There's no question that the Snapchat redesign prompted harsh criticism -- when your stock price drops because Kylie Jenner said she'd stopped using your app, you sit up and take notice. Snap may be trying to appease critics by reverting to the old ways. It's not certain that Stories use has dropped as a result of the split, but it wouldn't be surprising. And as Recode observed, there's a chance that Snap would use its unified Stories as a way to pitch professional content. If you have to glance at the latest big-name shows in order to catch your friend's concert snap, you might be more inclined to watch those shows.

The one certainty: this would represent a fundamental shift in philosophy. The Snap spokesperson noted that the test interface revolves around "users' behavior, not just relationships." It's about what you're trying to do, not who you're doing it with -- a simple strategy for a company that has lately been accused of making things unnecessarily complex.