A number of third-party apps which work with Snapchat have disappeared from the Windows Phone Store, which does not currently have the original app in its catalogue, Windows Central reported.

The ephemeral messaging player has previously said it believes such alternatives compromise security. Some users have also reportedly had their Snapchat accounts locked for using unofficial software.

“We’ve enjoyed some of the ways that developers have tried to make Snapchat better. Unfortunately, some developers build services that trick Snapchatters and compromise their accounts,” Snapchat said last month.

“Starting today, we will notify Snapchatters when we have detected that they may be using third-party apps and we’ll ask those Snapchatters to change their password and stop using unauthorised apps,” it added.

Back in October, Snapchat has said it will provide a public API to let third parties create alternatives without security issues, but this could be a while as “it takes time and a lot of resources to build an open and trustworthy third-party application ecosystem.”

That same month, the company had played-down reports of its latest security breach, arguing that the issue resulted from “the use of third-party apps to send and receive Snaps, a practice we expressly prohibit in our terms of use”.