Snapchat abandons plans for a simplified version of its app

As part of its Q1 2025 earnings release, Snap said it’s scrapping plans for a simplified version of its app.

The news comes seven months after Snapchat began testing a redesigned version of the app without the Snap Map or Stories tabs. The new version consolidated the app’s navigation bar around three icons: chat, camera, and Snapchat’s TikTok competitor, Spotlight.

Instead of continuing to test the simplified version, the social network is now going to begin experimenting with a “refined five-tab interface” that keeps all of the app’s existing tabs and makes it easier to access Spotlight.

“In terms of the simple Snapchat design, we learned a lot from the redesign, but ultimately found that it was difficult, especially for power users, folks who really love Snapchat the way that it is who use the map and stories all the time, to really adopt the three-tab design, which made it harder to find stories and subscriptions and harder to find the map,” Snap CEO Evan Spiegel on a call with investors. “So ultimately, we’re taking a bunch of learnings from the three tab simple Snapchat design and evolving the five-tab design with those learnings.”

The company says it found that a more prominent Spotlight experience and the integration of Friend Stories within chats significantly boosted daily content viewership and total content views, especially among more casual users.

“Our most engaged Snapchatters consistently demonstrated a preference for a five-tab layout, favoring the familiarity of tile-based content discovery and a dedicated Map tab,” Snap said in its letter to investors. “Informed by these insights, we have begun testing a refined five-tab interface that combines the best of both approaches: bringing more Stories to the messaging experience and adding easier access to Spotlight, now placed directly to the right of the Camera.”

The reversal comes as Snap shares that it lost 1 million users in North America in Q1 quarter-over-quarter. Snapchat DAUs (daily active users) in North America stood at 99 million, compared to 100 million in the past quarter and 100 million in the prior year, according to Snap’s shareholder letter.

Snap reported first-quarter revenue of $1.36 billion, a 14% year-over-year increase. The company says the uptick was driven by growth of its Snapchat+ subscription service and progress that it has made with its advertising solutions.

Snap also reached a new milestone: more than 900 MAUs (monthly active users) worldwide. In addition, the social network’s DUAs grew to 460 million globally, an increase of 38 million year-over-year.