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Snapchat Debuts Tap To View And Nearby Friends Tool, Boosts Security Features

This article is more than 8 years old.

A few months ago, Snapchat's CEO Evan Spiegel hinted that the app's hold-to-watch feature was on its way out. As of Wednesday, users no longer need to keep a finger on their screens to view a snap or story. Users can now tap to view content instead.

The new feature is one of several product updates Snapchat announced on Wednesday in a post. 'Tap to view' could dismay some advertisers who liked that users needed to actively touch their screens to view an ad on the service. However, the feature should please avid users with restless fingers and could encourage them to watch even longer videos, including ads.

"This means no more tired thumbs while watching a several-hundred-second Story… and a little getting used to for anyone who has been Snapchatting for a while," the company said. "We think you’re going to love it!"

To make it easier to find and add friends, the messaging app also launched a new "Add Nearby" tool that lets you add several friends at once if you are in close proximity.

"It’s a quick way to add a group of friends when you’re all hanging out together," the company said. "If everyone opens Add Nearby, a list of your friends will appear on the screen. Just tap to add."

Snapchat's QR codes, unique user-IDs that you can snap to add friends, also got a makeover. Users can now place a selfie or image at the center of their codes to be more recognizable to friends adding them for the first time.

Security Revamp

As it spruces up its product, Snapchat is also working to regain the trust of users, whose faith in the service was shaken following a slow of security mishaps.

On Wednesday, Snapchat publicly announced that it had rolled out two-factor authentication in mid-June.

"Once you enable it, bad guys will have a much harder time if they try to hack into your account," Snapchat said.

The move is one of several security updates the Venice, Calif.-based company has taken this year.  A few months ago, the four-year-old app confirmed it has a bug bounty program that rewards coders in cash for finding weaknesses in the service's code. The company has also taken increasing measures to shut down third-party access to its platform. And in a push to be more transparent, Snapchat joined companies like Facebook Google  and Yahoo in reporting the frequency of requests for user information it receives from government agencies.

Gearing Up For an IPO

Since its inception, Snapchat has raised more than $1 billion in outside funding, and has been said to be raising at a valuation of more than $15 billion. In May, Snapchat raised $537.6 million in new venture capital funding, the company disclosed in a regulatory filingThe messaging service could raise as much as $650 million.

Snapchat’s CEO Evan Spiegel said in May that the company has plans for an initial public offering and does not expect to consider any acquisition offers. Spiegel also said the app is approaching 100 million daily active users in developed markets and that about 65% of those users create content on the app daily. More than 60 percent of 13- to 34-year-old smartphone users in the U.S. are active on the service and together view more than 2 billion videos a day, the company said.

The popular service has been expanding as a media business since it launched the Discover portion of the app in January. Discover features a range of media brands such as ESPN , National Geographic, Yahoo and People, delivering a new set of articles and videos to users each day. Snapchat began making revenue from advertisements this year, for example, through full-screen video ads that are about 10 seconds long.

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