Snapchat is rolling out a simplified version of the app to some users, the company announced on Tuesday during its Snap Partner Summit, as part of a test to make the disappearing photo app easier to use. “Simple Snapchat” declutters the app’s home screen, removing the Snap Map and Stories tabs, and consolidates its navigation bar around three icons: chat on the left, camera in the middle, and Snapchat’s TikTok competitor, Spotlight, on the right.
Stories and Snap Map are not going away entirely in Simple Snapchat but will be tucked into other parts of the app. Stories will appear at the top of the app’s chat tab, with Snap Map at the bottom. You can also find Stories in the Spotlight tab, enabled by a new recommendation algorithm from Snap. Spotlight more directly resembles TikTok in this test, combining short-form content from Snap’s creators, brands, and Stories from a user’s friends list into one scrollable feed.
However, Snapchat’s dedicated Discover section does not appear to be part of Simple Snapchat. The feature launched in 2015 and allowed brands to advertise with short-form videos in a section that was isolated from content from friends. Under the test, Spotlight will include content from publisher partners, according to Snap spokesperson Chloe Keusder, but it’s unclear if videos from the Discover section will be fed directly into Spotlight.
The idea behind Simple Snapchat is to prioritize three areas Snapchat wants to focus on: taking pictures, chatting with friends, and providing short-form entertainment to better compete with TikTok. Earlier this month, CEO Evan Spiegel said these changes were to make the app more accessible, likely to address long-held concerns that Snapchat is too difficult for older generations to navigate.
Simple Snapchat is now being rolled out to a small group of Snapchat users in a few countries, according to a company spokesperson.
However, Snapchat’s core audience has not always responded well to big updates to the user experience. In 2018, Snap pushed out its first major redesign that shoved Stories in between private messages on the app. There was a resounding pushback at the time from celebrities, advertisers, and even 1.2 million users via a Change.org petition. In the process of trying to attract a broader audience, Snapchat lost its loyal users.
Six years later, Snapchat is trying again with a different update. The company is putting Stories back in the private messaging section of the app, even though that caused something of an outrage last time, and forced Snap to undo parts of the redesign. However, this time around, Stories will have a dedicated bar in a prominent spot, which could alleviate user concerns from the last redesign.