We are often asked by our partners, “what works best? What should we build to drive engagement?”

That depends entirely on an app’s goals, which might range from boosting monetization, to increasing time spent, or even climbing to the top of the app store.

Since we launched Snap Kit, over 1,000 developers have brought their apps to life with the best of Snapchat. Snap Kit helps our partners enable safe logins, helps users share visual communication, and makes apps more delightful.

We’ve seen a lot happen in the industry this year which is why we’re talking about __great apps getting great engagement__.

__Why is this important?__

According to the market intelligence provider, App Annie, consumer spending in apps set an all-time quarterly record during the second quarter of 2021 reaching $34 billion. Their Q2 estimates show consistent levels of downloads but increasing user engagement in apps. Users are spending more time in the apps they already enjoy and are spending more money.

According to Sensor Tower, the mobile app experts, two-thirds of app revenue is generated by mobile games. As such non-gaming apps face a much greater challenge monetizing as they pursue smaller available wallets. Many publishers have turned toward subscriptions. About 85% of non-gaming apps offer subscriptions which account for approximately three quarters of total revenue for non-gaming apps.

This means there’s a lot of pressure on app makers to retain users, offer compelling experiences, drive virality, attract multiple log-ins per day, and increase session lengths. Not only must they win the subscription, app makers must then continuously prove the value of the subscription. In other words, if you are a non-gaming app pursuing monetization through in-app purchases, engagement is everything.

Apps seeking advertising revenue face a different challenge that is more aligned to growing audiences efficiently. We wrote about building audiences efficiently by keeping an eye on [Customer Acquisition Costs](https://kit.snapchat.com/news/five-ways-that-smart-apps-lower-cac) earlier this summer. Growing audience is extremely important and when paired with an engaging user experience, you have a huge success on your hands.

One of the apps that we think is getting great engagement is sendit.

__sendit became an early publisher of Lens Games on Snapchat using Snap Kit__

We are impressed by sendit’s success. The app took a chance on Snapchat by becoming one of the earliest publishers of Lens Games. With Dynamic Lenses, sendit rose to the top of the app store, generating one million app installs in its first month after launch. The integration enables Snapchatters to challenge their friends to fun games played out within Snap’s camera.

At our 2021 Snap Partner Summit, sendit’s CEO, Hunter Rice, sat down with Seema Puthyapurayil, Manager of Partner Engineering at Snap. (To see the [interview](https://snappartnersummit.com/), please visit our 2021 Snap Partner Summit recap which includes breakout sessions featuring partners like sendit, Givingli, Voodoo and many others). In their conversation, Rice lays out how partnership with Snap was an important component of sendit’s success.

![sendit](//images.contentful.com/68xrbr88wfp0/4NFfhFlok29xcOZo7BAa0P/e041581cb9006419c871671dd90fd528/IMG_1064.jpeg)

Rice said that he works with Snapchat primarily because he believes in the community and the importance of enabling communication among best friends.

He chose to build on Snap Kit because distribution was his top priority and Creative Kit was key to reaching his audience. As a product manager, Rice’s main UX (user experience) objective is for sendit’s users to take the least amount of steps when completing an action. In this case, sendit wanted to provide users with an easy path toward sharing sendit content directly into Snapchat stories. Fewer steps meant less drop off, more completed actions, and more sharing to create virality.

__In this example, the content in sendit can be shared directly to Snapchat via a share button enabled by Creative Kit, limiting friction.__

![this or that](//images.contentful.com/68xrbr88wfp0/5puCQnSW9HARAmfySiUCRd/25179e17ce019b1e65d286101b6b0b48/IMG_1062.jpeg)

Alongside Creative Kit, sendit implemented Dynamic Lenses. The implementation started as an experiment with the objective of discovering new ways to build around sendit’s core interaction. Dynamic Lenses proved to be highly engaging; within one month of launch, sendit observed a billion impressions to the Snap Camera globally.

