Skip to main content

Like that restaurant pic on Snapchat? Now you can book a table within the app

Introducing Context Cards
Snaps are becoming useful for more than casual conversations — a new feature now allows Snapchatters to find more details about a photo, or even make a reservation right inside the app with a simple swipe. On Tuesday, October 10, Snapchat launched Context Cards, a new feature designed for learning more about a Snap.
Recommended Videos

With Context Cards, users can swipe up on a photo for easy access to a number of related tools, not unlike the phone numbers, hours, and quick links that pop up in Google ahead of the actual search results when looking for a business. For example, if the Snap has a location-based sticker for a restaurant, swiping up allows you to see the reviews, hours, or menu, book a table, or get an Uber to that location.

Context Cards have several functions thanks to Snap Inc. partnerships, including TripAdvisor, Foursquare, Michelin, and even Goop, a lifestyle brand recommending products in several categories, including travel and food. Booking a restaurant is possible through OpenTable, Resy or Bookatable. Stories are also integrated into Context Cards, which means users can see more Snaps from similar locations.

“With Context Cards, Snaps have become the visual starting point for learning more about the world, empowering our community to get more information about anything that catches their eye,” the announcement reads. “The billions of Snaps created each day on Snapchat power products like Stories, Search, Snap Map, and now, Context Cards.”

Snapchat says it will continue to expand Context Cards by adding more partnerships for in-app tools.

The new tool allows users to explore more about a photo, with a particular focus on location-based data. The location-powered Context Cards are an extension of the Snap Maps introduced earlier this year, turning a photo’s location into more than just a custom sticker or an Action moji on a map but a tool for actually exploring the location itself.

While the launch of Snap Maps allowed users to see what other users are taking photos of nearby (if the feature isn’t turned off for privacy) and events going on in the area, the Context Cards add, well, a little more context with the maps, allowing users to see how late a business is open, how to get there, and even how to book a reservation.

The feature is now on iOS and Android in the U.S., Canada, the U.K., Australia, and New Zealand.

Hillary K. Grigonis
Hillary never planned on becoming a photographer—and then she was handed a camera at her first writing job and she's been…
From voice control to Story replies, here’s everything in Snapchat’s big update
snap partner summit 2020 updates lens local lenses landscape copy

Here’s What Happened | Snap Partner Summit 2020

Snapchat will soon respond to your voice and help you find new places to hang out, all inside an app with a new way to navigate. During the annual Snap Partner Summit on June 11, Snap Inc. announced a long list of new features heading to the app, including several that build on the social network’s fundamentals, from replying to Stories to adding a hashtag-like feature called Topics.

Read more
Snapchat can now share Stories to other apps, simultaneously or exclusively
snapchat app stories announced 001

Snapchat users can now share their Stories outside of Snapchat, thanks to the latest update that invites third-party developers to leverage Stories for their own platforms. Launching on March 31, App Stories is Snapchat’s personal invitation for third-party developers to build Stories into their apps, allowing Snapchatters to send their Snaps to Stories in another app. Four apps have already built-in that integration.

App Stories is part of Snap Kit, the code that helps other apps build in Snapchat integrations. With the expansion of that code, developers can now create the option to share Stories that were originally created inside Snapchat. The option opens up the Snap camera to share Stories inside other apps.

Read more
You can now download the faulty app that caused the Iowa Caucus meltdown
episode 308 ap 20035663633789 iowa app 1580842984 e1580843073101

The app that caused the Iowa caucus meltdown on Monday is now available to download. 

IowaReporter, an app developed by Shadow Inc to help poll workers avoid potential clerical error and provide early caucus results, ended up causing a nationwide meltdown when its code failed, significantly delaying results from the caucuses.

Read more