After unveiling a massive redesign late last year to much criticism,Snapchat appears to be changing a few things back to its old model.
The redesign in November aimed to separate friends’ content from that of publishers and celebrities, moving the posts and messages of users’ friends to its own section of the app. The change drew criticism from the likes of Kylie Jenner and Chrissy Teigen, who argued that the redesign made the app harder to navigate.
The company now seems to be backtracking on that change, testing a new design for the app that would move users’ friends’ stories to the Discover section of the app, putting them alongside celebrity and publisher content once again.
I stopped using snap. The update, the constant complaints of people not being able to find me, plus the Rihanna poll…no bueno
— chrissy teigen (@chrissyteigen) March 24, 2018
But the latest update isn’t a full reversion to the Snapchat of old; there is one key difference. While the celebrity and user content will all exist on the Discover page, they will be separated into two sections. That means that unlike Instagram stories, users won’t see one of their friend’s stories immediately followed by one from a celebrity. But it also means a user’s feed won’t be dominated by the celebrity content, ensuring that they can still see the stories their friends have shared.
For now, only a small number of users will see this change. Snap has not announced when or whether all users will receive the update.
While the reason behind the change is not clear, a Snap spokesperson told Recode that they are “always listening to our community and will continue to test updates” in an effort to maximize the user experience.