Evan Spiegel created Snapchat as a school project at Stanford University with his classmate Reggie Brown, though they later had a falling out. Snapchat allows users to take photos, videos, and send them to friends that disappear after being viewed. Users can add captions and filters to snaps. Stories let users post content viewable by friends for 24 hours. The app has live video and text chat functions in addition to its core disappearing media sharing.

1. How Stuff Works Snapchat
By: Eduardo Sanchez
Period 4

2. The Founder of Snap Chat
• Snap chat is an app created by Evan Spiegel which is
to post pictures during real time.
• He work on snap chat as school project in the
university of Stand Ford.
• He was working with this with a pal named Frank
Reginald ‘Reggie’ Brown IV.
• This relationship did not last long as things got sour
between them.

3. The Basics of Snap
• Snapchat can be downloaded for free on Android and
iOS devices. Once you have it installed, open it on
your phone. You'll have the option to login with an
existing account or create a new one.
• To create a free account, tap "Sign Up." After
entering your email address, password and birthday,
tap the "Sign Up" button.

4. Signing Up

5. Children
• You need to be at least 13 years old to use Snapchat. If you aren't, you'll be
directed to a restricted version of Snapchat called Snapkidz. Snapkidz does
not allow its users to send or receive snaps or add friends. Instead, it only
allows users to snap, caption and draw local to the user's device.
• For those over the age of 13 who are creating a Snapchat account, you will
now be asked to verify your identity by sharing your mobile phone number.
Don't worry — Snapchat makes a point to say that your number will not be
shared with other Snapchat users. Once you've typed in your phone
number, you have the choice to receive your six-digit verification code via
SMS or a phone call. Once you have the code, enter it in the "Verification
Code" field.
• As part of the verification process, you may be asked a question like the
one below.

6. Verifying

7. Adding Contacts
• Next, you'll see the "Find Friends" screen. To help
you find friends, Snapchat uses phone numbers from
your device's address book. To allow Snapchat access
to your contacts, tap "OK" when the following
notification pops up.

8. Continuation
• Other Snapchat users who have your phone number saved
in their address book can find you, too. You have the
choice to add all your contacts who are on Snapchat, or
add people one at a time by typing in their username into
the search tool on the "My Friends" tab.
• "My Friends" is a place to view your friends, add friends
and search for other Snapchat users. You can find this
page by simply swiping right or tapping on the three lines
located the bottom right corner of the camera screen.

9. Adding Friends
• To add friends, tap the person icon with a plus sign in
the top-right corner. Now you can see people who
have Snapchat from your address book, and can add
them by tapping the plus symbol. To find users by
username, tap on the magnifying glass. To see who
added you to their friend list, tap the person icon with
a plus sign next to it.

10. Adding Friends

11. Setting Personal Preference
• Adjust your settings
• Before using the app, take a look at your settings by
tapping on the red square on the bottom right corner of
your camera screen. Then, tap the gear icon in the top-
right corner.
• This is where you can update your personal information,
choose who can send you snaps and view your Stories
(we discuss Stories more below). If you prefer not to
have your friends find you using your phone number, tap
on "Mobile Number" to turn off that feature.

12. Additional Services
• Activate additional services
• If you tap "Manage" under Additional Services, you'll see there are several bonus features that you
can enable. In this section, you can enable filters, front-facing flash, power save mode and special
text.
• It's important to point out that to use features like filters and "Our Story" (discussed in steps eight
and nine), the app requires access to your location. By turning on filters, you are giving Snapchat
permission to access your location.
• The special text feature allows you to overlay large text and emoji on your snaps. After you activate
this, the letter "T" will appear next to the pencil in the upper right-hand corner of your screen of
your snap draft. Tap on the "T" and type letters or emoji. These characters will become magnified.
• You can also activate the replay feature, which lets you replay one snap that was sent to you in the
last 24 hours. The catch? You can only use replay once every 24 hours, and it will only allow you to
replay the snap you last viewed. All users have access to the replay feature.

