Good news for Snapchat marketers as well as developers building AR experiences for the app, as the platform has now been reformatted specifically for iPad screens.
According to the latest iOS update notes for the Snapchat app:
“Snapchat now has native support for the iPad! This means Snapchat will fill the entire screen of an iPad, giving you a bigger canvas when taking Snaps, and allowing you to see more friends on the 2nd and 4th tabs.”
To be clear, Snapchat has been available on the iPad for some time, but it’s essentially a redesigned version of the mobile app that’s been scaled for larger iPad screens.
As you can see in this image, the iPad version of the app has black bars on the sides to make the screen fit the iPad format. There are also other display limitations that may cause glitches in the display, as the app you’re seeing is not designed for the larger iPad display.
With this update, you now get a fully functional, full-sized version of the app, designed specifically for the larger iPad screen. This will obviously improve Snapchat’s usability and accessibility, but as mentioned, it could also make the app a good testing ground for new ads and in-app experiences, as you’ll be able to view them in a larger format.
You can also test your AR Snap Lens experiences on a larger screen.
Therefore, it is a good update that provides new access options for Snap and could be a useful consideration to keep in mind in your testing processes.
The next time you try out a new Snap AR experience, test it on iPad and see if you encounter any other shortcomings that may not be as noticeable on smaller devices.
