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What Every Snapchat Symbol Means

by Elizabeth Harper on November 08, 2023

Updated on 11/8/2023 with the meanings of green, yellow, and red dots on Snapchat.

You can say a lot with a snapshot, and that’s the beauty of Snapchat. You can capture quick images or short videos, add captions or filters, and then send them off to as many friends as you’d like. And because your Snaps, by default, get deleted after 24 hours, that makes Snapchat conversations more spontaneous than those on other social networks.

But spontaneous doesn’t always mean simple. Though you can send Snaps with just a few clicks, Snapchat’s interface – particularly the many emoji and symbols it uses as indicators – isn’t quite as straightforward. If you’re confused about what those multicolored hearts next to your friends’ names means, we’re here to help. This is what every icon and symbol in Snapchat means.

Snapchat friend emoji

The emoji that show up next to your friends’ names on your friends list aren’t random – they say something specific about your relationship. This is what each one means:

  • Gold heart: You’re #1 best friends with each other, meaning you’ve sent the most Snaps to them, and they’ve sent the most Snaps to you. You can have other best friends, but Snapchat’s heart emojis are just for your very best friends, based on how many messages you send back and forth.
  • Red heart: You’ve been #1 best friends for two weeks.
  • Pink hearts: You’ve been #1 best friends for two months.
  • Grimacing face: You share a #1 best friend, meaning you both send most of your messages to the same person.
  • Smiling face: You are best friends, but not #1 best friends. You can have as many as eight best friends, so you’ll see smiles next to the eight friends to whom you send the most messages.
  • Sunglasses face: You share a best friend, so you have a close friend in common.
  • Fire: You’re on a Snapstreak! The fire emoji will show up next to the number of consecutive days you’ve sent Snaps to this friend.
  • Hourglass: Your Snapstreak is about to end, so if you want to keep your fire emoji going, you need to send a Snap fast.
  • Cake with candles: This appears next to your friend's name on the date they entered as their birthday.

Don’t like the default emoji? You can change most of them to anything you would like. To edit your friend emoji, just:

  • Tap the profile icon in the top left to open your profile
  • Tap the gear icon in the top right to open Settings
  • Scroll down and select Manage under Additional Services
  • Tap Friend Emojis and click on each friend status to pick a custom emoji to use

Message status icons

Snapchat also has color-coded icons that give you an at-a-glance rundown of your message status – as long as you know what they mean. The icons above will show up on your Friends screen, indicating the status of the most recent Snap or Chat you've sent. From left to right, they mean:

  • Red solid arrow: You sent a Snap without audio to this friend, and it hasn't been opened
  • Red unfilled arrow: Your friend opened your Snap without audio
  • Red solid square: Your friend sent you a Snap without audio, and you haven't opened it
  • Red unfilled square: The Snap you sent without audio has been viewed by this friend
  • Red double unfilled arrows: This friend took a screenshot of a Snap without audio
  • Red circle with arrowhead: This friend replayed a Snap without audio
  • Purple solid arrow: You sent a Snap with audio to this friend, and it hasn't been opened
  • Purple unfilled arrow: Your friend opened your Snap with audio
  • Purple solid square: Your friend sent you a Snap with audio, and you haven't opened it
  • Purple unfilled square: You viewed a Snap with audio from this friend
  • Purple double unfilled arrows: This friend took a screenshot of a Snap with audio
  • Purple circle with arrowhead: This friend replayed a Snap with audio
  • Blue solid arrow: You sent a Chat message to this friend, and it hasn't been read
  • Blue unfilled arrow: Your friend opened your Chat message
  • Blue solid square: This friend sent you a Chat message, and you haven't read it
  • Blue unfilled square: You viewed a Chat message from this friend
  • Blue double unfilled arrows: This friend took a screenshot of a Chat message
  • Gray solid arrow: You sent a Snap that is pending, which may mean that you're sending it to someone who hasn't accepted your friend request
  • Gray unfilled square: A Snap or Chat message is pending and may have expired

Notifications

Snapchat uses colored dots to alert you to new content, notifications, and when friends are actively online.

  • A red dot on your Bitmoji, the Spotlight icon, or the Stories icon means there's a notification or message waiting for you.
  • A yellow dot indicates a new friend request or a friendship-related notification.
  • A green dot means that the person you're viewing is currently active on Snapchat.

Story icons

Snapchat story icons

When you post a photo or video to a story (or feed), it's usually visible to all of your friends, and they can share your story. Snapchat also lets you choose to share a private story that is limited to your friends, whom you allow to view it, but not contribute to it. To know if you are viewing a private story, you will see a lock symbol on it. When the stories are laid out on your Discover tab, you will see a lock on the bottom of each private story. If you are viewing them in succession, you will notice a small lock on the top left of the screen. You do not know who else is able to view private stories, and you cannot post to another person's private story or view or modify their viewers.

Snapchat also lets you share a story with a select group of friends who can view and contribute to it as a custom story. You'll know if you are viewing a custom story when you see a multi-person icon on it. When stories are laid out on your Discover tab, you'll see three dots on the bottom of each custom story. If you are viewing them in succession, you will notice three dots on the top left of the screen. If someone is a contributor to your custom story, they can view the other contributing members and post their own content, but they can neither add nor remove friends.

Verified account emoji

Snapchat shows a verified account with a star. If you see a black star in a yellow circle, it’s because the person posting it has been verified, so they’re who they say they are.

What about the purple boxes next to my friends’ names?

If your friend has entered a birthday in Snapchat, their zodiac sign usually shows up as a purple box – though depending on the system you're using, they may look a little different than the one above. As long as you realize what you're looking at, these icons give you an idea of when their birthday is, even if you don’t know the exact date. If it is your friend’s birthday, a birthday cake emoji will show up as well.

