Snapchat is redoubling its efforts to block third-party apps

It doesn’t matter how private or secure Snapchat is, so long as there are third-party apps that access the service, all of Snapchat’s users are at risk. This was best demonstrated not too long ago when one of these third-party apps was hacked, which resulted in thousands of Snapchat users having their private photos and videos leaked. In order to prevent future hacks, Snapchat has decided to redouble its efforts to block these apps. 

Third-party Snapchat apps are about to get a lot less reliable. The company is taking new steps to tighten security and limit outside apps’ access to its service, the company revealed Thursday. “Almost every security issue we’ve had since I’ve been here has been related to API abuse,” Snapchat’s Tim Sehn told Backchannel. Snapchat has never published an official API, but developers were able to reverse engineer one, which helped spur the numerous third-party Snapchat apps. This issue came into sharp focus last year when one such app was hacked, resulting in the leak of thousands of users’ private photos and videos. For its part, the company has maintained such apps violate its terms of service, but security experts had criticized them for not doing more to combat the problem.