Snap Updates Apps, Data

Hoping to facilitate a flood of new features and Snapchat-connected apps, Snap debuted its first full-scale developer kit, on Thursday.

Dubbed Snap Kit, the new offering “will help Snapchatters tap into the best parts of other apps they love -- and help those apps integrate some of Snapchat’s experiences into their products,” a company spokeswoman said.

Yet, taking an uncharacteristically sober approach to the business of apps, Snap is positioning the developer kit as a safer alternative to those offered by Facebook and other rivals.

“Our new platform for developers … puts the privacy and security of Snapchat users first,” the spokeswoman said.

Facebook, of course, is still recovering from its failure to prevent developers from abusing their user-data privileges, while Apple just updated its App Store guidelines to limit developers’ access to user information.

With Snap Kit, Snap is offering four integration options. A “Creative Kit” will let developers integrate their own stickers, Filters, links directly into Snapchat’s camera. Among other possibilities, this could allow Snapchat users to integrate content from other apps -- from workout stats to videogame scores into their snaps. 

A “Login Kit” and “Bitmoji Kit” will make it easier for Snapchatters and their Bitmoji avatars to gain access to other apps, while a “Story Kit” is designed to help developers embed publicly shared Snapchat Stories on their own Web sites and platforms. With Story Kit, third-party apps will also be able to search publicly shared Stories based on location, time and captions.

To prevent privacy breaches, Snap says it has a thorough privacy review process in place to ensure that developers behave themselves. 

Additionally, Snap says it will make sure users know how their login data is being used, and minimize the amount of information it collects from users. Of particular note, Snap is promising not to share information about users’ “friends.”

Directly contrasting its platform with Facebook’s, a statement from Snap insists: “We have never offered a product like an open social graph, and we do not share -- or allow Snapchatters to share their own -- friend network information with third parties.”

Proceeding with caution, Snap is launching Snap Kit with a small group of apps, while future third-party app integrations must go through a review and approval process involving its trust and safety and customer operations teams.

Launch partners include delivery app Postmates, dating app Tinder, and fashion marketplace app Poshmark, along with Eventbrite, and Pandora.

Among other unique integrations, Pandora will soon let Snapchat users share the music they’re currently enjoying with individual contacts, groups, or in a Snap Story.

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