After some internal testing, it looks like Snap Inc. has finally rolled out its paid tier option to the public. Snapchat Plus is now available to those in supported regions and will cost $3.99 a month.

Despite an all-new tier of service being offered, Snap Inc. was quite scant on details with regards to Snapchat Plus. What we get from the press release is that users will have priority to early and experimental features. In the past, Snapchat users have been able to test new features for the service, but only when randomly selected to do so. Going forward, this option will be available only to Plus subscribers.

In addition to early access, users will also gain cosmetics perks like gaining access to exclusive and custom Snapchat icons and a special Snapchat Plus badge. Furthermore, "Plus" users will be able to pin conversations, see who has rewatched your story, and more. Of course, this is just the beginning and in time, more perks should be added to the paid service.

Snapchat Plus Availability

Unfortunately, being a paid subscriber won't remove ads from the service. For the time being anyway. Snapchat Plus is now available in the following regions: the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom, Germany, Australia, New Zealand, Saudi Arabia, and the United Arab Emirates. Snap Inc. plans to expand the service to other areas but has no detailed plans as of yet. If interested in becoming a Plus subscriber, click on "Snapchat+" in the profile area to subscribe.

This is a peculiar strategy for the messaging service. Twitter Blue, which rolled out last December, offers a number of small, largely cosmetic upgrades to its service, plus ad-free articles to some sites. Is that worth more than experimental features? That'll be up to the users to figure out, but it's no secret that some social media and messaging sites are desperate to start bringing in revenue. Snapchat won't be the last to try.

Source: Snap Inc.