• by Colin Kirkland , Yesterday

Less than a year after launching its first-ever native iPad app, Snapchat is bringing its mobile-first social media platform to Apple Watch users with a new watchOS app, further expanding how its 900 million monthly active users can experience Snapchat. 

With this launch, Snapchat will become available on smartphones, tablets, the web and Apple Watch devices. 

The tech company says that the watchOS app will bring new functionality to Snap users.

Until now, Apple Watch owners could only view Snapchat messages on their device, but now they have the ability to respond to these messages via the watch keyboard, as well as Scribble, Dictation, and emojis. 

Snapchat gave an example of friends easily letting each other know when they have arrived at a bar or restaurant, or sending a quick reply during a commute. The app does not allow users to view, take or send photos and videos to other users. 

Apple Watch access marks Snapchat’s foray into the wearables category, which has become more popular among consumers through devices like the Apple Watch, as well as Meta’s Ray-Ban Smart Glasses.

Along with Apple, Samsung, Microsoft, Google and other leading technology companies, Snap has its own smart glasses product, which is named “Spectacles.”

The company’s decision to launch an Apple Watch app, however, contradicts Snap CEO Evan Spiegel’s previous comments about the device’s shortcomings. A decade ago, Spiegel told TechCrunch he didn’t see why users would want to look at a Snapchat photo on a small screen.

Notably, tech leaders like Instagram, Slack, Lyft, Uber, Amazon, Trello, and Evernote have ditched their Apple Watch apps over the past several years. Other message-based competitors have not yet launched a watchOS app, including Facebook Messenger and WhatsApp. 

The news comes one year after Snapchat launched on iPad, offering users an even larger screen to experience the in-app feed, direct messages, and AR-first filters.