__Content from sendit transforms the Snap Camera into a delightful game via Dynamic Lenses.__

Rice consistently emphasizes a few things when he talks about product management. He wants sendit to drive engagement by offering a better user experience that reduces friction and helps users accomplish their goals more quickly. He also stresses the importance of doubling down on a successful core interaction and finding new ways to extend it.

__Are there rules of the road?__

We’d never recommend that one size fits all. But there are a few things that the best Product Managers consistently stress:

- __Your UX should make things easier.__ Reduce friction wherever possible to help users accomplish their goals within the app more quickly.
- __Learn from your users.__ You won’t be able to judge if your UX improvements are working if you are not carefully observing your users and measuring the changes.
- __Know your audience.__ One of the reasons that sendit’s integration was so successful is that they knew their audience characteristics aligned with Snapchat’s audience, so it was an easy decision for them to learn more about Snap’s developer tools.
- __Keep them coming back.__ As you build new features, ideally because you are being led by your users, are you achieving “stickiness”? One way to measure stickiness is tracking DAU / MAU. This ratio gives you a sense of how important your app is to your user base. The higher the ratio, the more likely that your app is becoming  an essential part of your audience’s life online.
- __Drive virality.__ It’s sometimes easier said than done, but communication on-line should include opportunities to continue and share the conversation. Experiences should not ever end with a “full stop.”

We are excited by our developer community and cannot wait to see the next sendit emerge. Please check out [Snap Kit developer site](https://kit.snapchat.com/news) when you have a moment. We’ve made it easy for developers to register apps and review the documentation you need to get started right away.


Great Apps Get Great Engagement

Over 1,000 developers have brought their apps to life with the best of Snapchat through Snap Kit. Snap Kit helps our partners enable safe logins, helps users communicate visually, and makes partner apps more engaging and delightful. 

We are continuously investing in our developer tools and platform. Snap Kit is constantly evolving. And today, we are excited to announce __Creative Kit for Spotlight__.

We are bringing Creative Kit’s powerful sharing capabilities into Spotlight. __Creative Kit for Spotlight__ extends the reach of Creative Kit so that Snapchatters and Snap Stars alike can enhance their Spotlight posts with content provided by partner apps, such as Voisey and Powder, the breakout app that lets players edit and share gaming video on mobile.

Spotlight posts can now be enhanced with attributed content from our partners. Attributed content will be aggregated to App Pages and these app pages will show users how their fellow Snapchatters are expressing themselves using partner content and apps. Furthermore, these app pages will help drive organic installs to help grow audiences.

Our partners are excited because of the potential for Creative Kit for Spotlight to drive new organic downloads, triggered by attributions. In the example below, the app page will increase interest in the app and it will encourage users to download the app from the app store. 

This example shows a user flow that results in organic app installs

<img class="wide" src="//images.ctfassets.net/68xrbr88wfp0/6VkZICqsLdAb2nGDNxCjiA/90fe059659bba53b641f70a5f4664d1b/J0937_Creative_Kit_for_Spotlight_Press_Asset_Voisey_Press_Asset_16x9_06112021.png" />

In this example, a Spotlight post has been enhanced by content from an app. The attribution of the content is attached to the story.

When clicked, the Snapchatter is directed to the content provider’s App Page. From there the Snapchatter can see how others on Snapchat are engaging with the content. 

The App Page encourages Snapchatters to visit the app store, driving organic installs.

__There’s Also a Pre-Set Topics API to Track Campaigns__

In addition to App Page, we are making it possible to aggregate topics too in a Topic Page. 

\#Topics in Spotlight are useful for identification (i.e. for campaigns, challenges, trends, etc.) and content categorization (i.e. #comedy, #dogs, #sports, etc.). Developers can set up to 3 optional #Topics for each post that is shared to Spotlight to increase engagement and track campaigns (for example, “#YearInReview”).

This feature provides additional free distribution to partners and developers, including free traffic back to their app or website. We expect that Snapchatters will show Increased engagement with partners’ content. 
Thank you very much for checking out these exciting new Snap Kit innovations. If you want to learn more, click here to read our developer documentation.

