Snapchat Plans is a new set of tools for creating, sharing and managing real-world events with friends, and it lives inside the chats where those plans already start. Snap announced the feature on September 10. Its pitch is simple: 35 percent of recently surveyed U.S. Snapchatters aged 13 to 24 already use group chat to make plans, so the app is giving those conversations a home.
What Snapchat Plans does
Hosts add a title, pick a date and time, and invite up to 200 friends. Bitmoji-powered cover art updates as the plan comes together. Invitations then arrive inside a one-to-one chat with each friend. From there, guests RSVP with Going, Maybe or Can’t Go without leaving the conversation. Additionally, hosts can see who is attending, invite more people and update details later. Guests can view the full guest list, change their RSVP at any time, and get a reminder one hour before the event starts.
Every plan is private and invite-only. Only the host and the invited friends can see it, though anyone invited can read the guest list. Meanwhile, Snap says it is not adding anything public here. The company frames Plans as a fix for buried messages and lost details, not a new events network.
Where plans live in the app
A new My Plans section on your profile lists current, upcoming and past plans in one place. When you open a Friendship Profile, an Our Plans section shows the events you share with that friend. Soon, Snap says, you will also be able to create an event directly from a chat. However, the first rollout starts from the profile hub.
The missing piece: location
There is one obvious gap. Snap’s announcement never mentions a place field, and Engadget’s report found no way to add location details at launch. That is a strange omission for an app with a heavily used Snap Map. A Snap spokesperson told Engadget the company is “actively working on” adding location information to Plans, although it is unclear whether Snap Map will be involved. Until then, the where still has to live in the chat.
Why it matters
Snap keeps adding utility to messaging rather than building new feeds. Earlier this year it tightened Spotlight sharing for younger teens, and in June it put Specs AR glasses up for pre-order at $2,195. Plans follows the same pattern: a private, friends-only feature for a company that insists it is not social media. In its own words, “Snapchat Plans make it easier to organize these special in-person moments with your friends.” Whether teens adopt it over a group chat and a screenshot is the open question, and the location gap will not help.
