After only spending 10 days in a private beta, video messaging has been added to Snapchat in the new 2.0 update which went live yesterday. Snapchat is a messaging service which allows users to adjust how long pictures, messages, and drawings are stored for before being permanently deleted, giving users more control over their privacy.

Just like picture and text messages, recorded videos keep the same privacy options as before, allowing users to set a self-destruct timer on anything they send. Video messages can only be 10 seconds in length though, which is enough for a brief hello but maybe a tad short if you fancy a conversation.

Whilst the update was already available on iOS devices a couple of months ago, video messaging is very a welcome addition to the Android version. According to the developers implementation of video messaging on Android was a bit of an arduous process, since Snapchat was never originally designed with Android devices in mind. You can see how trying to accommodate all the different possible camera combinations and video resolutions would be a real hassle for the software designers.

Since the closed beta, camera frame rates and navigation speeds has been improved, so video messaging should be a smoother experience than ever before.

The update also adds some changes to the notification system, which provides some additional information and the ability to customize the alerts you receive from your friends. There are also some performance, and stability updates which should improve the reliability of Snapchat whilst you're out and about.

If you haven't tried it already, Snapchat 2.0 is available on the Google Play Store.