Snapchat removes Auto Advance feature after criticism, launches Story Playlist instead

Snap Inc., the recently formed company behind messaging app Snapchat, said today that it’s beginning to remove the Auto Advance feature that automatically plays stories. The feature arrived in Snapchat in March and was quickly criticized, as you couldn’t avoid seeing stories from all your Snapchat friends. Now the feature is going away.

Some Android users will see the change immediately, and then it will be extended to all Android and iOS users.

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But Snapchat is taking some of the spirit behind Auto Advance and embedding it into a new feature called Story Playlist. Snap Inc. explains in a blog post:

Story Playlist is an easy way to select the Stories you want to watch and seamlessly view them full screen in the order you selected them.

Tap on the Story thumbnail to the left of your friend’s name to add their Story to your playlist. Hit the play button at the bottom of the screen to watch!

The move quickly got some positive feedback on Twitter.

https://twitter.com/NadiatulSaf/status/784501297584013313

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@Snapchat a company that actually listens to people! pic.twitter.com/8ndVZJd4HE

— j (@jacsar001) October 7, 2016

Automatically playing multiple stories from friends allowed Snapchat to show users more ads. Now the model is evolving, as Snapchat reportedly prepares to go public.