Snapchat recently rolled out a new update, completely overhauling the layout of the app. Chats and stories are now grouped together, breaking the barrier that's kept them apart since October 2013. Snapchat's Discover Page is now almost exclusively for published and sponsored stories. Not only did this majorly change the look and feel of the app, but much of the functionality was lost, and users have been railing Snapchat for it.

But this isn't just about a shitty Snapchat update.

This is about app developers taking advantage of their users and abusing their power over smartphones.

Let me explain:

Many users were reporting that their app updated without their knowledge. When I heard all the negative press that Snapchat was getting, I checked the iPhone App Store to see what was up and why my phone hadn't been affected yet. The last official update was February 5, 2018, one day earlier. I thought that maybe, perhaps, the update was being released to only a certain number of people at a time. Unlikely, but I had no other way to explain it. To be on the safe side, I turned off auto-updates in my settings, so that when I was ready to part with the old app, I would.

The next day, I woke up to Snapchat being the same as I had left it. But two hours later, the update hit. Everything had changed, even though my auto-updates were off.

The official Snapchat changelog maintains that February 5 was the last update, and even so, my updates were turned off.So how could it have changed on its own?

I don't know much about code, and research into the issue didn't bring up much, but reading up and asking around, the general consensus is that the change came without warning.

snapchat you just gonna update automatically like that. i know you fuckin lyin
— imari (@imari) February 7, 2018

My theory? The changes were already included in one of their recent updates (possibly the February 5th, seeing as the version is at the fresh start of 10.25.0.0). They weren't visible, but they were there. When everyone had downloaded the seemingly harmless update, the switch was pulled, and the affected apps began to change on their own.

To test this out, I asked a friend who hadn't updated to download the official update from the app store. As suspected, their app did not change immediately, remaining almost completely unchanged. Two days later, it hit. I asked another willing friend to try it and got the same results. This confirms that the changes are packaged directly into an official update, but not immediately implemented until up to two days later. Snapchat can now control when our apps update.

Now, why would Snapchat do this? Simply put, most large social media apps often face criticism for major overhauls. Consider Instagram's switch to a non-chronological feed, or Facebook's plans to drastically change their own news feed. When your Snapchat becomes flooded with "Don't Update" snaps, you take steps to avoid the update. It won't be forever, but it'll be enough to keep you behind their schedule. This "anti-update" mentality makes it hard for app developers to roll out new features. Call me a conspiracy theorist, but what if Snapchat finally found a way to work around this, and get everyone to update on time? (Hey, Black Mirror, have I got a pitch for you)

This also brings up the highly debated topic of the disclosure of changelogs for app updates. Ever go to the updates page only to see a bunch of "Bug Fixes and Improvements?" App developers have become increasingly vaguer and vaguer in their descriptions of implemented changes in each update. In 2013, Facebook basically said that they would tell you what's changed only when you update, and from within the app.

What does this mean for us? As users, we deserve to know what developers are doing to our phones. Nowhere in any of Snapchat's recent official updates was it mentioned how big of an overhaul would be taking place.

If my far-fetched theory about secret updates is true, more developers could exploit this technique to get their users all on the same page, without their consent. There is a reason iPhones have a way to turn off auto-updates.

So, what should change? I believe that Apple, and all major smartphone companies, should start implementing stricter rules for app developers to go by so that all changes and updates are out in the open, beyond a friendly two-sentence invitation to "launch the app to see what's new!" If developers continue to take advantage of us, they could begin hiding other features in their apps without our knowledge. Remember when that sex app was nonconsensually recording its users?

Who knows, maybe I am just a kid rambling on about how stupid his phone is. But maybe someone will listen.