November 2018 Snapchat Update Fail - Audio Mods Gone Wrong!

THE RECENT SNAPCHAT UPDATE GETS A FAILING GRADE…

Well Snapchat has done it again with the latest update that took place just before Halloween. There are some small differences that were made in an attemp to enhance the user experience, but the main change has ruined the entire platform for me and has flushed the fun right down the toilet by changing one single thing…

The audio enhancements attached to certain filters.

The filters in the Snapchat lineup that include audio modifications have been a hit with users. They make your snaps more fun and entertaining, adding a nice dose of “silly” to your creative offerings.

Up until now, certain lenses come with a voice changing effect that you can’t turn off. In the recent update, they have taken away the voice modifications that go with these lenses, and have replaced that with an audio icon that lets you pick from 4 difference voice effects.

On the face, this seems like a great idea. But Snapchat seriously dropped the ball. Why? Because the two most usable voice alterations are gone. When you tap the audio icon on the lower left, you now have the ability to change the voice effect on any lens. But we are only given 4 choices.

The voice effects include the annoyingly high-pitched voice mod, the seriously-low voice mod, a robot effect, and the warble effect. I find these to be the four most useless voice mods out of everything they have previously offered.

Missing from the lineup are the two best voice mods, including the slightly higher pitched version, and the slightly lower pitched version. The great thing about these two are that you can still understand what is being said after the modification. But they left them off the list. Why?

The “big mouth” lens has been one of the most popular and long-lasting lenses in the lineup, and it was connected to the slightly-higher pitched voice mod. That’s gone. Now you’ve got to either use the natural audio, or pick from the 4 worst voice mods that I mentioned above. This puts a big dent in my user experience.

I’m already raw about Snapchat dumping my favorite filters that I use for certain character roles that I entertain my following with. That’s enough to make me give up on the app, but I’ve stuck with it, up until now. Take away my favorite voice mods, and now you’ve left me with NOTHING, Snapchat! I’m not a happy snapper!

I’d sure love to hear the opinion of others on this recent update. Do you find this change as annoying as I do? Does it enhance, or ruin your user experience? Will Snap Inc. ever get a clue, and decide to start serving up what the USERS actually want, rather than senselessly mixing up the platform every few months?

Tell me what you think. I’m ready to here it!

Carlton Flowers
The SnapPro

Why Snapchat Sucks - Change These Things Or Watch Your Market Vanish

Where Snapchat Misses The Mark - Are They Losing Touch?

It’s 2018, and Snapchat has hit its peak. But they aren’t safe sitting on top of this mountain of success. If they don’t address these handful of annoyances and user concerns, the market dominance they now enjoy will start to fade to oblivion.

Could Snapchat become the next Vine, or maybe even experience a slow demise until they get to the MySpace graveyard? It’s entirely possible, especially if the leadership doesn’t pull their heads out of their rear ends and start taking action on what I see as huge icebergs that will sink the ship.

What surprises me is that it doesn’t seem that any of the major tech channels are covering these issues. So it’s time for the Gadget Guru himself to take the bull by the horns and lead the way. Let’s get into the meat of why Snapchat SUCKS in 2018!

Uploads Suck

I didn’t notice this problem until late 2017. Uploading to Snapchat was never a problem when I first registered my account and became a rabid snapper. But apparently it’s a big problem now. If I upload multiple snaps, you can almost guarantee that half or all of the snaps won’t make it to the timeline on the first try.

This problem might be due to the sheer number of Snapchat users are actively using the app in 2018. It might also be due to network congestion across the cellular infrastructure. Whatever it is, it sure would be nice to hear the head honchos at Snapchat publicly address the issue, and at least confirm what the roots of the problem might be.

This is super frustrating, because Snap stories that are missing individual snaps render the story useless. There’s nothing worse than noticing several hours after the fact that half of your story snaps didn’t upload. When posting in story mode, and making an important point, you don’t get your message across very well when half your snaps in the beginning or middle of the string don’t upload.

What makes this problem even worse is when you are moving from a Wi-Fi area to a cellular 4G LTE area. You can almost guarantee that the snap uploads will fail. And it’s the same in reverse. As soon as you hit a Wi-Fi signal coming out of 4G LTE coverage areas, the snap uploads will bomb.

As small as the videos are with Snapchat, you wouldn’t think there would be as big of an upload problem as what we are seeing recently. I’ve had better luck uploading 2 or 3 minute long videos to YouTube and Instagram, so it can’t be the network alone.

There has to be a better way of doing this, even if it means reducing the video quality of snaps. A lower quality snap is better than a high quality snap that won’t upload!

Get this fixed now, Snapchat, before my head explodes!

Favorite Lenses Don’t Last

I see absolutely no reason why Snapchat has to pull the best lenses and not bring them back for months on end. This is a major problem for the serious Snapchat story producers that use the lenses for character roles.

Right when the popularity of some of the characters I create out of the lenses get mega-popular, Snapchat takes them away! Sometimes I have to wait months for them to return, and when they do, they might only last for a day.

Several years ago, Snapchat allowed users to purchase their favorite lenses for $0.99 each. I don’t know why they felt this was a bad thing. There has been ZERO talk of buying your favorite lenses ever since. And that really sucks!

If Instagram/Facebook Stories had the filters that Snapchat has dropped, I would make a permanent switch. Someone is going to figure this out one of these days, and when they do, Snapchat will left in the dust.

Give us what we want, Snapchat, because user experience is what makes your future secure! If that means allowing us users to purchase our favorite lenses, or even keeping ALL of the lenses open for perpetuity, GET IT DONE!

Android Glitches Are Rampant

If there’s one thing about Snapchat that makes my head want to explode, it’s the Android glitches. I use a Samsung Galaxy Note 8, and my Snapchat experience is definitely inferior to the iOS build. It’s a night-and-day difference.

One of the glitches that I don’t see ANYONE reporting about is the changing of the font size when adding large text. For some reason, the large text gets blown up about 25% bigger than what was selected, after the snap gets uploaded. This really sucks when your words run off the edges of the screen.

Since there is no such thing as editing on Snapchat, the only choice you have when this glitch occurs is to delete the story or deal with the lack of readability. That stinks, Snapchat, and I’m convinced that it can’t be THAT hard for your developers to fix the problem.

In Conclusion…

I sincerely hope that Snapchat doesn’t go down the pathway of Apple, where arrogance prevents them from listening to and serving the user base. I love Snapchat, and it’s my favorite app. But they’ve got to stay on top of these things and start communicating in order to remain on the cutting edge of social media.

If these issues gain traction and the head honchos at the Snap Headquarters don’t address it fast, the Facebook/Instagram juggernaut is going to eat them alive. I don’t want to see that happen, because I’m always rooting for the little guy.

In the meantime, do YOU have some super Snapchat snafu that ensnares you when you snap? I want to hear about it! And I’d love to hear your feedback on what you think about the Snapchat snafus that make the experience suck for me too.

Carlton Flowers
The Supreme SnapPro