

Snapchat is no doubt a fun social media and instant messaging software to use. When you’re using it on your smartphone, you can get access to some really cool and interesting features like photo filters, 3D Bitmojis, Discover, AR Lens, Snapchat Map 2.0, etc. 

However, even when you’re using it on your PC, you still get access to some basic and vital features like 1:1 chat, Group Chat, Newsfeed update, Story sharing with 24-hour auto-delete filter, Community Geo Filter, etc. So, at no point in time, Snapchat will be boring to use. 

We recommend that if you have not yet created an account in this fun social media app, you do so now because a growing number of youth around the world are creating accounts or migrating to Snapchat and they consider Snapchat a cool social media platform to be active in.   

FAQs

• Is Snapchat safe to use on PCs?

Snapchat web interface like Snapchat’s official website has no malware, virus, or phishing software that can harm your PC or hack your personal data. However, it must be noted that data security and hacking is a cat-and-mouse game where better ways to hack and secure data are constantly being devised. Hence, no application is 100% secure.  

• Is there any desirable device that you can have on your PC to use Snapchat on it?

Laptops have built-in cameras with which you can share selfies and stories with your friends on Snapchat. However, for desktops, it would be desirable to install an external HD web camera to enjoy using Snapchat on your desktop a lot more. 

• Is it possible to log into your Snapchat account simultaneously from two different devices?

No. You have to log out from one of the devices to be able to log into your Snapchat account from the second device. If you have two or more accounts on Snapchat simultaneously then you can login to a unique Snapchat account on two or more devices simultaneously. 

• Does Snapchat sync on all devices?

Yes. The changes you make to your Snapchat account from any device will be visible on any other device you log into your account from as your data is stored on the company’s servers rather than individual smartphones or PCs. 

• How can you monitor someone else’s Snapchat account without them knowing?

There are quite a few apps using which you can monitor the activities on someone else’s Snapchat account without them knowing. Examples of such apps are mSpy, AirDroid Parental Control, Bark, etc. Ever Snapchat account activity you want to monitor, just enter their usernames on any one of the activity monitoring apps and you can accomplish your task.