Published December 10, 2021

Exciting Developer Additions: React Native and ShareThis!

We’ve made some pretty exciting additions to our developer platform over this past Fall. Developers have asked us continuously for easier ways to publish and manage their integrations with Snap Kit. And we listened!

We are pleased to announce these updates:

As you can see, we have spent the fall considering what developers need, how they work, and the tools that they want to use. We Integrated with React Native and ShareThis to improve the developer experience. The integrations make app development more efficient by reducing the time it takes for developers to deploy code. We know that developers have a lot of choices regarding their allocation of time and resources. So it’s important to us to continuously improve our platform to help them realize value more quickly.

Login Kit and Creative Kit are now Available to React Native Developers

We hear from our partners all the time and know that many prefer to maintain a single code base that publishes everywhere. So, it’s not surprising that we see a lot of our partners developing with React Native. Many React Developers have asked us for an easier way to integrate with Snap Kit.

React Native is an open-source framework originally developed by Facebook. Developers use it because it allows them to publish to iOS, Android, and Web apps from a single code base. Building on the React front-end JavaScript library, React Native is used to rapidly build user interfaces and components to render content into native apps without a significant impact upon performance.

We’ve made it possible to integrate with Login Kit and Creative using React Native bindings that are now open source and available throughout the React Native community. With a few additional lines of code, our partners:

  • Can deploy Login Kit. This will let users create accounts on apps using their Snapchat IDs. It reduces friction and gives Snapchatters comfort that their new app account will be associated with the app they trust the most when it comes to user data.
  • Can integrate Creative Kit. React Native developers using Creative Kit can now allow their users to share content into Snaps, Stories, and even into Spotlight. Creative Kit provides a near frictionless way for Snapchatters to bring third party content directly into the Snapchat app.

Please checkout our sample apps (Login Kit, Creative Kit) to get started right away!

ShareThis Integrates with Snap Kit Making it Possible to Share Website Content into Snapchat at Scale

While React Native integrations are all about mobile content, we have also focused on desktop. It’s now easier than ever to bring desktop and website content into Snapchat because of our new integration with ShareThis.

ShareThis and Snapchat have made it easier to share content from the web into Snapchat. ShareThis has integrated Snapchat’s Creative Kit to allow users to share Share Stickers, Lenses, AR Experiences, Filters, GIFs, videos, links, or captions directly to Snapchat’s camera or preview screen. The integration is a great bridge for content to migrate from desktop to mobile.

Share Stickers allow publishers to provide more context to shared content. The stickers are calls to action. For example, an image might include a CTA such as “Swipe up to read”. Developers can include branding, descriptions, and summaries that can be attached to any Snap.

Here’s what a Snapchat Share Sticker could look like. On the right, a user from Bake Quiz has shared content into the Snap Camera using filters. This is a great example of how a Snapchatter not only shares the content, but also provides an editorial using the visual communication capabilities that are so important and popular among Gen Z users.

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Visual communication is the language of Gen Z. If your website audience aligns with Snapchat’s audience, Share Stickers are a great way to reach them on mobile.

To learn how to set-up your first Share Sticker and to start sharing into Snapchat, please check out this overview from ShareThis.

As you can see, we have spent the fall thinking about how developers work and the tools that they want to use. We Integrated with React Native and ShareThis to improve the developer experience, to make app development more efficient, and to reduce the time it takes for developers to deploy code and realize value. We know that developers have a lot of choices regarding their allocation of time and resources. So it’s important to us to continuously improve our platform.

We’d be happy to speak with you about these integrations in greater detail. Please write any time.

The Snap Kit Team