Unofficial Snapchat app 'Swapchat Free' returns to the Windows Phone Store [Update: and it's gone]

Just over one week ago, we received word that Swapchat, the first fully functional app that can access Snapchat on Windows Phone was being pulled. The reason was due to a copyright complaint from the Snapchat makers, who legally exercised their right to protect their content.

That was an unfortunate blow to Windows Phone users who were enjoying the service and it was very different from the ‘turn the other cheek’ approach of Instagram and Instance.

Now we can we verify that Swapchat Free (but not the paid version) is back in the Store and can be downloaded to your Windows Phone 7.x or 8 device.

We haven’t spoken to the developers behind Swapchat, SRC Apps, but our hunch may be that the Snapchat folks took issue with the paid version, aka charging people to use the service (the app is free on other platforms). Though that’s just speculation on our part.

Either way, if you missed the app or recently switched devices, then you’ll want to grab Swapchat while you can, just in case it goes missing again. It is still the same version 1.3 released a few weeks ago.

We were expecting an official app from Snapchat on Windows Phone later this month, but so far any more information on that release has gone cold. We’ll keep you posted if we hear more.

Pick up Swapchat for all Windows Phone devices here in the Store for free (ad supported), or swipe to the right in our app.

Update: Availability seems spotty with the app listed as published in the Store but showing as "not available for your device" for some users. We're not sure if it's in error, or a rollout issue or even a glitch.

Update 2: And it's gone! Something odd happened with the store because we were able to verify that it was published, but alas, it has been pulled again. 

Via: reddit