Video and photo messaging app Snapchat says that it's putting its Snapstreak Restore feature behind a paywall. The feature currently just needs people to fill in a form on the Snapchat website for free.
Snapchat has started to warn people that it will soon offer Snapstreak Restore via in-app purchase in the company's iPhone app. What's more, it goes on to say that the current method of rescuing a Snapstreak will be going away.
The move means that anyone who has previously relied on the Snapstreak Restore form on the website will now have to start paying up for what was previously a free feature.
End of a streak
For the uninitiated, a Snapstreak is the number of days that a user has sent or received a message from the same person. So, if you send a message to someone that counts to your streak. Receive one? That's the same deal. But you have to send or receive a photo or a video — simple messages don't count toward a Snapstreak.
NOOOOO Snapchat is MONETIZING restoring Snapstreaks 😭 pic.twitter.com/bLj7Ln7aFoMarch 21, 2023
A Snapstreak is broken when no message is sent or received for more than 24 hours, even if that's caused by something like a Snapchat outage. You could be using Apple's best iPhone in combination with Snapchat's very best stickers, but it won't matter if the service is down. That's where Snapstreak Restore comes in.
When used, Snapstreak Restore essentially gives people their streak back. It's as simple as that, but it'll soon cost money and Snapchat isn't saying how much.
Snapchat did at least confirm the bad news, though. "Once this feature is available to everyone, filling out the form on our support website to request Snapstreak restoration will no longer be supported," its support page says.
The new in-app purchase hasn't yet been added to the Snapchat app on the iPhone, but once it is we'll know for sure just how much a Snapstreak Restore will cost us.
