Snap Adds ‘Infinity’ Setting to Snapchat Timer

Likely feeling the pressure of Facebook, Instagram, and WhatsApp, the newly public Snap is making changes to its flagship product, the infamous Snapchat app.

“Today we’re making a pretty big change to the way you create and send Snaps,” the company said in an announcement this week. “We’re reorganizing the layout of our creative tools, adding a Magic Eraser, and adding a new setting to the timer: infinity.”

Snapchat’s roots lie deep in ephemeral content: since inception, the app’s appeal has been in distributing public and private content that disappears after a day or even a few seconds. The addition of semi-permanent content is no small decision for the company.

“We’ve all felt the frustration of not being able to fully enjoy a Snap—even after replaying it—and we wanted to give you the option of allowing the recipient to enjoy your Snap as long as they’d like,” the company said. “After your friend finishes viewing the Snap and taps to close it, it will delete as usual.”

This means that when an image is opened, the recipient can view it for as long as they choose, instead of being limited to a short period of time. As for videos, you can now option to loop them indefinitely, allowing users to view them over and over until they decide to let it finally disappear.

A recent study suggested that despite Facebook and its subsidiaries stunting Snap’s growth, existing users remain loyal to the pioneering app.

Snap is slated to report quarterly earnings this week, where a large jump in year-over-year revenue is expected.