If you’re a Snapchat user you’ll know exactly why Snapchat needs to fix their Android. The application doesn’t work anywhere near as seamlessly as the iPhone version of Snapchat. Picture’s look much better and the application is generally much faster on iOS as compared to Android. The gap is huge to the point where it actually influences purchasing decisions. Finally, it seems Snapchat is doing something to shift the goalposts.
XDA Developers have dug out some code that makes the performance of the application much faster and also even a shift in UI. From the video below, I think you can note the difference in UI speed between the old Snapchat and the one with the performance enhancements. The newer version is much less choppy especially in the camera’s viewfinder.
Snapchat promised this update last year and it’s actually long overdue. To get it right now you actually have to have root access and activate it manually which is a lengthy and overly strenous process if you ask me. You could always wait for the update which seems to be closer than ever now.
How to enable the new UI
XDA posted a text version of the how-to process on their site:
Before we begin, you’ll need to be on the latest version of the Snapchat app—either 10.39 or 10.39.1 beta. You can download the app from the Google Play Store, but if the latest version isn’t available for you then you can also grab the APK from APKMirror.
- Download a root-enabled file explorer like FX File Explorer or MiXplorer. I’m going to be using MiXplorer for this tutorial.
- Open MiXplorer and expand the sidebar to the left. Tap “Root.”
- If this is your first time using MiXplorer, it’ll ask you for root access. Grant it.
- Go to “data“
- Scroll down and enter “data” again.
- Find “com.snapchat.android“
- Open “shared_prefs“
- Open “dynamicAppConfig.xml“
- Look for the “appFamily” string and change the “snapchat” value to “mushroom“
- Save the file and exit.
- Long-press on the Snapchat app icon in your launcher and go to its App Info page.
- Force close Snapchat.
- Connect your phone to your PC and enable USB Debugging in Developer Options if you haven’t already.
- Download and install the latest ADB binaries on your PC according to this guide if you haven’t already.
- Open up a command prompt on your computer in the same directory where you saved the ADB binaries and enter the following command to enter ADB shell:
Windows Command Prompt:adb shell
Windows PowerShell:.\adb shell
macOS/Linux Terminal:./adb shell- Now, enter the following 4 commands one-by-one (after entering ‘su’ it’ll ask you to grant root access):
- Open up the Snapchat app and you should be greeted by the new, faster Snapchat Alpha redesign
Snapchat's new faster Android UI is underway. It's generally smoother than the old one. Emoji brush is coming to the new UI for Android too! pic.twitter.com/wjGhM52Wmg
— Jane Manchun Wong (@wongmjane) August 17, 2018
Would I advise you to go down this path? Nah! It’s just Snapchat, but if you’re adventurous and up for the challenge then go ahead and do it. It will also be interesting to see if this will fix Snapchat’s quality issues. The Android version also lags behind when it comes to quality compared to the iPhones version of the application.
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