Snapchat finally will let people change their username

By Chris MorrisFormer Contributing Writer
Chris MorrisFormer Contributing Writer

    Chris Morris is a former contributing writer at Fortune, covering everything from general business news to the video game and theme park industries.

    One of the features most requested by Snapchat users is finally rolling out.

    Starting Feb. 23, users will be able to change their username without setting up a new account, the company announced in an email.

    Snap has been testing the feature for a while, but this rollout will affect all users on iOS and Android. Name changes will be accepted once a year, letting people change names without having to worry about resetting friends lists, Snap scores, or memories.

    Changing a username is a pretty easy process:
    1. Tap the Bitmoji icon to access your profile.
    2. Tap the gear icon to access settings.
    3. Tap username and then change username.

    The site will warn you that this is a once-a-year change, giving you the chance to back out before locking it in.

    The feature change is one of several Snap has made to retain users. On Wednesday, it announced a partnership with Ticketmaster to discover nearby live entertainment events. And days before that, it began testing mid-roll advertisements for its biggest creators, called Snap Stars, which would increase their revenue streams.

    The upgrades come as Facebook has been looking to reclaim some of the social media audience it lost to services such as Snap and TikTok. Last year, the company launched Reels, a video-sharing feature that allows users to upload short videos with text annotations.

    Snapchat, meanwhile, keeps growing. The company reported its first profitable quarter as a public company earlier this month, beating analyst expectations. That followed Facebook parent Meta’s disappointing guidance for the first quarter.

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