13. Creating Snaps
• Use camera
• Snapchat automatically activates your phone's camera,
and it's pretty easy to use. To adjust the focus of the
camera, tap anywhere on the screen. Tap the camera icon
in the top right-hand corner to switch from rear camera to
front camera, and tap the lightning symbol at the top-left
corner to turn on the flash on.
• To take a photo, tap the circle at the bottom of the screen.
To record a video, tap and hold the circle at the bottom of
the screen. You can record videos up to 10 seconds long.

14. Creating Snaps

15. Adding a Caption and Drawing
• Add a caption
• Snapchat allows you to spice up your snaps with
captions. When your recipient opens the snap, the
caption will appear in a bar on top of the photo or
video. Tap anywhere on the screen to add a caption.

16. Caption and Drawing

17. Time and Filter
• Add a filter or effect
• Want to add different hues or cool things like time or location
to your snap? Make sure you've enabled the filter feature in
your setting; swipe your finger left or right to preview each
filter.
• Set time limit
• You can choose how long you want your recipient to view
your snap for — up to 10 seconds. To adjust the time limit, tap
the stopwatch icon at the bottom-left corner.

18. Time Limit

19. Sending Snaps
• When you're ready to send your masterpiece, tap the arrow in the bottom
right-hand corner. Your contact list will appear, and you can select who to
send it to. There is no limit as to how many people you can send a snap to
— choose all the recipients you want, and hit send by tapping the arrow on
the bottom-right corner.
• Once your recipient has opened your snap, the triangle (for photos) or
square (for videos) icon next to your friend's name will not be filled in. A
filled-in icon means your snap has been sent, but hasn't been open yet.
• So, what happens to your snap after it's sent? Snapchat's privacy policy
states, "once all recipients have viewed a snap, we automatically delete the
snap from our servers and our services are programmed to delete the snap
from the Snapchat app on the recipients' devices."

20. Receiving Snaps
• Your contacts can send you snaps, too. To open these,
go to the camera screen and you'll see a number on
the bottom-left corner of the screen. This number
shows how many unopened snaps you have.
• If there is a filled-in icon next to the user's name, you
haven't opened that snap yet. An empty square or
triangle means you already viewed the snap.

21. Receiving Snaps
Press and hold the snap you want to look at.
Make sure you continue to hold your finger on
the screen to view the snap. When you let go,
the snap will disappear.
You'll see the timer in the top-right corner,
which shows how long you can view the snap.
When the timer ends, the snap is gone
permanently (unless you use the replay feature,
explained above).
Warning — if you take a screenshot of your
friend's snap (the same way you would take a
screenshot of anything on your phone), he or
she will receive a notification.

22. Stories
• Like a snap, Stories can be photos and videos. The difference
is that you can post a story to your feed, which can be seen by
you and your friends. Stories were designed to show your
friends what you've been up to in the last day. They exist for
24 hours and can be replayed as many times as you want.
• To create a Story, take a photo or video and then tap the
rectangle icon with a plus sign located on the bottom of your
screen. Tap "Add to Your Story." Once you've pressed this, it
will exist on your feed for 24 hours. To delete the snap from
your Story, go to your "My Friends" page and tap on the gear
icon next to your Story. Tap "Delete."

23. Stories
Another way to create a Story is to take the photo
or video and proceed to the "Send to..." tab.
Check off the circle next to "My Story." You also
have the option to choose which friends you
want to receive your Story individually.

24. View Stories
• To view Stories, go to your "My Friends" page. Tap
your username at the top to see your own Stories. You
can tap the gear icon next to the Story to save it to
your phone's photo album.
• To view your friends' Stories, tap their usernames,
and a drop-down menu of their published Stories will
appear.

25. Live Chat
Send texts, photos and videos
Snapchat isn't just for sending snaps and Stories.
You can also have real-time conversations. To
start a chat, visit your Snapchat inbox and swipe
right on a friend's name. To attach a photo or
video, tap the yellow camera button.
Once you leave the chat screen, all messages
between you and your friend will be cleared. If
you want to save your message, you can either
take screenshots of it or tap the conversation to
save it. When you tap on the messages, the font
will change and will be highlighted in gray,
which means that you have saved the
conversation.

26. Live Video
If you and your friend are both in the chat at the same time, the
camera button will turn blue. To start a live video chat, you and your
friend must hold your fingers down on the camera button at the same
time. Voilà! Your screen is now a live video chat.