What you need to know
- Snapchat has historically avoided the Windows platform like the plague, with no official apps or support.
- Years after the demise of Windows phones, Snapchat is finally making an appearance in the Microsoft Store.
- This is a Progressive Web App (PWA) that runs through Microsoft Edge on Windows 10 and 11 PCs.
- The app has a tiny 1.4MB install size, and should always be up to date thanks to its web-based nature.
Social media platform Snapchat's history with Microsoft's Windows-based ecosystem has been complicated, to say the least. In the past, Snapchat has seemingly done everything except support Windows or Windows phones, even building AR glasses, but that all changes today. Snapchat is in the Microsoft Store, as of this month.
For years, the lack of Snapchat on Microsoft's now-dormant Windows phones was a constant hot topic of discussion in the community (this Windows Central article from 2015 gives you a quick overview from the period, with 400 reader comments to boot). Long after the entire mobile Windows platform was shuttered by Microsoft, Snapchat is finally making its appearance in the Microsoft Store as a Progressive Web App, or a PWA.
What does this mean? The app is built on the web version of Snapchat — which only launched a few months ago — and is powered by Microsoft's Chromium-based Microsoft Edge. That means a tiny 1.4MB install size, and it guarantees that Snapchat is always up to date and has the exact same features as the web version. Since it works through Microsoft Edge, Windows will still treat it like a native app — including an app icon in the Start Menu, notification support, and more.
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You'll need a Windows 10 or Windows 11 PC, of course. Snapchat's denial of Windows phones may have partially contributed to the platform's demise, but it's far too late for any one social media app to suddenly breathe life into the phones that, by this point, are resting comfortably in drawers all over the world. Now, instead of trying to coerce developers into supporting its mobile platforms, Microsoft is reportedly taking the fight straight to Google and Apple by building its own mobile app store.
If you're interested in perusing your Snapchat messages or stories from your favorite Windows laptop, or in taking pictures for Snapchat on your computer (for some reason), you can download the Snapchat PWA from the Microsoft Store for free right now. Or spitefully avoid it in remembrance of the Windows phones that came before.
