The relationship between Microsoft’s Windows-based ecosystem and the social media platform Snapchat has a rocky past, to put it mildly. Even constructing AR glasses, Snapchat seems to do everything in the past other than support Windows or Windows phones, but that all changes today. As of this month, Snapchat is available in the Microsoft Store.
The absence of Snapchat on Microsoft’s now-defunct Windows phones was a heated topic of conversation in the community for years. Snapchat is finally making an appearance in the Microsoft Store as a Progressive Web App, or PWA, years after Microsoft shut down the whole mobile Windows platform.
Why does this matter? The software is based on the recently released online version of Snapchat and is run on Microsoft’s Chromium-based Edge browser. This ensures that Snapchat is constantly up to date and has the same functionality as the web version while only requiring a small 1.4MB install size. Windows will still consider it like a native program even if it runs through Microsoft Edge, giving it a Start Menu icon, notification support, and other features.
Of course, you’ll need a PC running Windows 10 or Windows 11. It’s possible that Snapchat’s rejection of Windows phones played a little part in the platform’s demise, but it’s too late for any one social media app to revive the phones at this point, which are by this point peacefully lying in drawers all over the world. Microsoft is apparently establishing its own mobile app store in an effort to directly compete with Google and Apple rather than attempting to pressure developers to embrace its mobile platforms.
You can currently download the Snapchat PWA for free from the Microsoft Store if you’re interested in viewing your Snapchat messages or stories on your preferred Windows laptop or taking pictures for Snapchat on your computer for some reason. Or purposefully stay away from it in memory of the earlier Windows phones.
