Why are snaps not sending today?

If you’ve tried sending snaps on Snapchat today and noticed they aren’t going through, you’re not alone. Many Snapchat users have reported issues with sending and receiving snaps since this morning.

What’s Causing Snapchat to Stop Sending Snaps?

Based on user reports, it appears to be a widespread technical issue affecting the Snapchat app. When trying to send a snap, many users are getting error messages like “Your snap could not be sent” or “Message failed to send.”

Snapchat has not yet commented publicly on what is causing snaps to fail today. There are a few potential explanations for why you can’t send snaps right now:

Server or backend issues – A problem with Snapchat’s servers could prevent snaps from going through. Increased user traffic or a server outage could overload Snapchat’s systems.
App bug – A bug introduced in a recent Snapchat app update may be preventing snaps from sending correctly.
Network connectivity issues – If Snapchat’s servers are up but have network connectivity problems, this could stop snaps from sending.

Most likely, Snapchat is experiencing some sort of widespread technical difficulty or bug that is affecting snap sending globally. Hopefully they are working quickly to identify and resolve the problem.

When Will Snapchat Be Fixed?

There is no exact ETA for when sending snaps on Snapchat will start working again. Based on past incidents, it may take hours or days for Snapchat to fully resolve an outage of this scale.

Here’s a rough timeline of what to expect:

Within the next few hours: Snapchat engineers are likely investigating now. Short service disruptions are possible as they work.
Within 24 hours: Snapchat may roll out a fix for whatever is causing the send failures. Full functionality may return.
Within a few days: If it’s a complex issue, it’s possible intermittent problems persist for 72 hours or more.

Within a week: Even slower moving bugs generally get fixed within 7 days.

This is just an estimate based on past Snapchat outages. The actual recovery time will depend on the specific technical issue they are dealing with.

What Can You Do If Your Snaps Aren’t Sending?

While you wait for Snapchat to get fixed, here are some steps you can take:

Check Snapchat’s status page – This will provide updates on known issues.
Update the Snapchat app – If it’s a bug, installing app updates may help.
Troubleshoot your network – Make sure your mobile device or WiFi network have a strong signal.

Contact Snapchat support – You can submit a support ticket for possible help.
Use an alternative app – Try a different messaging app until Snapchat is back up.
Be patient – Major outages typically get resolved in a day or two.

The best option is to sit tight and wait for Snapchat’s engineers to deploy a fix. Continuing to retry sending snaps will likely just result in more failed messages.

Why Do Snapchat Outages Happen?

It’s frustrating when a popular app like Snapchat goes down and stops working correctly. But major service disruptions are an unavoidable growing pain for many online platforms.

Here are some key reasons why Snapchat and other apps sometimes experience outages:

Traffic spikes – Huge traffic surges from millions of users can sometimes overwhelm servers.
Software bugs – Coding errors and defects often only show up when software hits a massive scale.
Increased user bases – Supporting more users globally makes outages more likely.

System dependencies – Issues with downstream systems like AWS or CDNs can create ripple effects.

Snapchat now has over 300 million daily active users. At that scale, even small hiccups can cause cascading failures that impact snap sending capabilities.

The real-world challenges of running such a vast online service inevitably lead to periodic disruptions, despite the best efforts of engineering teams. Fortunately, most outages are short-lived.

Does Snapchat Going Down Affect Snapstreaks?

One of Snapchat users’ biggest concerns during an outage is whether it will affect cherished snapstreaks.

A snapstreak occurs when friends have snapped each other within 24 hours for three consecutive days. The longer a streak is maintained, the more precious it becomes to Snapchatters.

The good news is that major Snapchat outages don’t reset or break snapstreaks. Here are some key reasons why:

You get a 24 hour grace period to send a snap and keep your streak alive.
Snapchat itself going down pauses the clock until service returns.
As long as you eventually send another snap, your streak is safe.

So don’t worry, your prized snapstreaks should remain intact once Snapchat is back up and running again as normal.

Snapstreak Grace Period

Snapchat gives you a 24 hour grace period beyond the usual 24 hour messaging period. This means you actually have 48 hours between snaps before your streak gets reset.

This grace period is designed specifically to account for Snapchat outages and other situations where users can’t send snaps temporarily.

As long as you resume your normal snapstreak within that 48 hour window, it will continue unbroken.

Snapchat Outages “Pause” Streak Timelines

Furthermore, widespread Snapchat outages also seem to essentially “pause” snapstreak timelines until service is restored.

