Snapchat was the first to introduce Stories, a feature that allowed users to share posts like photos that would then disappear after a set period of time. Facebook then decided to “borrow” the feature and apply it across its various services like Facebook itself, Messenger, WhatsApp, and Instagram.
It is an incredibly popular feature which is why it doesn’t really come as a surprise to learn that over in China, WeChat has decided to introduce its own take on Stories as well. Dubbed “Time Capsule”, this will allow users to share videos of up to 15 seconds long that will disappear after 24 hours, similar to how Snapchat and Instagram’s Stories work.
However instead of making these Stories publicly available to all, WeChat is trying a different approach to them. Users who want to view these Time Capsule videos will need to find them posted either in Moments, in a group chat, or in one’s starred friend list. This is versus Instagram and Facebook where these Stories are readily available and discoverable at the top of the app.
That being said, WeChat is almost the default messaging platform over in China and is also incredibly popular in other parts of Asia. This is because the app does more than send messages, it can do all kinds of things which makes it a one-stop location for its users, thus increasing its popularity. In fact over in China, Apple themselves have started to accept WeChat Pay as one of the payment options available to its customers.
Filed in . Read more about Apps, China, Instagram, Snapchat and Wechat.