We’d love to hear what you think. Please reach out anytime to learn more.

Thanks!

The Snap Kit team

Extending Creative Kit into Spotlight!

Over 1,000 developers have brought their apps to life with the best of Snap Kit. Snap Kit helps our partners enable safe logins, helps their users share visual communication, and make partner apps more delightful. 

During this year’s Snap Partner Summit, we announced exciting enhancements to Snap Kit. Will Wu, Director of Product, described for us some of the things that Snap is building for developers.

In case you missed it please check out the 2021 Snap Partner Summit: 

![SPS](//images.ctfassets.net/68xrbr88wfp0/7JtenRNG1Smsn46kwdy1v7/23a092c41bb4773c65201cabe0aba8a4/sps.png)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UfIlA6zC-WY

__Sticker Kit__
*Stickers bring your community’s personality to life through creative self-expression.*

We are excited to announce our evolution of Bitmoji Kit. Over the next few weeks, we are introducing Sticker Kit to our partners. Sticker Kit will offer all the functionality of Bitmoji Kit and more. Partners will be able to access thousands of Snap Stickers, Bitmojis, and millions of GIFs all from one location. 

Developers can now pick from a library of thousands of assets and millions of GIFs. Partners are excited because Sticker Kit will increase engagement by making an app’s UX more appealing to Snapchatters.

Version 1 features an API that will allow for text searching by keyword and content type. Sticker Kit is built on top of Creative Tools and the Search Infrastructure platform. It works in both authenticated and unauthenticated environments.

__Creative Kit for Spotlight__
*Creative Kit is like a share button for Snapchat.*

We also are announcing enhancements to Creative Kit, bringing its sharing capabilities into Spotlight. Creative Kit for Spotlight extends the reach of Creative Kit so that Snapchatters and Snap Stars alike can enhance their Spotlight posts with content provided by partner apps.

This enhancement brings Creative Kit’s sharing workflow into Spotlight. Posts can now be enhanced with attributed content from partner apps. Attributed content  will be aggregated to App Pages and these App Pages will enable Snapchatters to see how their fellow users interact with partner apps.

Partners are excited because of the potential of Creative Kit for Spotlight to drive new  organic downloads, triggered by attributions within the Spotlight posts.  In the example below, the App Page will increase interest in the app to encourage users to download the partner app from the app store. 

![creative-kit-spotlight](//images.ctfassets.net/68xrbr88wfp0/6VkZICqsLdAb2nGDNxCjiA/90fe059659bba53b641f70a5f4664d1b/J0937_Creative_Kit_for_Spotlight_Press_Asset_Voisey_Press_Asset_16x9_06112021.png)

__Some Great  Example of Snap Kit integrations__
Among our partners, here are a few examples of excellent integrations.

__VSCO__

VSCO is the gold standard for innovative creative tools used for photo and video editing — with a vibrant community of creators who frequently share to Snapchat. 

VSCO implemented Login Kit to make it even easier for Snapchatters to create VSCO accounts. VSCO also integrated Creative Kit so their users could quickly share their creative visual communications back to Snapchat.

Snap Kits used by VSCO:
- Creative Kit sharing to Snapchat
- Login Kit

![vsco](//images.ctfassets.net/68xrbr88wfp0/3OKXuk9kyriLmFXgWBPSZw/d50e8c26ce6b094972e6332b40ace797/vsco.png)

__Bumble__

Bumble made headlines in 2021 for its spectacular IPO. 

The dating site’s mission is to return control of the conversation to women. Their story is inspiring. 

Bumble continues to innovate, integrating with Camera Kit to elevate their video conversations. In May 2021, Bumble launched video notes, powered by Snapchat Lenses, to make those first conversations more special. 

