# Snapchat Ditches Simplified App, Opts for Refined Five-Tab Design

## Snapchat Ditches Simplified App, Opts for Refined Five-Tab Design

Snapchat is pumping the brakes on its efforts to create a simplified version of its app, according to the company’s Q1 2025 earnings release. This decision comes just seven months after the social media platform began testing a streamlined redesign that removed the Snap Map and Stories tabs, consolidating the navigation bar to focus on chat, camera, and Spotlight, its TikTok competitor.

Instead of pursuing this three-tab structure, Snap will now experiment with a “refined five-tab interface” that maintains all existing tabs while improving accessibility to Spotlight. The move reflects a shift in strategy based on user feedback and internal testing.

Snap CEO Evan Spiegel explained the rationale behind this decision on a call with investors. “In terms of the simple Snapchat design, we learned a lot from the redesign, but ultimately found that it was difficult, especially for power users…to really adopt the three-tab design, which made it harder to find stories and subscriptions and harder to find the map.” He emphasized that the company is incorporating learnings from the simplified design into the evolving five-tab structure.

The company noted that placing Spotlight more prominently and integrating Friend Stories into chats led to a significant increase in daily and total content views, particularly among more casual users. This data seems to have heavily influenced the decision to revert, at least partially, back to the original design.

“Our most engaged Snapchatters consistently demonstrated a preference for a five-tab layout, favoring the familiarity of tile-based content discovery and a dedicated Map tab,” Snap stated in its investor letter. The refined interface aims to combine the best of both worlds: improved Story integration within messaging and easier access to Spotlight, which will now be located directly to the right of the Camera.

This pivot comes at a crucial time for Snap. The company reported a loss of 1 million users in North America during Q1 quarter-over-quarter, with DAUs (daily active users) dropping from 100 million to 99 million.

On a brighter note, Snap saw a substantial increase – over 55% year-over-year – in My AI daily active users in the U.S. Spiegel also hinted at upcoming AI-related announcements later in the year, emphasizing the company’s focus on visual communication. “As we look at the way that people are interacting with My AI, by sending snaps and either receiving snaps or a chat response in return…I think that starts to show the way that these multimodal models are going to play a powerful role in people’s lives.” He further suggested a future where AI powers augmented reality, creating a new user interface.

Despite the user dip in North America, Snap reported first-quarter revenue of $1.36 billion, a 14% year-over-year increase. The company attributes this growth to the success of its Snapchat+ subscription service and improvements in its advertising solutions. Furthermore, Snap surpassed 900 million monthly active users (MAUs) worldwide, with daily active users growing to 460 million globally, a year-over-year increase of 38 million.

In conclusion, while the simplified Snapchat experiment didn’t pan out as initially planned, the data and user feedback gleaned from the process are shaping the future of the app. By focusing on a refined five-tab design and leveraging the growing popularity of AI features, Snap hopes to regain momentum and cater to the diverse needs of its global user base.