Snapchat’s emojis and symbols are not just cute additions; they actually offer clues about your relationships and activity on the app. However, Snapchat’s unique set of symbols and emojis can sometimes confuse users because they don’t always make sense, or at least don’t make total sense. Understanding these visual cues is important for navigating the platform and deciphering the nuances of your Snapchat interactions.
Here’s your quick guide to understanding their meanings:
Snapchat Icons and Emojis
Navigating Snapchat can feel like learning a new language, especially with all the symbols and emojis used throughout the app. To help you decipher this visual code, here’s a breakdown of some common Snapchat symbols and their meanings:
Friend Emojis
| Emoji | Meaning |
|---|---|
| 💛 Yellow Heart | You are #1 Best Friends with each other (You send the most snaps to this person, and they send the most snaps to you.) |
| ❤️ Red Heart | You have been #1 BFs for two weeks straight. |
| 💕 Pink Hearts | You have been #1 BFs for two months straight. |
| 👶 Baby | You just became friends with this person. |
| 😎 Face With Sunglasses | One of your best friends is one of their best friends. |
| 😬 Grimacing Face | Your #1 Best Friend is their #1 Best Friend. |
| 😏 Smirking Face | You are one of their best friends, but they are not a best friend of yours. |
| 😊 Smiling Face | Another one of your best friends. |
| ✨ Sparkles | You’re in a Snapchat group with this friend. |
Other Symbols
| Symbol | Meaning |
|---|---|
| ⚡ Lightning Bolt | This Snap has special effects that can only be viewed once. |
| 🔁 Circular Arrows | This Snap is a loop and will replay until you tap away. |
| 🔇 Muted Speaker | This Snap has no audio. |
| 🎂 Birthday Cake | It’s this friend’s birthday today. |
| 🔥 Fire | You are on a Snapstreak with this person (you’ve snapped each other within the past 24 hours for several consecutive days). The number next to it indicates how many days the streak has lasted. |
| 💯 Hundred | You’re on a 100-day Snapstreak. |
| ⌛ Hourglass | Your Snapstreak is about to end. Send a Snap (not a chat) to keep it going! |
| 🌟 Gold Star | Someone replayed this friend’s snaps within the last 24 hours. |
These are just a few of the many symbols and emojis you might encounter on Snapchat. Keep in mind that Snapchat occasionally updates its features, so new symbols may appear or existing ones may change their meaning over time.
Snapchat Charms List
Snapchat Charms are unique badges that highlight various aspects of your friendships on the app. They’re a fun way to track your interactions, celebrate milestones, and discover common interests with friends. Here’s a brief overview of some common Snapchat Charms:
- Friendship Charms: These charms represent the type and depth of your connection with a friend. Examples include:
- Super BFF (you’ve been #1 BFs for a long time)
- BFF (you’ve been #1 BFs for a while)
- Besties (you’re one of each other’s top friends)
- Mutual Besties (you share a best friend with this person)
- New Friends (you recently became friends)
- Birthday Charms: These charms celebrate birthdays, including:
- Half Birthday Twin (your birthdays are six months apart)
- Birthday Twins (you share the same birthday)
- Upcoming Birthday (a reminder of a friend’s upcoming birthday)
- Astrological Sign Charms: These charms highlight shared or complementary astrological signs.
- Score Charms: These charms recognize your Snapchat score achievements, such as:
- Snap Legends (for high scores)
- Snap Heroes (for mid-range scores)
- Snap Masters (for lower scores)
- Bitmoji Charms: These charms showcase fun facts or activities related to your Bitmoji and your friends’ Bitmojis.
- Group Charms: These charms highlight the dynamics and engagement within a group chat, such as:
- Group Paparazzi (most active member in sharing snaps)
- Group Trendsetter (sets the trends in the group)
Snapchat continuously adds and updates charms, so keep an eye out for new ones popping up in your friendships!
Understanding Snapchat Symbols and Icons
Snapchat’s interface is rich with icons and symbols, each conveying specific information. From the color and shape of icons to their placement within the app, these visual cues provide users with an at-a-glance understanding of their messages and interactions.
The Basics of Snapchat UI Icons
Snapchat’s user interface (UI) is designed to be intuitive, employing various icons to guide users through the app’s functionality. When you launch Snapchat and land on the camera screen, you’ll notice several icons in play. The capture button lets you take snaps, while the chat tab houses all of your conversations. Be mindful of the privacy settings as they dictate who can see your stories and snaps. In the chat tab, you might see a green dot next to certain friends, indicating they’re currently online. Similarly, exploring the inbox can reveal colored dots and purple boxes, giving you information about unread snaps and messages.
Snap Types and Their Corresponding Symbols
Snaps embody the core of Snapchat, with various symbols indicating their status. Sent snaps appear with different icons:
- A red arrow means a snap without audio has been sent.
