with your friends as an alternative to regular SMS text
messaging. You can snap a photo or a short video, add a
caption or a drawing and then send it to one or multiple
friends.
What Exactly Is Snapchat?
All snaps automatically "self-destruct" just seconds after
they are viewed by the recipient, making it the perfect app
for quick instant messaging by photo or video.
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As long as your mobile device can access the Internet, you
can send and receive snaps from anywhere.
To get started with using Snapchat, you need to download
the app for iOS or Android to your mobile device.
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Sign up for a Snapchat User Account
Once you've downloaded the Snapchat app, you can open it
up and tap the "Sign Up" button to create a new user
account.
You'll be asked for your email address, a password and your
birth date. You can then choose a username, which acts as
your unique identity of the Snapchat platform.
Snapchat asks its new users who sign up to verify their
accounts by phone. It's recommended to always do this, but
you also have the option to tap the "Skip" button in the
upper right corner of the screen.
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Verify Your Account
Snapchat asks its new users who sign up to verify their
accounts by phone. If you don't want to provide your phone
number, you also have the option to tap the "Skip" button in
the upper right corner of the screen.
You'll then be taken to another verification screen where
Snapchat will display a grid of several small pictures. You'll
be asked to tap the pictures that have a ghost in them to
prove that you're a real person.
Once you've successfully verified your new account, you can
start sending and receiving snaps with friends. But first,
you'll need to find some friends!
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Add Your Friends on Snapchat
To add friends, either swipe left or tap the list icon in the
bottom right corner located on the camera screen. You'll be
taken to your friends list. (Team Snapchat is automatically
added to everyone who first signs up.)
There are two ways you can find and add friends on
Snapchat.
Search by username: Tap the little magnifying glass at the
top of the screen in your friends list tab to start typing in
friends' usernames if you them.
Search by your contacts list: If you don't know a friend's
Snapchat username but have them in your contacts list, you
can tap the little person/plus sign icon at the top of the
screen followed by the little booklet icon on the next screen
to allow Snapchat access to your contacts so that it can
automatically find your friends for you. You'll have to verify
your phone number here if you skipped this step when first
setting up your account.
Tap the big plus sign beside any username to add that
person to your Snapchat friends list. You can hit the refresh
button on your friends list to see new friends that have been
added.
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Get Familiar with Snapchat's Main Screens
Navigating Snapchat is quite easy, and all you have to
remember is that there are four main screens -- all of which
you can access by swiping left to right or right to left. You
can also tap the two icons on each side at the bottom of the
snap camera screen.
The far left screen shows you a list of all your received snaps
from friends. The middle screen is what you use to take your
own snaps, and of course the far right screen is where you'll
find your friends list.
An additional screen was recently added to Snapchat, which
lets you chat in real-time by text or video. You'll find this
screen by swiping right from the screen the displays all of
your received snap messages.
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Take Your First Snap
Access the middle screen where your device's camera is
activated to start with your first snap message. You can take
either a photo or a video message.
You can also tap the camera icon in the top right corner to
switch between your device's back and front-facing camera.
To take a photo: Point your camera at whatever you want
to be in the photo and tap the big button in the middle at
the bottom.
To take a video: Do exactly the same as what you would do
for a photo, but instead of tapping the big round button,
hold it down to film.
Lift your finger when you're done filming. A timer will be
visible around the button to let you know when the 10-
second maximum video length is up.
Tap the big X in the upper left corner to delete to photo or
video you just took if you don't like it and want to start over.
If you're happy with what you've got, there are a few things
you can add to it.
Add a caption: Tap the middle of the screen to bring up
your device's keyboard so you ca type a short caption into
your snap.
Add a drawing: Tap the pencil icon in the upper right corner
to select a color and doodle all over your snap.
For a video snap, you have the option to tap the sound icon
at the bottom to take away the sound completely. You can
also save your snap to your gallery by tapping the arrow
button next to it (which automatically save it to your phone's
pictures folder).
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Send Your Snap and/or Post It as a Story
Once you're happy with how your snap looks, you can send
it to one or multiple friends and/or post it publicly to your
Snapchat username as a story.
A Snapchat Story is a snap that is displayed as a small icon
beneath your username, which can be viewed by any of
your friends by accessing their friends list. They can tap it to
view it, and it will stay up there for 24 hours before it's
automatically deleted.
To post the snap as a story: Tap the square icon with a
plus sign inside of it.
To send the snap to your friends: Tap the arrow icon at
the bottom to bring up your friends list. Tap a checkmark
beside anyone's username to send it to them. (You can also
add it to your stories from this screen by checking "My
Story" at the top.)
Hit the send button at the bottom of the screen when you're
done.
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View Snaps Received By Your Friends
You'll be notified by Snapchat whenever a friend sends you
a new snap. Remember, you can access your received snaps
any time by tapping the square icon from the snap screen or
by swiping right.
To view a received snap, tap it and keep your finger held
down. Once the view time has run out on that snap, it will be
gone and you won't be able to see it again.
There's been some controversy over Snapchat privacy and
taking screenshots.
You can certainly take a screenshot of a received snap, but if
you do, Snapchat will send a notification to the friend who
sent it that you tried to take a screenshot.
More about taking Snapchat screenshots
As you continue to use Snapchat, your "best friends" and
score will be updated on a weekly basis. Best friends are
they friends who you interact with the most, and your
Snapchat score reflects the total number of snaps you've
sent and received.
More about Snapchat best friends
More about Snapchat scores
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Chat in Real-time by Text or Video
As mentioned in slide #5, Snapchat recently introduced a
new feature that lets users send text messages and chat with
one another by video in real-time within the app.
To try this out, simply access the screen with all your
received snap messages and swipe right on the username
you want to chat with. You'll be taken to the chat screen,
which you can use to type and send a quick text message.
Snapchat will notify you if one of your friends is currently on
Snapchat reading your messages.
This is the only time that you can activate a video chat.
You'll be able to press and hold down a big blue button to
start a video chat with that friend. Just lift your finger away
from the button to hang up the chat.
Fore more cool ways to instant message your friends,
