Starting this week, Snap will begin offering an optional subscription called Snapchat Plus that unlocks exclusive and early access features.<\/p>\n

Priced at $3.99 a month, the subscription is geared toward \u201cthe people who spend most of their time communicating with their closest friends on Snap,\u201d the company\u2019s SVP of Product, Jacob Andreou, tells The Verge<\/em>. Dubbed Snapchat Plus, it\u2019s Snap\u2019s first real attempt at making money outside of advertising, though Andreou says there aren\u2019t expectations for Plus to become a \u201cmaterial new revenue source.\u201d<\/p>\n

At least initially, Snapchat Plus is mostly a cosmetic upgrade. The most notable features include the ability to change the style of the app\u2019s icon, see who rewatched a story, and pin one of your friends to the top of your chat history as a \u201cBFF.\u201d (Yes, that last one gives me Myspace vibes, too.) Going forward, Andreou says that \u201csingle-playerish\u201d features like the BFF pin will likely remain gated to Plus subscribers, while features that rely on interactions with others will eventually be released to the whole user base.<\/p>\n