- A purple arrow indicates a snap with audio has been sent.
- A blue arrow suggests a chat message has been sent.
Once these are viewed, the colors change accordingly:
- Opened snaps without sound change to a hollow red square.
- Opened snaps with sound become a hollow purple square.
- Received chat messages turn into blue chat bubbles.
Notably, if you see story icons, these refer to snaps posted to a user’s story, viewable for 24 hours.
Interpreting Snapchat Status Icons
Understanding Snapchat’s status icons is key to following your snap trail. Notification icons are vital for this:
- A sent icon (arrow) tells you that your snap or message is on its way to the recipient.
- An opened icon (square or bubble) signifies that the recipient has viewed the snap or read the message.
- A received icon (filled square) means someone has sent you a snap that you haven’t viewed yet.
The icons’ color matters too:
- Red signifies a snap without sound.
- Purple means there’s sound in the snap.
- Blue represents a chat message.
- Green is for a snap sent with the “Cash” feature (where available).
Each symbol on Snapchat serves as a visual shorthand, giving you insights into your social interactions with ease and speed. Whether you are on Android or iOS, these symbols remain consistent, bridging the gap between different device experiences.
Emoji Guide and Friend Relationship Levels
Snapchat uses easy-to-understand emojis to show different levels of friendship. These symbols act as fun indicators of how much you interact with friends on the app.
Understanding Friend Emojis and Their Meanings
Emojis beside a friend’s name give a quick look at your chat habits with them. Here’s what the main friendship emojis mean:
- Gold Heart: You and this person are ultimate best friends. You’ve both sent the most Snaps to each other.
- Red Heart: Your bond is growing stronger! You’ve been mutual #1 best friends for two weeks.
- Pink Hearts: This is a serious connection. You’ve been each other’s top friend for two months.
Other important emojis include:
- Smiling Face: A sign you’re good friends with someone, but not quite best friends.
- Fire: You’re on a Snapstreak — you’ve been exchanging snaps for consecutive days.
- 100: A celebratory badge marking a 100-day Snapstreak.
- Hourglass: A reminder that your Snapstreak is about to end if you don’t act quickly.
Zodiac Signs and Birthday Emojis on Snapchat
Snapchat celebrates birthdays and astrological signs with special emojis:
- Birthday Cake: Appearing beside a friend’s name, it’s their birthday today!
- Zodiac Signs: If you’ve entered your birthday in Snapchat, your zodiac sign emoji will show up next to your name.
Each of the 12 zodiac signs from Aries to Pisces has a unique emoji. For example, a ram for Aries, a bull for Taurus, or a lion for Leo. These emojis offer a personal touch and can be a conversation starter.
Notifications and Chat Interactions
Snapchat enriches messaging with a variety of visual cues and symbols. Not only do they add a layer of fun to chats, but they also provide insights into message statuses and relationships.
Unpacking the Meaning Behind Screen Notifications
When a screenshot is taken, Snapchat notifies the person whose content was captured. This notification comes in the form of a screenshot icon – two overlapping arrows. Understanding these icons is crucial as they hint at the interactions others have with your content. For example:
- A double green arrow signifies a screenshot of a chat.
- A double purple arrow indicates a screenshot of a Snap with audio.
As for message status icons, they inform you whether a message has been sent, received, or read; they are depicted as follows:
- A red hollow arrow means a Snap without audio was sent but not opened.
- A purple hollow arrow shows a Snap with audio was sent and remains unopened.
- A blue hollow arrow signifies a sent chat that hasn’t been read yet.
Color-Coded Icons and Relationship Dynamics
Snapchat uses a system of color-coded icons to reflect the type of interaction. Snaps containing audio have purple icons, while those without audio are red. When you see blue icons, that means there’s a chat message. Other icons also highlight different relationship dynamics on Snapchat, such as:
- The Baby emoji next to a user signifies a new friend.
- A Gold Star emoji means someone has replayed this person’s Snaps within 24 hours.
- The Smirking Face emoji hints that you are one of their best friends, but they are not one of yours.
- Face with Sunglasses emoji suggests mutual best friends, as you share a best friend with them.
Icons relating to stories include a:
- Private Story is shown with a padlock icon.
- Custom Story proves collaboration, marked by overlapping circles.
- The Spotlight icon features a spiky halo, indicating trendy content.
- A Stories icon resembles a circle with a smaller circle in the corner, indicating new content from friends.
Recognizing these symbols and their meanings fosters an understanding of your social engagement on Snapchat.
