In what month and year did Snapchat add video snaps?

Snapchat added video snaps in December 2012.

The feature expanded Snapchat beyond disappearing photographs, allowing users to press and hold the camera button to record a short video. The original design limited clips to about 10 seconds, helping keep video files compact enough to fit Snapchat’s fast, lightweight messaging model.

This was an important early step in Snapchat’s development. The service had launched as an image-sharing app in 2011, first under the name Picaboo, and its rapid growth initially centered on temporary photos. Video sharing arrived before later additions such as Stories, video chat and longer recording limits.

The date is easy to confuse with May 2014, when Snapchat introduced video chat and direct messaging. Those were communication features, not the original launch of video snaps. Later updates allowed longer recordings, but Snapchat continued to segment them into shorter intervals for some uses.