Microtransactions

Snapchat is a free app-it always has been, and always will be. However, in the past few weeks, Snapchat has introduced a new feature called "lenses". These lenses allow you to put overlays over your face, such as a thunderstorm when you raise your eyebrows or a rainbow flowing out of your mouth when you open it. Originally lenses were free, similar to the app. Now, Snapchat wants to profit from lenses. They allow you to pay money for additional features, adding the much despised microtransactions to the app. A microtransaction is an in-app purchase that's typically done by tapping a button. Microtransactions are supposed to be quick and painless, but for casual cell phone users like myself, microtransactions are a huge source of annoyance and frustration.

Think of it like this- you're on Facebook, and you try to send a message. You are then presented with the popup "You have exceeded your daily messaging limit. For $10, you can send unlimited messages per day." That is essentially a microtransaction. Unfortunately, apps and video games are riddled with these.

Despite the fact that microtransactions are extremely annoying to the end users, they make an exceptional business model. Companies with an app with millions of users with a few microtransactions for several dollars can make thousands of dollars with these "quick and painless" transactions.

The annoyance of making profit from microtransactions goes hand-in-hand with company sponsorship. Users sometimes find sponsored items like ads equally as annoying as microtransactions. Take Snapchat for an example. You can pay to get more lenses, but at the same time they have sponsored filters for McDonalds, Dunkin Donuts, etc, so they are making profit from two sources: the users purchasing lenses, and the company paying Snapchat to advertise within their app.

Microtransactions are two-facted: on the one hand, they annoy the users to no end, and on the other hand, they make tons of money for the company using the feature. Although users may hate them, it is somewhat understandable why companies torment their users with them.