Snapchat is becoming a more useful app with the introduction of Context Cards. The new feature will allow Snapchat users to find out more information about the Snaps shared by others, giving users access to things such as restaurant reviews and reservations, ride-hailing and contact information.

The new features come as Snapchat tries to remain relevant and fight off competition from Facebook Inc. Snap Inc. only managed to increase its user numbers by 7 million in the last quarter ending in June, to 173 million daily users, leaving it significantly behind Facebook’s Instagram Stories and WhatsApp Status, which have each attracted 250 million daily users.

Snapchat has partnered with the likes of TripAdvisor, Foursquare, Michelin, Goop, Uber, Lyft, OpenTable, Resy and Bookatable and plans to add more partners and information in the future.

Despite missing second-quarter expectations, Snap did manage to increase its average revenue per user for the quarter to $1.05, an increase of 109 percent from a year ago. While Snap hasn’t revealed the financial terms of the deals with these partners, it’s likely there will be some sort of revenue-sharing agreements in place.

At launch, Context Cards will be available on the Snapchat iOS and Android app in the U.S., Canada, the U.K., Australia and New Zealand.

Context Cards

Context Cards will be available automatically for any Snaps that have been added to the regional Our Story feature or sent with a venue-specific geofilter.

For any of these Snaps, you will see the word “More” at the bottom of the Snap. Swipe up on the Snap and explore the various Context Cards.

Information that Context Cards can contain, include:

Restaurant and local attraction reviews from critics and customers on TripAdvisor and Foursquare.

Directions to a specific venue as well as operating hours.

Contact details for a business or attraction, including phone numbers, email address, websites, etc.

Additional Snaps from people in the same vicinity

While Context Cards provide you additional information about a specific attraction, you can also use them to make a reservation or book a ride to the venue.

Without the need to leave the Snapchat app, you can make a restaurant reservation from the Context Card by simply tapping on the OpenTable, Resy or Bookatable option. While getting to your reservation or a specific venue is easily done by tapping either the Uber or Lyft option and booking a ride.

Despite Instagram Stories copying many of its features from Snapchat, it’s Facebook’s app that has become the popular option for users. We will have to wait and see whether Context Cards will be a successful feature for Snap, but if past history is anything to go on, will we soon see a similar feature in Instagram Stories?

Here’s a look at Snapchat’s Context Cards in action:

Image: Snapchat