Snapchat is adding a chat feature to its ephemeral messaging service, expanding the picture only messaging service, according to Mashable.
Previously, users were only able to send each other photos and videos that self-destruct a few seconds after they are viewed, Mashable reported.
The Los Angeles startup said Thursday that Snapchat users will be able to chat by swiping right on a friend's name, according to Mashable.
"Until today, we felt that Snapchat was missing an important part of conversation: presence," the company wrote in a blog post. "There's nothing like knowing you have the full attention of your friend while you're chatting."
When users leave the chat screen, messages will be automatically deleted, Mashable reported. In keeping with Snapchat's tradition, users can take screenshots of the chat if they want to preserve it.
Users will also be able to video chat, as they would with Skype or FaceTime, according to Mashable.
Snapchat's expansion comes at a time when mobile messaging apps are soaring in popularity as people look beyond traditional texting to communicate and share photos and videos, Mashable reported. Some apps also accommodate more than just texts and photos, making them all the more appealing.
In one example of mobile messaging's increasing value, Facebook, which reportedly has tried to acquire Snapchat for $3 billion, agreed to buy WhatsApp for $19 billion in February, according to Mashable. WhatsApp has half a billion users, up from 465 million in February in comparison to Twitter which has 255 million users.
Many of the app's icons and buttons have also been redesigned and and the entire user interface has been given some much-needed polish, Mashable reported. The menus, which you still navigate via swipes, are cleaner and less cluttered and the font has also been changed to a smaller typeface.
