Snapchat shifts from its core identity with Memories

On Wednesday, the massively popular app announced a feature that hints a major change for Snapchat which until now has been unique for its ephemeral nature.

This updated feature is titled 'memories' and will be rolled out to users on the iOS and Android platforms next month. It holds space for photos and videos that can be included in the story later. You can create a memory by clicking a picture as you normally would and click save.

Now what’s new about this feature is that Snapchat saves your pictures onto their servers, which acts like an online camera roll. You can access the snaps from any device once you log in as they’re saved on Snapchat’s servers.

This allows you to put up a picture or multiple pictures saved in Memories as your Snap Story which was previously not possible. A white frame appears around a picture you post as your Snap Story from Memories.

Snapchat had laid its foot in the social sphere as an application that shows images and videos to the user's' friends for just 24 hours after being posted.

As the old format goes, photos and videos had to be added to the story feature instantly after being recorded which gave it more realness and intimacy.

With the arrival of 'memories' feature that might no longer be possible.

There is also a new feature that will help you breathe easy when someone else is browsing through your phone. You can now mark private snaps as ‘For My Eyes Only’ and protect it with a password.

This entire change in personality throws the app under the spotlight as it attempts to distance itself from its core nature.

This feature will definitely have its ups and downs and time will only tell the impact of this feature on users and advertisers who now are inclined towards the app making direct competitors like Instagram nervous.