Snap introduces web version of Snapchat app

This Aug. 9, 2017, file photo shows the Snapchat app on a mobile device in New York. (AP Photo/Richard Drew, File)

Snap said on Monday it is introducing the web version of its photo messaging app Snapchat, allowing users to chat, snap and video call from their computers.

The company said that the feature will be exclusive to Snapchat+ subscribers beginning July 18 and will start with subscribers in the United States, the United Kingdom, Canada, Australia and New Zealand.

Snapchat for web will include features like chat reactions and chat reply, along with Lenses, which will roll out soon, the company added.

Snap last month launched Snapchat+, a paid version of the Snapchat app, in the United States priced at US$3.99 a month and a few other markets, in a major step away from a revenue model dependent mostly on advertising.

Social media firms are under pressure as companies cut back on ad budgets in response to rising costs and weakening consumer spending. Snap in May said it would miss revenue and profit targets for the second quarter and would have to slow hiring and lower spending.

Shares of the company have plunged nearly 71 per cent this year.

(Reporting by Tiyashi Datta in Bengaluru; Editing by Maju Samuel)