Snapchat Functions & Slang Meanings
| Term | Definition |
|---|---|
| Green Dot | Indicates the user is currently active on Snapchat |
| WYLL | “What you lookin’ like?” – Asking for a picture or description of someone’s appearance |
| Peace Sign | Can represent peace, relaxation, or goodbye |
| S/U | “Swipe up” – Often used on Stories to encourage viewers to swipe up for more content or a link |
| SB | “Snap back” – A request to reply to a Snap |
| SFS | “Shoutout for shoutout” or “Spam for spam” – A way to promote each other’s accounts |
| ASL | “Age, sex, location?” – A common icebreaker question |
| KMS | “Kill myself” – Often used jokingly or to express frustration, but can also indicate serious distress |
| GTS | “Go to sleep” |
| Pending | A Snap or friend request is awaiting the other person’s acceptance |
| JW | “Just wondering” |
| Following | You are subscribed to someone’s Stories and can see their public content |
| IDM | “I don’t mind” |
| Forbidden | An error message indicating you can’t view someone’s content because they have blocked you or have privacy settings preventing you from seeing it |
| Half Face Snap from a Guy | Could indicate flirtation, interest, or simply a casual pose |
| DND | “Do not disturb” – Signals that the user is busy and may not respond immediately |
Frequently Asked Questions
Snapchat emojis can be confusing at first glance, yet they provide insights into your interactions on the app. These symbols and emojis are a quick guide to understanding your relationship with other users.
What do the heart emojis represent in Snapchat?
In Snapchat, a heart emoji next to a friend’s name symbolizes different stages of your friendship. For instance, a red heart means you’ve been each other’s top friend for two weeks straight.
Can you explain the meaning behind the 😊 emoji on Snapchat?
The 😊 emoji appears next to the name of someone who frequently interacts with you, proving that they are one of your best friends, but not your number one best friend on the app.
How do the different color hearts on Snapchat indicate levels of friendship?
Snapchat uses color-coded hearts to show the duration of friendship. The yellow heart signifies best friends, red heart for best friends for two weeks, and a pink heart stands for best friends for two consecutive months.
What is the significance of the sunglasses emoji paired with the yellow heart on Snapchat?
The sunglasses emoji combined with a yellow heart on Snapchat depicts that you and your friend share a close friend, hinting at a mutual best friend you send a lot of snaps to.
How do Snapchat symbols next to names convey relationship status?
Snapchat symbols are a quick reference to the type of interactions you have with friends. A smiley face shows they’re your friend, a flame indicates a Snapstreak, and different emojis reflect how regularly you both interact.
What does it mean when you see a grey screenshot icon on Snapchat?
A grey screenshot icon next to a snap indicates that the recipient took a screenshot in chat mode, allowing you to know when a conversation has been saved for later reference.
What do icons on Snapchat mean?
Icons on Snapchat can represent various things, including:
- Friend Emojis: These emojis appear next to your friends’ names and indicate the status of your relationship with them, like who your best friends are or if you’re on a Snapstreak.
- Chat Icons: These icons appear in your chat list and show the status of sent and received snaps and chats, like whether they have been opened or viewed.
- Story Icons: These icons appear next to stories and can indicate if a story has been viewed, replayed, or if a screenshot was taken.
- Other Icons: Snapchat also uses various icons throughout the app to represent things like filters, lenses, location sharing, and more.
Is 💕 better than 💛 on Snapchat?
Yes, the 💕 (Pink Hearts) emoji is considered “better” than the 💛 (Yellow Heart) emoji on Snapchat. The Pink Hearts mean you’ve been #1 Best Friends with someone for two months straight, signifying a longer and stronger friendship than the Yellow Heart, which only indicates you’re currently #1 Best Friends.
What does 😬😊 mean on Snapchat?
The combination of 😬 (Grimacing Face) and 😊 (Smiling Face) on Snapchat usually signifies a somewhat awkward situation where your #1 Best Friend is also the #1 Best Friend of the person you’re interacting with.
Is the 😊 on Snap mutual?
No, the 😊 (Smiling Face) emoji on Snapchat is not necessarily mutual. It indicates that you’re one of that person’s best friends, but they might not consider you one of their top best friends.
What does the gritted teeth emoji mean on Snapchat?
The 😬 (Grimacing Face) emoji on Snapchat, especially when repeated, usually signifies an awkward or uncomfortable situation. It often indicates that you share a #1 Best Friend with the person you’re interacting with.
What does 😁 or 😊 mean?
Both 😁 and 😊 are generally positive emojis that convey happiness or amusement. The specific meaning can depend on the context and the person sending it. From a girl, it could simply indicate she finds something funny or enjoys your conversation.
How to send GIFs on Snapchat?
- Open a chat with the person you want to send a GIF to.
- Tap the smiley face icon in the chat bar to open the emoji keyboard.
- Tap the GIF icon at the bottom of the keyboard.
- Search for a GIF using keywords or browse the trending GIFs.
- Tap the GIF you want to send, and it will be added to your chat.
