With just one app, students are able to access the weather or date and cover their faces with a cute puppy filter. Snapchat (free) by Snap, Inc. does all these things and has just added a few new features in their 9.43 update, which was released Nov. 8.

Snapchat’s new update is more convenient to teenagers in this era. With all the gossiping people our age do, it was only a matter of time before Snapchat enabled you to privately send a person’s story to your friend without the app notifying that person. If you don’t want to cause anymore tension by screenshotting someone’s story, then this app update is right for you. Simply by clicking on one’s story and pressing down, you can send the story (picture or video) like a regular snap.

Another hyped feature on Snapchat’s new update are the World Lenses. You can now apply filters by using your back camera as well as the front. Filters such as leaves falling and butterflies flying are available right at your fingertips, but in my opinion, this app should have included this feature when the first lenses were released. With all the same lenses on the on the front camera that are on the back, it certainly does not deserve its own title.

Don’t you despise it when you are carelessly tapping through people’s stories, and realize that there was one you might need to take a double look at? Now, instead of scrolling all the way down to that person’s name, you can tap on the left side of the screen and go back to that specific story. This feature is already on Instagram’s story so it is not as exciting. However, if you are lazy, then this feature will come in handy.

As we all know, Snapchat can include information such as the weather, altitude and location in your snap. However, some of this information can be slightly inaccurate and still up to now has still not been improved. Usually, the temperature does not correspond with the weather app on our phones, which is more a more accurate source for weather, since that is their specialty.

Another extremely disappointing glitch in Snapchat is when streaks mysteriously disappear for no apparent reason. There is nothing more frustrating than when all your hard work is gone. Even when both people snap each other within 24 hours, sometimes they still disappear.

I have had Snapchat for nearly four years now and have seen it evolve. With all of Snapchat’s features, I feel as if this is the most up-to-date with our generation. We can find almost everything in one app.

by AJ CABRERA