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The hottest app in China looks like a blatant Snapchat clone - here are the two apps side by side

The hottest app in China looks like a blatant Snapchat clone - here are the two apps side by side

Snow's likeness to Snapchat starts out in the App Store description, where it calls messages "snaps" and encourages you to post to your "Story."

You can sign up for Snow using your Facebook account or email. The app can also connect to a Line account. (The same company behind Snow owns Line, a popular messaging app in Japan.)

Just about everything in Snow's interface seems to resemble Snapchat, from Stories to Stickers. In both examples below, Snow is on the left and Snapchat is on the right.

Snow opens to the camera, just like Snapchat.

You swipe to the side to see your friends and list of Stories, just like Snapchat. Swiping to the other side shows your private messages with friends too.

The only real difference is that Snow reverses the swipe directions to get to chat and your Story page. Innovation!

Snow's camera is very similar to Snapchat's. Here it is on the left next to Snapchat's:

Snow also has face filters just like Snapchat, although some appear to be more original than others.

"Snow also lets users add bottles of soju, the Korean liquor, or images of Korean pop stars," according to the Times. "Another filter adds a rain of fried chicken, a favorite South Korean nosh. For Japan there are sumo wrestler and sushi filters."

Some of the filters appear to be the same though, like the dog face filter. Snow's is on the left, Snapchat's is on the right:

There's even a face swapping option in Snow, just like there is in Snapchat.

Where Snow does differ from Snapchat is that it lets you add quite a few color filters to your selfies. There's also a GIF mode beyond taking just photos or videos. (GIFs would be something nice for Snapchat to copy!)

Snow's messages expire like Snapchat's. You can only view them once.

If you want to chat with a friend on Snow, you'll see similar circular icons like you'd find on Snapchat. Snow's video note feature in its chat interface is on the left, Snapchat's is on the right:

Snapchat does feel better designed and more intuitive to use than Snow, but that isn't stopping Snow from spreading like wildfire in Asia.

The Snapchat clone, SNOW, is currently #1 Photo/Video app in China iOS App Store. pic.twitter.com/38r1IhadAv
— David Byttow (@davidbyttow) July 5, 2016

At the time of publication, Snow is the most downloaded photo/video app in Apple's Chinese App Store. It's the 19th most downloaded free app overall on the iPhone in China, according to research firm App Annie. The app's Facebook page has over 1.2 million likes.

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