Snapchat came out in July 2011, when it launched on iPhone under the name Picaboo. The app was renamed Snapchat in September 2011, and it has kept that name ever since.
So if you need one year for a quiz answer, a school project or a presentation, 2011 is the one. The first version was a simple photo-sharing app where the picture disappeared after the other person had looked at it, and that single idea shaped almost everything Snapchat did afterwards.
Below is a short timeline of the features most people associate with the app, who built it, and why it caught on. I've only included dates I'm confident about, and I'd still check Snap Inc's own company history if you're quoting a date in something official.
Snapchat timeline: the launch and the big features
Snapchat launched in 2011 and added its best-known features over the next decade. Here they are in order.
| Year | What happened |
|---|---|
| 2011 | Launched as Picaboo in July on iPhone, then renamed Snapchat in September |
| 2013 | Stories arrived, letting you post a snap that friends could watch again and again for a day instead of sending it one person at a time |
| 2015 | Discover launched, giving publishers and media brands a place inside the app |
| 2016 | Memories arrived, so you could save snaps and stories inside the app and post them later |
| 2016 | Spectacles, the camera sunglasses, were introduced and the company renamed itself Snap Inc. |
| 2017 | Snap Inc. listed its shares on the New York Stock Exchange in March |
| 2017 | Snap Map launched, showing friends' locations on a map (only if they chose to share) |
| 2020 | Spotlight launched, a feed of short public videos |
Two things stand out when you read that list. First, Snapchat introduced Stories, which is a format almost every other big social app copied later. Second, the app kept moving from private messaging toward public content, which is why a lot of the later features (Discover, Spotlight) are built for creators and brands rather than just friends.
Who made Snapchat?
Snapchat is usually credited to three people: Evan Spiegel, Bobby Murphy and Reggie Brown. The app began while they were students at Stanford University. Evan Spiegel became the public face of the company and its chief executive, and Bobby Murphy took the technical lead.
The early story of who contributed what has been argued over in public, so I'd treat any single-sentence version with some care. If you need an exact wording for a school or work document, read the company history on Snap Inc's own site and quote it directly.
What isn't in doubt is that it started small. It was a student project turned startup, built for a single iPhone app, and it grew from there into a company that is now listed on the stock market.
Why Snapchat caught on
The first thing was the disappearing message. Before Snapchat, most social apps treated every photo as something to keep, polish and show off. Snapchat did the opposite. A snap was casual, a bit silly and gone a moment later, so people felt free to send a quick face-pulling selfie or a photo of their lunch without worrying how it looked.
The second thing was the camera. Snapchat opens straight to the camera rather than a feed, which tells you what the app is for: you make something, then you share it. That made it feel more like a conversation than a performance.
The third thing was the audience. It spread fastest among teenagers and young adults, who liked having a place that parents and older relatives weren't yet using. When Stories arrived, it gave those users a way to share a whole day, not just one photo, and the format worked so well that Instagram introduced its own version of Stories in 2016.
If you're curious about the small details that grew around the app, I've written about what the Snapchat emojis mean next to each friend's name, and what a snap streak is and why people care so much about keeping one going.
What Snapchat's history means for businesses now
Knowing when Snapchat came out matters less for a business than knowing what it became. The app moved from a private photo-swapping tool to a place where people watch short videos, follow creators and browse content from brands, and a business can take part in each of those.
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Here's how I'd think about it if you run a small business:
- Know who you're talking to. Snapchat's audience skews younger, so it suits brands that sell to students, young professionals and families with older children more than it suits a company aimed at retirees.
- Make it vertical and quick. The camera-first design means short, full-screen video usually feels more natural than a polished ad that looks like it came from a television commercial.
- Be a person, not a poster. The app grew on casual, human content, so behind-the-scenes clips tend to fit better than corporate announcements.
- Start with the free features. You can post stories and public videos before you even think about advertising, which lets you see whether your audience is there.
If you want to go further, my guide to a Snapchat marketing strategy covers how to decide whether the platform deserves a place in your plans at all. It's perfectly fine to decide it doesn't. Being on fewer platforms and doing them well beats being on all of them badly.
Common mix-ups about the launch date
People often give the wrong year because Snapchat feels newer than its real age. Most of the features you use every day, such as Stories, Memories and the map, came after the first launch, so it's easy to assume the whole app arrived with them.
Another mix-up is the name. If you search for old articles and can't find the app, try Picaboo, because that's what it was called for the first few months. And if you're asked who launched it in a quiz, the safest answer is the founding team rather than one person.
Quick recap of the key dates
- July 2011: launched as Picaboo on iPhone
- September 2011: renamed Snapchat
- 2013: Stories
- 2015: Discover
- 2016: Memories and Spectacles
- 2017: stock market listing in March and Snap Map
- 2020: Spotlight
If a date you've seen elsewhere differs from one here, it's usually because some features launched in one country or on one phone type before the rest. Company history pages are the safest place to settle it.
Frequently asked questions
When did Snapchat first come out?
Snapchat first came out in July 2011 on iPhone. It was called Picaboo at launch and was renamed Snapchat in September 2011.
Was Snapchat always called Snapchat?
No. The app launched as Picaboo and was renamed Snapchat in September 2011. The parent company later renamed itself Snap Inc. in 2016.
Who invented Snapchat?
Snapchat is usually credited to Evan Spiegel, Bobby Murphy and Reggie Brown, who began working on it while studying at Stanford University.
When did Snapchat Stories start?
Stories started in 2013. They let you post a snap or a string of snaps that your friends can watch repeatedly for a day, rather than sending each one to a single person.
When did Snapchat go public?
Snap Inc. listed its shares on the New York Stock Exchange in March 2017.
