Snapstreaks, a Snapchat feature that tracks how long you’ve exchanged daily snaps with a friend, is about to get a little more forgiving. In a short blog post, the company says it is testing the option to let users fix broken streaks. “Starting today, we’re making it easier to take a break with a new feature we’re testing to let you rekindle the spark and restore one Streak for free with just one tap,” it writes.
The savvy may have noticed an important qualifier in Snap’s sense, which is that the company says you currently only get a single stripes free. After the initial recovery, TechCrunch reports that users have to pay $0.99 per sequence. And if you want to be able to pause streaks freely when you know you’re busy or don’t have an internet connection, a “freeze” feature is coming to Snapchat Plus, the company’s $3.99 premium subscription launched last year. That feature is coming “soon,” Snap says.
“Restore one Streak for free with just one tap”
Combined, it sounds like the new features are Snap’s attempt to monetize one of Snapchat’s most compelling features (thus following a trend in social media companies including Twitter’s subscription push and Meta’s paid verification). In 2019, Snapchat users we spoke to were so excited to keep streaks going that they even emailed the company to try and fix them. And back then, at least sometimes, Snap was happy to help.
From the end of January Snap said more than two million of its users paid for Snapchat Plus, which includes features like pinning conversations with a chosen contact to the top of your inbox and unique app icons.
