Snapchat has launched a new subscription service for its app, seemingly aimed at those who use it so much that they're keen to try out some new features.

For a $3.99 monthly cost, subscribers will get access to a few exclusive features, as well as getting experimental additions well before they come to the full swathe of users.

At launch, this doesn't seem like a long list of options, though. You can add a "BFF" pin to a friend to see them at the top of your history, change the app's icon and see who re-watched your stories, according to The Verge, but none of those is a game-changing feature.

For one thing, the premium tier won't let you disable advertisements on Snapchat, a typical benefit that app subscriptions do often offer.

It'll therefore be interesting to see whether Snapchat+ will find a wide audience, or whether it will take Snapchat a little while to find the right balance in what it offers in order to attract more subscribers.

Diversifying revenue streams is often the name of the game for social media services, so this is clearly another attempt by Snap to do just that, given the relatively lacklustre results of other initiatives like its Spectacle recording glasses.

Snapchat+ is launching in the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom, France, Germany, Australia, New Zealand, Saudi Arabia, and the United Arab Emirates. It'll eventually roll out more widely.