Snapchat premium subscription service arrives this week

Snapchat users will get access to the social platform’s subscription service starting this week, The Verge reported.
Snapchat Plus will cost $3.99 (R64.66 a month) and give exclusive access to mostly cosmetic features for now.
Premium users can change the app icon’s style, see which contacts rewatched their story, and pin a friend to the top of their chat history.
Snapchat calls the pinned contact your “#1 BFF”, and includes several features built around it.
For example, Snapchat Plus subscribers will be able to see their orbit with their BFF and view the friend’s whereabouts in the last 24 hours.
However, app researcher and developer Alessandro Paluzzi revealed that location tracking only works if the pinned contacts consent to share their location data.
Snapchat senior vice president of product Jacob Andreou told The Verge that premium subscribers will still see advertisements.
On 16 June, Snapchat confirmed it was internally testing the Snapchat Plus service after Paluzzi discovered the code.
Snapchat is the latest social messaging service to join the trend of adding premium services to paying customers.
Telegram launched its subscription service on 20 June.
Telegram Premium’s features include removing ads from public channels, increased upload file sizes and download speeds, and unique animated reactions.
It also offers cosmetic features such as changing how the app’s icon looks on smartphones and tablets.