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Snap responds to call for rollback on controversial redesign
June 13, 2025
Update (02/22):Snap has responded to an online petition requesting that it roll back a recent Snapchat update. TheChange.orgpetition currently has more than 1.2 million signatures and was created following the rollout of a controversial interface redesign.
Snap made thestatementon Change.org (viaThe Verge) and you can read it below.
Snap acknowledges the frustration that many of its users are currently feeling but it looks like the update is here to stay. It says the new design is “just the beginning,” though it will introduce new features in the coming weeks to make the interface easier to navigate.
Last week, Snap CEO Evan Spiegelsaidafter spending a couple of months with the design he felt “way more attached to the service.” Keeping users coming back to Snapchat will always be the company’s ultimate goal, whether a million users like it or not.
Besides, the views of a million or so fans may not cause much of a headache when it has another186 million daily active usersanyway.
Original coverage (02/13):Snapchat’s major redesign isn’t going over well with a huge number of its users. Over 700,000 people have now signed an online petition urging Snap to roll-back the changes, while Twitter, Facebook, and other social platforms are all ablaze with disgruntled users.
Announcedlast November, Snapchat’s new look has been described by Snap as a concerted effort to separate “the social from the media”. Following the update, the app physically separates instant videos, pictures, and messages sent by your friends from those delivered by media, brands, and celebrities.
While, to me at least (a lapsed Snapchat user), that sounds great on paper, a backlash has been brewing ever since the app started rolling out to a wider number of users around the world in recent weeks.
Despite Snap’s apparent attempt to simplify the app’s functionality, most of the complaints center around UI changes that hide or complicate basic features.
The decision to ditch the traditional list-view format and the revamped Friends section – which now lists Stories alongside direct messages – have both been heavily criticized. The Discover page’s advertiser-friendly overhaul has also come under fire. Oneuserdubbed the selection of content as “irrelevant pop culture clickbait”.
As well as the aforementionedChange.orgpetition, which boasts 730,160 signatures at the time of writing, afake screenshotof a direct message chat, in which “@snapchat” promises that the update would be rolled back after 50,000 retweets, has also amassed over 1.3 million retweets.
In a statement, given toThe Guardianand reiterated several times by Snapchat Support, a spokesperson said: “Updates as big as this one can take a little getting used to, but we hope the community will enjoy it once they settle in”.
With Snapchat apparently playing hardball, some users have reportedly been trying to undo the changes by fiddling with automatic update settings or using VPNs. Unfortunately for disgruntled users, all of these methods are only temporary, with Snap also warning that unofficial workarounds may permanently lock users out of their accounts or lose saved Memories.
That being said, unless Snap does a complete u-turn, the old Snapchat isn’t coming back. It’s worth noting that this is only ‘Snapchat 2.0’ though, and there will surely be tweaks on the way in ‘2.1’ – especially to the friend-ranking algorithms which, by all accounts, are completely broken in its current state.
Have you been using the new Snapchat? Let us know your thoughts on the redesign and the ensuing controversy in the comments.
Next:How to use Snapchat
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