Snapchat Is Releasing A New Function That Allows Users To Keep Snaps For Longer

Snapchat has taken the world by storm as the new up-and-coming social media app. It stands alone from Facebook and Instagram because users can send out pictures and videos that self-destruct moments after a user sees it. Snapchat has been extremely popular with the younger crowd who want a space to enjoy themselves in a forum where their parents don't also have an account.

Snapchat is selectively releasing a new function called Memories that allows users to keep pictures for longer periods of time if they wish. Many believe that this move may put them in line to take on Facebook and Google as the go-to social media app. Some argue, though, that the new Memories function will ruin what was unique about Snapchat.

SHARE this article with your friends on Facebook who use Snapchat.

Until now, Snapchat was a forum that allowed users to take pictures or videos, overlay them with some nifty effects, and send them to a few friends before they self-destruct.

Memories allows users to save images for later, much like other social media/messaging apps.

After being stored in the cloud, these images and videos can be attached to messages at a later time. But doesn't that make it like other social media platforms like Facebook and Google+? Many people are saying that this completely ruins everything for Snapchat.

The developers at Snapchat made sure to include a 'My Eyes Only' function that will protect all those more private files that you don't want to worry about if you pass someone your phone.

A special passcode is needed to take advantage of this. Snapchat can't even access your private files. You can simply go to 'My Snap' and move images to 'My Eyes Only.' This may be the only part of the "old" Snapchat that people will care about using...

You can expect to be able to use Snapchat Memories later in July.

Some aspects of the Snapchat function have been controversial as the company is even facing a lawsuit related to the fact that many young users are constantly being exposed to sexually explicit media.

A lawsuit has been filed in the U.S. District Court in Los Angeles against Snapchat for not working hard enough to protect underage users from sexual images.

Parents simply don't know what their children are up to on these apps, especially Snapchat, where the history of sexually-explicit images is almost immediately erased.

Expect a message from Team Snapchat sometime near the end of the month letting you know when you can swipe snaps into your Memories.

You won't need to download any outside apps to activate the function.

Will this help or hurt Snapchat? What do you think?

Here's a video released by Snapchat detailing the new Memories function.

SHARE this article with your friends on Facebook that use Snapchat. They'll definitely want to hear about this.