Facebook is trying *so hard* to buy this Snapchat-like app, and we really hope it happens

Have you heard of Snow? No, not the cold precipitation that will start falling in the coming months. We’re not talking about that kind of snow, and instead, the app Snow. If you’ve never heard of it, that’s okay, and we’ll bring you up to speed: It’s an app from South Korean tech company Naver that is really reminiscent of Snapchat. Apparently, Facebook tried to buy Snow over the summer, and we wish we could say we were surprised. And now we’re kinda bummed that they didn’t end up buying it.

Snow sounds awesome.

Facebook hasn’t been super subtle in their desire to emulate Snapchat, and their recent launch of new camera features, including “masks,” is making it really hard to ignore. Snapchat has been consistently innovating, though, and might just be able to stay ahead of the game.

Either way, this news from TechCrunch does make it really seem that even with its new camera features, Facebook will do anything to get a piece of Snapchat – or one of its competitors.

A representative from Naver told TechCrunch: “It’s true that Snow is receiving love calls from various companies.” And while they didn’t confirm that Facebook was one of those suitors, it seems unlikely that they wouldn’t be.

Allegedly, Mark Zuckerberg himself contacted Naver Chairman Hae-Jin Lee over the phone with an offer to acquire Snow, but Lee declined. Naver recently saw a lot of success with the IPO of their chat app, Line, and seem to feel like they can replicate it with Snow.

While Snow is similar to Snapchat, it has some unique features, including over 36 filters and more than 200 masks, so there are more customizable options than its more well-known counterpart. Some of these filters involve celebrities and cartoon characters, too, which we admit we’re curious about. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B7oIMjPd7J8

Snow may not be as well known in the U.S. as it is in Asia, but it does have over 80 million downloads – and is adding about 10 million more per month, which is impressive.

Even though Facebook hasn’t been able to acquire Snapchat or Snow, their new camera could eclipse the need for those apps – at least, that’s probably what they’re hoping. We won’t know until the new camera is released to wider audiences, though. And who knows – maybe there’s room for Facebook, Snapchat, and others like Snow in all our tech-obsessed hearts.