Snap Kits used by Bumble:
- Camera Kit 
- Bitmoji

![bumble](//images.ctfassets.net/68xrbr88wfp0/5M2Ibv07X5ERHie1l5WKBH/8528f2fa246ad5abb445592e1da65a0b/bumble.png)

__Spotify__

Spotify led the way in delivering streaming audio globally. 

Spotify recognized early the value of sharing the songs their listeners loved into the Snap camera to grow its audience. 

With Creative Kit, Spotify made it possible for Snapchatters to drop their favorite songs into their Story to share with friends.

Snap Kits used by Spotify:
- Creative Kit

![spotify](//images.ctfassets.net/68xrbr88wfp0/6cLb0o5QM23A7L1sUF5T1v/8cbe5e478bfd601b377c4dfb953b9038/spotify.png)

__sendit__

sendit is one of the world’s leading influencer platforms and an early publisher of lens games. 

With Snap Kit’s dynamic lenses, sendit rose to the top of the app store, generating 1 million app installs in its first month after launch. The integration enabled friends to challenge one another to fun games  played out within Snap’s camera.

Snap Kits used by sendit:
- Creative Kit 
- Dynamic Lenses
- Login Kit
- Bitmoji

![sendit](//images.ctfassets.net/68xrbr88wfp0/5eQgMWPgHLi8lk1JayATL3/d909c5318851335e21fc34334381beb7/sendit.png)

Thank you very much for checking out these exciting new Snap Kit innovations. We’d love to hear what you think. Please reach out anytime to learn more.

The Snap Kit team.


Summer 2021: More Snap Kit!

Snap Kit was released worldwide in 2018. Since then, we have seen the ecosystem grow to over 1,000 developers building their apps on [Snap Kit](https://kit.snapchat.com/). Some of the early breakout successes included [Hily](https://hily.com/) and Squad. Squad ended up getting [acquired by Twitter](https://esthercrawford.medium.com/squad-is-now-part-of-twitter-48dd73891f71), and now the Squad team is there to help Twitter reach a new generation of users.

More recently, we have seen [sendit](https://sendit.schoolpointe.com/) rise to the top of the app store. According to App Annie, in September 2020 sendit reached the number 3 position among all iOS apps downloaded in the United States, and then spent two weeks as *the* most downloaded app in the lifestyle category. Sendit was only two years old at the time. 

How did these apps knock it out of the park so quickly? The same way the world’s most successful apps grow their success metrics. The easiest way to grow efficiently is to keep your eye on CAC (Customer Acquisition Cost). 

__Customer Acquisition Cost, CAC__

The cost of acquiring customers is hard to calculate. And acquiring customers is never easy, especially for apps where competition is fierce. Successful app makers watch their marketing and advertising spend and then monitor how that spend translates into downloads. It does not take long to realize that worrying about performance advertising and media spend is not enough. 

Here are five ways to lower your CAC and drive more downloads.

__Use Your Performancing Advertising Budget Efficiently__

If your app’s audience is aligned with Gen Y or Gen Z demographics primarily, you can improve your targeting by running your ads only across the media that your target  demographic consumes. Too often, performance advertising budgets are spent on misaligned inventory. Try entering into PMP (Private Market Place) deals with publishers directly or Supply Side Platforms (SSP) that can push your spend toward a tighter circle of ad inventory. For example, if your target is “Gen Z women in college who love casual gaming”, your SSP can help you ensure ad spend is directed to the most appropriate media.

And since CAC is all about the downloads, winning ad impressions is not enough. Publishers should focus on performance and completed calls-to-action, seeking ad platforms that monetize when downloads are completed.

__Reduce Login Friction__

We all have come across *THAT* app we once downloaded - and then never used because we never  created an account! And so we deleted *THAT* app.

The easiest way to get new users and engage them is to make it possible to use your app without forcing an account creation. But that’s not really in the app publisher’s interest; there should be a fair exchange of value between user and publisher - a two way street. To lower friction, Snap recommends that you leverage existing accounts.

For example, if you have a great app targeting recent high school graduates, allow them to register with the social media accounts they use the most.

