Snapchat fans have been calling on the hugely popular chat app to go back to its old design after a recent major shakeup.
More than one million people have signed a petition calling on Snap Inc, owners of the iOS and Android app, to revert back to the old Snapchat design.
Snapchatter Nic Ramsey, who started the Change.org petition, said the new update has made many features of the chat app “more difficult” to use.
Introducing the petition, Ramsey wrote: “With the release of the new Snapchat update, many users have found that it has not made the app easier to use, but has in fact made many features more difficult.
“There is a general level of annoyance among users and many have decided to use a VPN app, or are using other risky apps or steps, to go back to the old Snapchat as that’s how annoying this new update has become.
“Many ‘new features’ are useless or defeats the original purposes Snapchat has had for the past years.”
He added: “This petition aims to help convince Snap Inc. to change the app back to the basics, before the new 2018 update.”
However, despite the petition hitting more than one million signatures it doesn’t look like Snapchat will be reverting back to the old design anytime soon.
Speaking to the BBC, Snapchat reiterated that it hoped users would get used to the chat app’s new look.
Snapchat said updates “can take a little getting used to” and added: “We hope the community will enjoy it once they settle in.”
One of the main issues fans have had with the new design is the shake-up it brought to the Stories page.
That popular Snapchat feature showcased photos and videos from friends, as well as content from professional publishers.
These ephemeral stories appeared for 24 hours before they are permanently deleted from the messenger.
But in its dramatic new redesign Snapchat dropped its dedicated Stories page – dropping the content amongst private messages in a single feed.
Snapchat users have flooded social media to complain about the changes, with users branding the software “annoying” and “dumb”.
One user tweeted: “Just randomly updated even though I didn’t want the update, sorry but it’s really annoying please bring back the old Snapchat!”
Another added: “For the love of god remove the new update. Didn’t even want it but somehow me and my friends got it anyways.
“Don’t wanna see strangers stories, I use it to interact with IRL friends not the entire planet. The new story design is dumb, makes no sense.”
In a blog post, Snapchat founder Evan Spiegel said he believed the “blurring of lines” between friends and content creators had led to the rise of ‘fake news’.
That, Spiegel explained, was one of the reasons behind the big Snapchat shake-up.
He wrote: “Until now, social media has always mixed photos and videos from your friends with content from publishers and creators.
“While blurring the lines between professional content creators and your friends has been an interesting Internet experiment, it has also produced some strange side-effects (like fake news) and made us feel like we have to perform for our friends rather than just express ourselves.
“The new Snapchat separates the social from the media.
“This means that the Chats and Stories from your friends are on the left side of Snapchat, and the Stories from publishers, creators, and the community are on the right.
“We’ve also invented something new to make Snapchat feel even more personal: the dynamic Friends page.
“The new Friends page to the left of the camera displays your friends based on the way you communicate with them.
“You can think of it as a more sophisticated Best Friends algorithm that makes it easier to find the friends you want to talk to, when you want to talk to them.”