SOON AFTER IT was at the centre of a leak which saw 100,000 photos exposed, Snapchat has announced a change which will address concerns surrounding third-party apps.
The service has banned anyone that isn’t associated with the service to use its platform to create their own Snapchat apps.
Instead it will be developing its own public API version and developing its own app ecosystem instead. It didn’t give a timeframe as to when this would be completed, saying that it would take “time and a lot of resources to build.”
It takes time and a lot of resources to build an open and trustworthy third-party application ecosystem. That’s why we haven’t provided a public API to developers and why we prohibit access to the private API we use to provide our service. Don’t get us wrong – we’re excited by the interest in developing for the Snapchat platform – but we’re going to take our time to get it right. Until then, that means any application that isn’t ours but claims to offer Snapchat services violates our Terms of Use and can’t be trusted.
The company said it would “do our part” in improving the app’s security and will work with Apple and Google to take down third-party apps that access its platform.
Earlier this week, Snapchat tweeted that it was not responsible for the leak, saying that its servers weren’t compromised, and stated that its terms and services prohibit the use of third-party apps.
The site has experienced hacks before with a previous incident allegedly exposed the usernames and phone numbers of 4.6 million users. The vulnerability was in the app’s Find Friends interface, which allows users to upload their address book contacts to help find other users.
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