It all started December 20th of 2014. News broke about 6Snap and other third party Snapchat apps for Windows Phone vanishing from the Windows Phone Store. No formal explanation was given at the time.
Rudy Huyn, the popular Windows Phone developer behind 6Snap, took it to Twitter to express his frustrations and even mentioned that he would work closely with Microsoft to convince Snapchat to change their mind. 6Snap was a fully-featured and maintained Snapchat app for Windows Phone users — the only one of its kind. Yes, there were other third-party apps but none of them compared to 6Snap.
The following month, on January 8th of 2015, Rudy offered the source code of 6Snap to Snapchat, in an attempt to convince them to release their own official app. This would be a win-win — Snapchat could have their own official app and Snapchat users would have an app to use for Windows Phone.
Hey @Snapchat, I can give you access to #6snap source code, check it if u want but don’t let’s #windowsphone users without solution #beSmart
— Rudy Huyn (@RudyHuyn) January 8, 2015
There were countless online petitions for an official Snapchat app to no avail. Snapchat even threatened to ban account holders who use third-party apps to access the popular photo messaging service.
In February of 2015, Snapchat removed the “Support My Incompatible Device” option from their feedback section on their website. Perhaps Snapchat was fed up with the numerous requests to bring back 6Snap or to release an official app.
Rudy is no stranger to the Windows Phone platform. Rudy is the developer behind amazing apps like 6Tag, Fuse, 6Tin, and the infamous 6Snap, and Microsoft even did a quick profile on him showing how he works and what brought him to Windows.
Now it’s April 5th, 2015. Rudy has taken it to Twitter to provide the Windows Phone world an update on 6Snap. The news isn’t that great. “Some news, 6snap won’t come back, not my choice but Snapchat bans all apps. BUT, I will publish 2 new apps very soon derived from #6snap,” Rudy stated on Twitter.
Some news, 6snap won’t come back, not my choice but Snapchat bans all apps. BUT, I will publish 2 new apps very soon derived from #6snap
— Rudy Huyn (@RudyHuyn) April 5, 2015
We can easily sit here and say it sounds like we will never see the return of 6Snap, but never say never. A company can easily have a change of heart. However, looking at Snapchat’s actions over the past few months, it’s quite obvious that they are refusing to be flexible for Windows Phone users.
Rudy promises two new apps but details are scarce at this time. We’ll just have to wait and see.
