After years of customers complaining that the Snapchat app on Android was inferior to the iOS version, the company rebuilt it from scratch as an “investment.” As it turns out, that investment has paid off in a big way, with the new Snapchat app leading to a huge boost in Android users.
Reuters reports that Snapchat has seen a 22% year-over-year increase in daily active users during the first quarter of 2021, with roughly 280 million users, slightly beating out analyst expectations. Well over 50% of that growth came from outside of North America.
With so much global growth, much of the expanded userbase is on Android rather than iOS. This is largely thanks to the revamped Snapchat app for Android that debuted last year. The updated app not only improved picture quality and performance, but expanded language support and added content designed for other regions.
Notably, Snapchat now has more users on Android than it does on iOS, a first for the social platform and a testament to the importance of a quality app.
Snap embarked on rebuilding its Android app, which struggled with technical bugs, back in 2018. Snapchat’s Android user base now exceeds those on Apple iOS for the first time, the company said.
As more people downloaded the new app outside the United States, where Android phones dominate over iPhones, Snap added support for more languages and added more media content geared toward audiences in certain countries.
More on Snapchat:
- Snapchat completely rebuilt its Android app to be faster and work better with more devices
- Snapchat testing new Remix feature to compete with TikTok Duets
- Snap has tested workaround to App Tracking Transparency on iOS; 95% effective
Author: Ben Schoon
Source: 9TO5Google