At Snap, we created [Login Kit](https://kit.snapchat.com/login-kit) to make it easy for users to login to apps with their Snapchat account. We even made it possible for Snapchatters to bring their Bitmoji identity with them. Over time we discovered that this small convenience reduced friction significantly. Snapchatters trust how Snap treats user data and user privacy. So Snapchatters are more comfortable logging into new apps from their Snap account.

__Don’t Forget About App Store Optimization (ASO)__

Users are never more likely to download an app than when they are in the app store. This seems obvious but it’s surprising how many app makers forget about App Store Optimization.

ASO done well means that you are reading your app reviews, monitoring your downloads, and inserting the right keywords into an app’s description. Organic search results are extremely important in both Android and IOS worlds, so listen to user reviews and learn from their language when selecting your app’s keywords. 

But, Paid Search can also help you ensure that your app is the top of every search result in the IOS app store. Take advantage of the fact that your competitors probably do ASO poorly.

__Make Your Users Your Best Marketers __

Your audience may love your product and they might want to recommend it to all their friends. Great products anticipate growth that is driven word-of-mouth and they build loops into the user experience which encourage virality. Virality is rarely accidental; it has to be encouraged.

For example, apps that use [Creative Kit](https://kit.snapchat.com/creative-kit) bring fun elements from Snap’s partners back into the Snap camera which can then be shared to Stories or as Snaps among friends. With Creative Kit, Snap lets users share lenses, stickers, and filters among other examples of fun content. 

We encourage our partners to add Dynamic Lenses for Creative Kit to their app’s “Share to Snapchat” flow. Users can see their Snap camera update dynamically with contextual data like live scores, leaderboards, or the weather and more. Sharing content has never been more fun or easy. And when content is shared in Snapchat, there is a very strong chance that other Snapchatters will interact. A typical share is seen 120 times on Snapchat and users complete a CTA 7% of the time.

__Get in the habit of A/B Testing - Everything!__

Copy, creative, and the login experience can all be optimized. When you understand your target audience, start experimenting. Tweak the welcome screen. Tweak your email campaigns. Tweak your app descriptions in the app stores.

Your marketing communication should be fluid and flexible and constantly refined. You’ll eventually land somewhere that resounds well with your audience but...people and tastes change. So A/B Testing Everything must become part of the way your customer acquisition team operates.

__Thank you!__

We are excited by our developer community and cannot wait to see the next Squad or next Sendit emerge soon!

Please check out Snap Kit [developer site](https://kit.snapchat.com/manage/) when you have a moment. We’ve made it easy for developers to register their apps and review the documentation you need to get started right away.


Five Ways that Smart Apps Lower CAC

Today, more than 800 apps have integrated with Snap Kit, and nearly 150 million Snapchatters are engaging with these integrations every month. These app developers have been able to quickly grow their businesses and create engaging experiences with users worldwide. We continue to offer these tools to support developers, and that’s why on March 16th, we are excited to invite you to our live Developer Hour on how to get started with one of Snap Kit’s core products, Creative Kit and its latest feature, Dynamic Lenses.

<img class="wide" src="//images.ctfassets.net/68xrbr88wfp0/2Qrdc6UzhaTr7XTwmYtLcf/3402ec9f0b28f7af0a363a3ff06c22a0/Event_Marketing_Banner.png" />

With Creative Kit, you can enable your users to share lenses, stickers, filters, videos, and links, from other apps and websites with their friends on Snapchat. And with Dynamic Lenses, you can customize the shared lenses dynamically with contextually relevant data: live scores, leaderboards, weather, location & more.

Register to attend our live event on __March 16th at 10:00 am (PST)__, where you will learn all the basics in getting started with integrating Creative Kit and Dynamic Lenses. We will conclude with a live Q&A session to answer any questions you have. See you there!