So if Snapchat goes down for 6 hours, that won’t count against your 24-48 hour grace period to maintain streaks.

Your snapstreak clock essentially pauses while Snapchat is broken, and resumes ticking once the outage is fixed.

This prevents people from losing streaks over short disruptions outside their control.

You’ll Get a Notification If at Risk

If your snapstreak does end up at risk of expiring, Snapchat will send you a notification after the outage. This lets you know you need to send a snap soon to save the streak.

So eventually you should get alerted if any of your streaks need attention. As long as you heed the notification, your streaks should be fine.

Losing a long snapstreak can be devastating, so this system aims to protect users from unfair streak resets due to technical problems.

Will Snapchat Compensate Users for the Outage?

When a major social media platform like Snapchat goes down for hours, some users wonder if they’ll get any compensation for the disruption.

In most cases, the answer is no – Snapchat and other free services typically don’t directly compensate users for temporary outages.

There are a few reasons Snapchat is unlikely to hand out refunds or account credits after an outage:

Snapchat is a free app, so there’s nothing to refund.

Outages are an accepted risk of online services.
Downtime is relatively brief compared to total uptime.
It would set an expensive precedent to pay users.

While major platforms like Facebook have compensated advertisers for revenue lost during service disruptions, normal users typically don’t receive direct payouts.

You can request a refund for almost any paid service, but free apps like Snapchat have no direct monetary transactions with users.

Occasional downtime and bugs are also an accepted risk of using virtually all online services. While disruptions are annoying, they’re hard to prevent entirely.

And even an outage of several hours is relatively brief compared to Snapchat’s overall uptime record over years.

Finally, compensating millions of users per outage could add up to huge costs for platforms. So there’s little incentive for Snapchat to open itself up to recurring payouts.

For these reasons, companies typically focus on communicating openly about outages and restoring service quickly, rather than paying individual users.

You Can Still Complain

While Snapchat is unlikely to pay you for today’s disruption, you can still contact the company to complain and provide feedback.

Here are some productive ways to voice complaints after a Snapchat outage:

Post on Snapchat’s forums and social media pages.

Provide honest App Store/Play Store reviews.
Submit respectful feedback via support channels.
Emphasize how outages hurt your usage and perception of the brand.

Suggest ways service could be improved for the future.

If enough users provide constructive criticism, Snapchat may take more concrete steps to prevent prolonged outages going forward.

Should You Delete Snapchat Over This?

When their snaps won’t send, some frustrated users may consider deleting Snapchat entirely.

But that’s probably an overreaction. Here are a few reasons you might want to stick with Snapchat:

Outages are temporary – Service will eventually be restored.
Features and social connections still have value.

Few apps offer identical capabilities and audiences.
Your usage isn’t substantially impacted long-term.
Deleting your account is permanent – You can always reinstall later.

Unless Snapchat outages become a chronic, regular issue, deleting your account permanently is quite extreme.

Today’s outage is certainly annoying. But chances are Snapchat will be back working again soon without significant lasting impact on your usage.

In the meantime, you can switch to alternative messaging apps, or take a healthy break from social media entirely.

But when Snapchat service is restored, you’ll likely want to access your account again. As long as that’s the case, a temporary deletion is more sensible than a permanent one.

How to Temporarily Deactivate Account

If you feel you need distance from Snapchat for a while, a safer option is to temporarily deactivate or disable your account.

Here are the steps to temporarily deactivate your Snapchat account:

Open the Snapchat app and go to your profile.
Tap the Settings (gear) icon in the top-right corner.
Scroll down and select “Support”.

Choose “I need help with my account”.
Select “My account is temporarily locked or disabled”.
Choose “Disable my account” and confirm.

Your profile will be hidden until you log back in with username and password. All data remains intact for when you reactivate.

This is safer than deleting your account, which is irreversible. Temporarily disabling lets you take a Snapchat break without losing everything.

Conclusion

Snapchat outages that prevent sending and receiving snaps are annoying. But they’re usually short-lived, and aren’t reason enough to abandon the app altogether.

Your snapstreaks are protected, you probably won’t be compensated directly, and a temporary break is safer than a permanent deletion.

While Snapchat engineers work on restoring service, you can use alternative messaging apps, give constructive feedback, or simply practice digital patience.

Remember – technology has hiccups, but snaps will send again soon!