I have made the leap. Dove in head first. Taken the plunge.

I’m all in.

No I am not talking about playing poker or going for a swim in arctic temperatures. I am talking about my social media use – Snapchat in particular.

You see- Snapchat started out as that “naughty app” that we all feared and worried about. Some of us got accounts to try it out, (because we try out EVERY new social app) or to see what all the hubbub was about. Others pledged to stay far away from the app that vanished those supposed naughty pics that everyone was supposedly getting.

Then in a move that floored everyone paying attention, Snapchat turned down millions – nay billions – of dollars from Facebook as a potential acquisition.  What did Facebook see in Snapchat that nobody else saw?

Was it just a new fun technology or a way for Facebook to dominate with it’s large social talons sinking in deeper than before? Or was it potential?

This was a bit of a turning point for Snapchat. Everyone’s eyes were on the company waiting for it’s next move.

Then it happened. BAM!   Whamo!   Kapow! 

Snapchat became a household name. Almost overnight. With it’s quirky interface and hilarious filters, (namely FaceSwap) Snapchat infiltrated smartphones around the globe. You can hardly even visit Instagram or Facebook without seeing somebody’s face swap pictures or giant eyed rainbow puking images.

To this point, if you don’t know what I am talking about, I recommend you familiarize yourself. Because at this point- even my Mom uses Snapchat.

A recent update added even more functionality to the service, making it -in my book- one of the most valuable and fun apps on my smartphone. Without further adieu, here is a list of at least 7 apps (iOS or Android) that I can now replace and use Snapchat for instead.

We have all come to love and use Facetime and Google Hangouts pretty regularly these days. Even President Obama used Google Hangouts to chat with an audience. Video chatting is a fun and easy way to communicate with friends and family that are away.  You can now do it arguably better in Snapchat.

Facebook – Who really wants a timeline of all your  boring life events anyway? Friends? You mean those people that didn’t like you in highschool but have all of the sudden been able to force their political thoughts into your eyes each day? Yes there are some great features on Facebook. Yes it’s nice to see what everyone is up to once in a while, but in my eyes – I could never use Facebook again and be just fine.

The standardized use of SMS will likely never be replaced as it stands. It’s like email – a bit archaic but ingrained in our social model.  Snapchat has a more natural feel for sending messages in a conversation. It’s more like real life. You won’t have thousands of archived texts to filter through someday (that you will never do) but you actually type and chat with a friend the way you would speak to them in real life. Your words don’t get archived in a database, so why should your texts?

Instagram made the selfie what it is today. They pioneered the art of taking pictures and making them artsy…then sharing them with your friends. (Or was it Poloroid that pioneered that movement?)

Snapchat has taken the selfie game to a whole new level, and more.

Like a walkie talkie app but less useful, Voxer seemed to play well to certain people. I never counted myself in the ranks of those that used it religiously, but I definitely gave it a spin and eventually moved on because there were other ways to do that same thing – recorded voice notes, MMS, or …a phone call?

Again Snapchat has that.

Foursquare all but perfected the art of “checking in” to your favorite locations. With fun badges and ability to become the “Mayor.” For some odd reason we find the innate desire to share our location with our friends and family.

Snapchat’s has Geofilters – and they are super fun! For like $5 anyone, a city, business, or personal birthday party, can apply a geofilter.
I recently found myself on vacation in Southern California and whether I wanted to share my duckface selfie on the beach at Carlsbad or my toes in the sand in San Diego, there were all sorts of stylized Geofilters to commemorate my vacation and share them on my story. Geofilters are as easy as a swipe left. Thanks Tinder!

That’s right – we said News!
Whether you use Twitter, Google Newsfeed, or something else.
I find Snapchat far more entertaining and easy to use than even Twitter for all my daily news checks. People, Mashable, Cosmo, ESPN, Buzzfeed, Food Network, National Geographic, or even Kobe’s Final game in the NBA.

It’s all there and It’s AWESOME!

Paypal? Well maybe not replace it all together, but did you know you can accept and send payments through Snapchat?