[Register](https://gettingstartedwithcreativekita.splashthat.com/)

Learn how to get started with Creative Kit & Dynamic Lenses

The Snap Kit developer portal is where thousands of partners create and manage their integrations, view analytics, and access docs every single week. Starting today, we’re rolling out a brand new version of this portal to our community. 

We’ve taken several years worth of feedback, learnings from usage, and feature requests from our partners to rebuild the infrastructure and user experience. This release completely rethinks many of the core flows—from sign-up to app and version creation to the review system. It also sets us up to move faster with feature updates, which we’ll be rolling out frequently through the end of the year. You can check out the new portal [here](https://kit.snapchat.com/manage/), or read on to see what’s changed. 

##### Improved Kit Management
<img className="wide" src="//images.ctfassets.net/68xrbr88wfp0/2gbzeMvwXvkKWE3pKYO3l9/7a6de6bc0b706a81194a87be5b6fae26/config.png" />
We simplified Kit configuration, with each Kit being contained to a single section for easier management. 

##### Rebuilt Version Model
<img className="wide" src="//images.ctfassets.net/68xrbr88wfp0/6e5TBHlVOVC0AYj6GGznV7/c23652aa3fa37da000376c3f53f36ed3/versions.png" />
Now, you can create N number of versions for each integration, which allows for easier mapping to iOS and Android releases. 

##### Clearer Review Requirements
<img className="wide" src="//images.ctfassets.net/68xrbr88wfp0/4zTd9fVUXw56OIDOqXONsx/df3cf9cda4d379ef2d34b53cfdf7c905/app-review.png" />
Each version clearly outlines what is required for review, and in turn provides improved visibility into review status, and feedback post-review.

The New Snap Kit Developer Portal

Over the past two months, we have seen you — our amazing community of Snap Kit developers — work on some incredibly ambitious projects. Our goal for Snap Kit has always been to enable innovation with our tools inside and outside of Snapchat. In this year’s [Snap Kit Developer Challenge](https://snapkit.devpost.com/), we saw creative minds from all over the world build so many fun, new integrations, and we really had our hands full selecting winners. 

But after much deliberation, we found five projects that completely won us over. Here are this year’s category winners:

 

__🏆 Best Use of Dynamic Lenses: Learn It__

[Learn It](https://snapkit.devpost.com/review/submissions/Sm5yb25VeUNMTkIvaXNmUzNER2htSTlDdU4zczIrTzBEYjhWVWZnN2ZKM3M2OVdaSVhTdlcwbVhKUTRRVDVhR1I5aW5ZT01LVm53REZzcUVXWlJ5MkVFaW1IajA3VVBzUlVSS0ZQLzVwM2s9LS1aSmpSZitLVytpZmhtZWxmVnJuek93PT0=--8334472638c7f75f774e40ad631d1d03072e2163), which was designed and developed by Dishant Gandhi, brings a new meaning to experiential learning by mixing Augmented Reality content with education. Using Creative Kit and Snap Lenses, students can visualize curriculum content while sharing a dynamic lens with friends on Snap in AR.

 

__🏆 Best Use of Bitmoji: Happy - with friends__

For those of us that are stuck in our homes, now is a perfect time for an app like [Happy - with friends](https://snapkit.devpost.com/review/submissions/OEdLU3Q1Q2RWNGd4YmlreW9tS1JSeXFvVUpTWkpFVlBMVndrOUg1d2dtUWxhd09UbnUrd0IyR01XNUhpN2lhT1pnTUdOQW5id3Jrb1FhTzYrWGdQcUpacFkwUjlDaFYzN3pWeVlkb0dqZzA9LS1Hak52OFlnQ0RRbzk2bDEvTU9QU1F3PT0=--8c88e7f8d3bbe642d5d911b8575d155da56c91ad). Daniel Minini and Hanno Weiß remind us in their project that people are much more likely to build good habits when they share updates with friends. Anyone who uses Happy can personalize their profile with a Bitmoji avatar and motivate friends using Bitmoji stickers.

