Snapchat will encourage users to keep the "real friends" only with new "Friend check up" feature

Social messaging app Snapchat is preparing to add a feature called "Friend check up", which will encourage users to remove people they don't need (or want) to be connected with (via Endgadget). The feature will come as a notification that reads "Snapchat is for Real Friends; Tap to review your friend list".

This new feature that encourages users to clean up their friend list and stay connected with only "real friends" could be the app's way of presenting itself as an alternative to Facebook, among other social media apps. Facebook, for example, actively encourages users to add people as friends.


Even back in May of 2012, in Snapchat's first blog post by CEO Evan Spiegel, it was hinted that the messaging app is planned to be somewhat of a Facebook alternative, meant to encourage users to focus on "communicating with the full range of human emotion" instead of just presenting what is "pretty or perfect".

The new "Friend check up" Snapchat feature is expected to start rolling in with an update a few weeks from now.

In its continuous efforts to improve and be more appealing, recently Snapchat also launched a new option to add music to snaps, and in mid-2020 it was reported that the app's user base rose 17% year-over-year.