New SnapHack App Allows You to Save Snapchats

A new application, called SnapHack, was released on iTunes on the 14th October allowing users to save Snapchats to their phones. The app counteracts Snapchat’s purpose of sending instant pictures which self-destruct automatically after a short amount of time by allowing users to save messages that they receive from Snapchat, without the sender having any knowledge. Will this change the way that we use Snapchat and defeat its intentions?

In order to use the app you have to log in to SnapHack with the same username and password that you use for Snapchat. When you open SnapHack all unopened Snapchat images will then download onto the app, and you will be able to save them to your phone. The app will only work if the first time you open the image is in SnapHack and it has not already by opened previously in Snapchat as anything that has already been opened in Snapchat will self-destruct as it normally does. This defeats the purpose which Snapchat was created for – so that you would be able to send instant pictures to your friends which would not be stored for longer than the time frame which you specified. Snapchat was also designed so that you could send the images to only the friends that you wanted to allow to see the image, however, now there is the possibility that SnapHack users can download the image to their own phone and then they will have control of whether they wish to distribute it to more people without the original sender ever knowing. 

The app is being sold for £1.49 on the Apple app store and according to the founder, Darren Jones, its purpose is to point out the dangers of sending images that you might not want people to see to others, as nothing is 100% secure once it has been uploaded to the Internet. The extent to which he is actually educating Snapchat users can be questioned, as this new feature has potential to do much more harm than good.

Snapchat users could previously have saved screen shots of Snaps which they had been sent but this new feature is different because it does not inform the sender that their image has been saved. Users of SnapHack will be able to save an image sent to them via Snapchat, and could pass the image on to others while the sender is left completely unaware at what might be going on.

This leads to the question of how great the demand for an app like this will be? Will people be deterred from using the app because they feel that it might change the way that Snapchat is used? If you are aware that your images might be saved without your knowledge, it could lead the app to become less fun, taking away its original intentions – that you could really be yourself, without having to worry that it would go down as a permanent internet record.

However, there are some problems with the App. SnapHack is currently in contravention of Snapchat’s terms of service which states that it does not allow the development of ‘any third-party applications that interact with user content or the service without our prior consent’. The inventor of the app, Darren Jones, told the BBC that : ‘Snapchat has not been in touch and I imagine it’s only a matter of time until they request that my app is removed… But my app just proves and informs people that these apps exist and people need to be careful’.

Although there is the possibility of the App being closed down, there have also been rumours that Jones is now working on an improved version of SnapHack which allows Snapchat users to forward saved messages to other friends.

With the latest introduction of Snapchat Stories, and the increasing use of Snapchat by brands to advertise on the platform, it has been seen as an app growing in popularity and with a lot of potential. Do you think the creation of apps like SnapHack will change this?

What do you think?

Would you download the SnapHack app? Or would it ruin your experience of Snapchat?

Rowena Cormack  

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