__(Runner Up: Botmoji)__

 

__🏆 Best Design: Fleek__

Online shopping doesn’t have to be overwhelming — especially when it’s social. [Fleek](https://snapkit.devpost.com/review/submissions/NUV2OEpLSmM2NGNYMHBRWURic1JTZWdFcDQ1OEUxRkI2dzNEVkliQ0tGWEQ2N3Y0aDBldCs4dlY4S0ZxdmJpVStMWHA2V1hxd1RiOWR0WXp5Tnl2V1dZMmFQRXpzSUw2WjhGcTl2OW9SNkk9LS0vdjRoVElrSkxuMHQxcE9ybWxFTE93PT0=--6479d771858aa09ad0d570ade4068b2a059587d3), is here to bring friends and fun back into fashion browsing on mobile. Built by Naman Kedia, Kian Ghodoussi, and Cyprien Toffa — Fleek learns more about a shopper’s taste from every swipe, and with Creative Kit, Snapchat friends can weigh in on what they think about your style.

__(Runner Up: Like My Recent)__

 

__🏆 Innovation Award: Snap Keys__

Snapchatters love video games, but some games have accessibility limitations. [Snap Keys](https://snapkit.devpost.com/review/submissions/QVovUXdCUUZodlIxbGZKRUd3d3RuSzh1c284a3hWRlgySnczZGx6ZlJNeFNyelc5eDNIQUhrK1FnZ2txNksyRWxUaE1NY1VGSHlHMGJNSE1hbXFucE55ZlJVZE82UDRBa01xeVIwbkw2dTg9LS0rVXVBNHZQUCtkb3VpbXFGLy9RSHdnPT0=--210817c37e76456e623ac9009e635fc2bae91caa) turns Dynamic Lenses into PC game controllers by using hand gestures and facial expressions to navigate in-game action.

__(Runner Up: mercNmore)__

 

__🏆 Best Overall Use of Snap Kit: Swirl__

Challenging your friends on Snapchat just got a boost. [Swirl](https://snapkit.devpost.com/review/submissions/T1VXRTlSZnl3STE5Nlk2dEVHdWNGWnN6SVVDeTkrT2luTHo3S1drR3pDSG1kR214dTFFR1pBclpyc0ttUTBmejY3cWNvMFBuTVdaaE9pUnNNVzhSVHpCZ3VMbXpvMERWMkY3aS85b0ZFd3M9LS1wQ3RFblZZdmNvOGdKdmxLeFhDNkJnPT0=--bd86c41dffdc79d407ab7b087b46ce9d054172dd) makes the process of creating and sharing challenges with friends both fun and engaging. Choose from a collection of template themes like movies, music, or memes. Just tag friends to participate and keep the fun going.

__(Runner Up: Premo)__

 

And that’s it! Congrats to each of our five category winners, and a special thanks goes out to everyone who built something with us this year. We sincerely thank everyone for your participation and can’t wait to see you all continue to build on what you’ve done.

Announcing Category Winners for the 2020 Snap Kit Developer Challenge

Ready to build your next app masterpiece with Snap Kit? We’re thrilled to announce our second-ever global Snap Kit challenge.

Over the past two years, we’ve been overwhelmed by the extraordinary experiences the Snap Developer community has built using our tools. [YOLO](https://onyolo.com/)’s foundational use of Creative, Bitmoji, and Login Kit helped to turn it into an app that millions of people use. [Squad](https://squadapp.io) and [Triller](https://www.triller.co)’s use of Story Kit and Creative Kit enabled sharing to and from their respective app experiences. The [HAGS](https://www.hags.app/) app also made an extraordinary difference in the lives of students by allowing friends to connect and sign yearbooks with their Bitmoji, even if they can’t do it in person.

But we want to see more of your brilliance, and we know your best creative ideas are ready to make their debut. 

Today, we’re kicking off a three-month hackathon to discover what else this inspirational community can build.

This competition is designed to find the best uses of Snap Kit in the following categories:

🏆 __Best Use of Dynamic Lenses__
There’s no better way to share on Snapchat than with engaging AR Lenses. We can’t wait to see what you do with Creative Kit’s newest feature.

