Back in June, Facebook launched Slingshot, its competitor to Snapchat in the ephemeral messaging space. The app never really seemed to gain much traction with users, and so today Facebook has released a big update to Slingshot that switches things up a bit.
Slingshot version 2.0 is now live in the Apple App Store and Google Play store. Unlike in the original Slingshot, the new version allows you to view images or video without having to send a reply first, and the shots stay around for 24 hours before disappearing. If you do decide to reply to a sling, you can do so with a private photo or video.
When it comes time to send a photo or video, you can share photos and looping videos, and you can add filters, drawings and captions before sending them off. The new Slingshot also uses an Instagram-style Explore page to show you Slingshot users that you might like to follow on the service. Facebook has added in a setting to let you receive a notification any time that one of your favorite users slings some content.
The new Slingshot includes a “Shots” section that’ll show you a grid of all of the content that you’ve received over the past 24 hours, and you also have the ability to view all of the stuff that you’ve slung in the last day and share that content to Instagram, Facebook, Twitter and more.
Finally, Facebook says that it’s made some tweaks to Slingshot to make it faster, smoother and easier to use.
The updated Slingshot app is now available for download for both iOS and Android. The app certainly sounds like it’s been overhauled and tweaked quite a bit, especially now that your photos and videos will stick around for 24 hours. I’m not sure if these tweaks will help Slingshot gain ground on Snapchat, but we’ll have to wait and see for sure.
Have you tried Slingshot yet?