Snap, the parent of the popular photo and messaging app, said Monday that it is debuting Snapchat for the Web, allowing users to send messages and make video calls to their contacts from their computers.
The photo and messaging app had targeted young users with a viral photo-sharing service on their phones/ mobile tablets for more than a decade.
By moving into desktops, Snap may be acknowledging that its users have grown up, and many of them are now working on big screens at home or in the office.
The new desktop version of Snapchat will at first only be available to Australian and New Zealand users, in addition to Snapchat+ subscribers in the U.S., U.K., and Canada.
Snap launched Snapchat+ in June, allowing users to pay $3.99 a month for more advanced features, like changing the style of their app icon and seeing who’s viewed their content.
The web offering will be a more stripped-down version of the mobile app, primarily focusing on the app’s messaging feature as opposed to its Stories feature.
Like the Snap app, messages will disappear after 24 hours, and any Snaps users watch from their desktop computers will delete right after viewing.
Eventually, Snap says it will bring more features of the app to the desktop version, including the ability for users to liven up their video calls with the use of Lenses.
Currently, people will have to access Snapchat for Web via the Chrome browser, but the company said that it would soon support other browsers and could release a desktop app in the future.