🏆 __Best Use of Bitmoji__
People have a deep connection with their Bitmoji Avatar. Show us how your app can best utilize Bitmoji stickers as a form of identity and expression!

🏆 __Best Design__
A lot can be said with great design. This award will go to the app that puts aesthetics and user experience at the forefront of their development using Snap Kit. We want your app to give us goosebumps!

🏆 __Innovation Award__
We want to see your creativity truly shine through for this prize. Build something we could never have seen coming.

🏆 __Best Overall Use of Snap Kit__
This one is all-encompassing. Any of the publicly accessible Snap Kit products are fair game. This trophy will go to the best use of one or more Snap Kit tools to create an experience worth loving.


The submission deadline is __October 5__. The best app in each category will receive a $1,000 prize with the chance to pitch the Snap team for the $5,000 grand prize (and some major bragging rights).

Head over to [snapkit.devpost.com](https://snapkit.devpost.com/) and sign up for the competition to get started. Then sign up for a Snap Kit Developer account on [SnapKit.com](https://snapkit.com) and dive head first into our [technical docs](https://snapkit.com/docs). This competition is subject to eligibility and applicable laws. Read the rules [here](https://snapkit.devpost.com/rules).

There’s so much you can do, and we can’t wait to see what you come up with!


Introducing the 2020 Snap Kit Developer Challenge

Last week, we introduced Verify With Snapchat, a new way to verify phone numbers through Snap Kit. Verify With Snapchat is the newest addition to Login Kit and can be used in two ways: through Verify and Connect or Verify Only (**new!**). 

**Verify and Connect** allows developers to check a phone number and verify that it matched the one on file for a user’s Snapchat account. Once the number has been verified and confirmed on Snapchat, users will be redirected to a native Login modal. After authorization, users will return to the 3PA connected and verified. 

With the new **Verify Only** launch, developers can verify phone numbers on demand. They are now able to run the verification flow **outside** of the authorization flow, allowing Verify With Snapchat to be triggered at different points of the application. In this flow, Snapchat will only verify the inputted phone number and will not redirect users to the Login modal for authorization.

Please note that Snapchat will **only** use a phone number to verify if it is used by a Snapchat account. Snapchat will **not** use any phone number data for advertising purposes. If a phone number is not registered on Snapchat, we will ask users to update their Snapchat account with the new number.

Check out the docs to get started!

**Happy Building!**


Login Kit: Verify Only

Today we’re excited to release Verify with Snapchat, a new way to verify phone numbers through Snap Kit.

Since launching Snap Kit, we’ve heard from partners that phone verification adds friction and massive costs to building apps. In many cases, teams spend weeks setting up SMS verification, signing contracts with multiple domestic and international vendors, and adding a large cost center to their business. We’ve already done this heavy lifting and want to make it available to our community for free. 

We designed a solution that allows any developer to verify phone number ownership against our 229 million daily active Snapchatter accounts*, while eliminating the need for an SMS. Like all Snap Kit features, limiting the amount of personal data that we share with third parties is central to our approach, and Verify with Snapchat is no exception. 

Here’s how it works:

![verify-demo](//images.ctfassets.net/68xrbr88wfp0/23h05zQ3kGtfAZQ4wX3EEw/d3018817cee954bec50ec0b213a07947/Pup_Luv_Verify_v6gif_FINAL.gif)


When partners use Verify, they pass a phone number to Snapchat rather than dispatching an SMS verification code. If the number has been verified with us recently, it will be confirmed and the user will be returned to their app. If the user is outside of the verification window, we’ll simply allow them to re-verify on the spot at no cost to the developer. 

Verify with Snapchat will be a powerful tool for developers of all sizes, and it’s available today! Head over to the docs to get started!

**Happy Snapping!**

 

*Snap Inc. internal data Q1 2020. See Snap Inc. public filings with the SEC.

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