How to enable the new, faster Snapchat Alpha [Root]

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Snapchat, one of the most widely used social platforms in the world, is preparing to launch a new, faster version of its Android application. In February of last year, the company’s executives internally committed to bettering the experience for Android users. In November, the company made its intentions public: Snapchat will be rebuilt from the ground up to “provide a more performant product experience” and “to make it easier to use.” At the time, the company did not provide a timeline for when the redesigned Snapchat application would roll out, but it appears that the latest beta releases of the app now have a mostly-functional version of the speedier design. We enabled this redesign in another article to show off what it looks like and how it performs, and now we’ll show you how to enable it too.

Update 8/20/18: We have added an additional step (step 10) that is needed to fix many stability issues in Snapchat Alpha. Doing this new step fixes the following bugs: Messages do not send.

Opening the app from recents crashes it.

Can’t turn off fullscreen mode (OnePlus 6).

Stories don’t auto sort and sometimes crash.

Text boxes are messed up.

Notifications aren’t received and crash when opening

Snapchat Alpha was first discovered by Jane Manchun Wong (@wongmjane) but was subsequently independently enabled by XDA Recognized Developer Quinny899, Kieron Quinn of Mighty Quinn Apps.

How to Enable Snapchat Alpha

Requirements: Your device must have root access. Please see our “how to root” page and our “how to install Magisk” page.

Before we begin, you’ll need to be on the latest version of the Snapchat app—either 10.39 or 10.39.1 beta. You can download the app from the Google Play Store, but if the latest version isn’t available for you then you can also grab the APK from APKMirror.

Download the latest Snapchat Beta release from APKMirror

Now, follow these step-by-step instructions to get Snapchat Alpha up and running!

Download a root-enabled file explorer like FX File Explorer or MiXplorer. I’m going to be using MiXplorer for this tutorial. Open MiXplorer and expand the sidebar to the left. Tap “Root.” If this is your first time using MiXplorer, it’ll ask you for root access. Grant it. Go to “data“ Scroll down and enter “data” again. Find “com.snapchat.android“ Open “shared_prefs“ Open “dynamicAppConfig.xml“ Look for the “appFamily” string and change the “snapchat” value to “mushroom“ Look for the “previousAppVersion” integer and increment the current value by 1. For example, in the below image, I would need to change “1775” to “1776.” Save the file and exit. Long-press on the Snapchat app icon in your launcher and go to its App Info page. Force close Snapchat. Connect your phone to your PC and enable USB Debugging in Developer Options if you haven’t already. Download and install the latest ADB binaries on your PC according to this guide if you haven’t already. Open up a command prompt on your computer in the same directory where you saved the ADB binaries and enter the following command to enter ADB shell:

Windows Command Prompt: adb shell

Windows PowerShell: .\adb shell

macOS/Linux Terminal: ./adb shell Now, enter the following 4 commands one-by-one (after entering ‘su’ it’ll ask you to grant root access): su pm enable com.snapchat.android/com.snap.mushroom.MushroomMainActivity pm enable com.snapchat.android/com.snap.mushroom.MainActivity pm disable com.snapchat.android/.LandingPageActivity Open up the Snapchat app and you should be greeted by the new, faster Snapchat Alpha redesign!

Here’s a video tutorial by XDA Recognized Developer Quinny899 to help you out in case you’re stuck on any part of this guide.

If anything changes during development of this new alpha user interface, we’ll let you all know. Until then, stay tuned to the XDA Portal for more tutorials like this!