Snapchat rebuilt for Android - 2020

For years, Snapchat on Android has been a frustratingly sluggish, bad quality app. Essentially, you could easily say if a Snapchat user has an Android device or an iPhone based on the quality of their photos clicked using the Snapchat app.
After ignoring user complaints for years, Snap promised to roll out a completely rebuilt app for Android almost two years ago. The company is now starting to honour that promise with a new update for Android. The new update is now rolling out on the Google Play Store, and while it does not bring any changes to the user interface, users will notice that the app is now much faster than ever before.

What was wrong with Snapchat on Android?

Apart from generally being relatively uncool, Snapchat on Android clicked far inferior photos than its iOS counterpart. After investigating this issue, some users found out that instead of hooking into the camera APIs to capture an image directly, the Snapchat app was using screenshots of the viewfinder to click an image.

At the time, Snap’s justification was that the Android ecosystem had a wide range of devices ranging from high-end to entry-level, so they couldn’t guarantee performance. However, after persistent complaints, a stagnating user base and massive backlash against the app redesign forced Snap to make its Android app better.

Further, Snap developers also believe that this update will “put the gap to rest for good” between the iOS and Android versions of Snapchat. One developer also goes on to say that he “wouldn’t be surprised” if the Android version received new features before the iOS version. However, this remains to be seen.

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Has the image quality improved?

The Snapchat update for Android seems to be focusing only on making the app faster to use. The images, as several users on Reddit have noted, are still screenshots of the viewfinder. Pixel devices are an exception, though, since the Snapchat app uses the Pixel Visual Core for capturing images.