From left to right, top to bottom, the symbols above indicate Aries (March 21 – April 19), Taurus (April 20 – May 20), Gemini (May 21 – June 20), Cancer (June 21 – July 22), Leo (July 23 – Aug 22), Virgo (Aug 23 – Sept 22), Libra (Sept 23 – Oct 22), Scorpio (Oct 23 – Nov 21), Sagittarius (Nov 22 – Dec 21), Capricorn (Dec 22 – Jan 19), Aquarius (Jan 20 – Feb 18), and Pisces (Feb 19 – Mar 20).

[Image credit: using Snapchat on phone via BigStockPhoto, Snapchat, Techlicious/Snapchat screenshot]


Topics

Mobile Apps, Phones and Mobile, Android Apps, iPhone/iPad Apps, Photo / Video Sharing, Tips & How-Tos


Discussion loading

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From Jacqueline healy on September 18, 2020 :: 10:20 am


What does an explanation sign on the full face of my fit bit mean

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From Jennifer on October 04, 2020 :: 9:03 pm


What does it mean if you have deleted a person from snapchat and ignored the subsequent ‘requests’ but it still shows a yellow dot on their bitmoji and they continue to appear in the ‘added me’ section?

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From Alanna K. on February 26, 2021 :: 3:24 pm


Hi Jennifer,

You can only get rid of this notification by declining their request or blocking them.

Reply

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From Gita on December 21, 2020 :: 5:19 am


What are the squiggly lines on snapchat that people post on their stories

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From Josh Kirschner on December 22, 2020 :: 6:13 pm


We’re not sure what lines you’re referring to. Can you describe in more detail what you’re seeing?

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From Red94 on February 26, 2021 :: 2:44 pm


There is a line that runs semi diagonal from NW to SE thru the meomories/stories button.  This button appears ti the left of the main capture button and filter button.  What does the line mean?

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From Alanna K. on February 26, 2021 :: 3:23 pm


Hi Red94,

Have you saved any pictures or stories on Snapchat before? If not, the line may be showing that you do not have any saved content you can view. Let me know if that’s the case!

Best,
Alanna

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From Chris on April 29, 2021 :: 2:49 pm


Iit kind of resembles an S?  This means streak. They want you to keep a streak with you.

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From Jay on November 29, 2021 :: 8:10 am


It means streak, to have a streak you have to send those back once in the morning and once at night, it’s supposed to be a “s”, although some ppl get lazy and just throw a squiggle on there, my answer is prob too late but I hope this helps and.

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From Shaz on March 24, 2021 :: 1:22 pm


What does it mean if I view someone’s profile (not friends) and their background is yellow, but when my friend searches for the same person, their background is blue?

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From Nells2 on April 26, 2021 :: 10:58 am


Hi one of my friends stories is outlined purple and on her story and her story was only a picture no audio and I click on it and only the one picture then story is done I took a screen shot to show you guys but I can’t add it on here . Does this mean she blocked me from her story?

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From Caitlyn on May 20, 2021 :: 11:02 pm


When you swipe up and see the Snapchat story section some of my photos and videos have two little arrows going around in a circle at the top right hand corner of the picture and or video, what does this mean?

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From June on June 22, 2021 :: 9:09 pm


I have a friend who said he was going to remove me at a certain time and then add me back on a specific day. Since then, there is a blue empty chat icon with the word pending next to it beneath my friend’s name. What does this mean?

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From Alanna on June 23, 2021 :: 8:37 am


Hi June,

This means that your friend has already removed you. Since you did not remove them, your relationship on Snapchat will look like you have requested to connect pending your friend’s approval. I hope this helps!

Reply

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From Saru on June 27, 2021 :: 7:17 am


How to know how long have the person seen my snap

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From Christina on July 06, 2021 :: 11:59 am


So there is this “3🆒” after on the last line of my friend’s chat box in the chat area after where the status of the message and then the amount of time since the last status change is but the lettering is in black and the status is in grey. For example:

(Blue Arrow) (In Grey Lettering—>)Delivered (grey dot) (In Grey Lettering—>)3m (grey dot) (In Black Lettering except the icon)3🆒

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From Christina on July 06, 2021 :: 12:01 pm


I am so sorry I didn’t explain will but that was in receive for Snapchat and I was just wondering if anyone know what that 3🆒 meant it why it is there suddenly and no one else has something in that place in their chat boxes. Please help. Thanks bunches!

Reply

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From Ursula on July 13, 2021 :: 10:49 am


what does this notification from SC mean?

“Jim Smith and Sue Snow are on Snapchat”

Are these active users and using SC at the time of notification or is SC trolling my contacts?

Reply

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From Frank on July 16, 2021 :: 10:59 pm


Profiles which don’t use an emoji selfie are given the default silhouette. These vary in color. Is there any significance in the color of the silhouette? Does it indicate anything?

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From Jae Ro on September 25, 2021 :: 4:57 am


Actually, I have a question instead of a comment.  There is this thing that I just can’t shake off.  Recently I noticed that I don’t know how to call it, could be Bitmoji’s Avatar, which has the shape or form of human that you can see in the “add friend” list, and they appear everywhere. they don’t have a nose, eyes, mouths, I mean nothing. Just the shape of humans with different colors for each of them. What are they and what does each different color mean?

Thank you

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From Kyshano on November 25, 2021 :: 5:43 pm


They did not create a bitmoji if i am correct

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From AR on October 12, 2021 :: 12:38 am


There’s a question symbol under my friends sc story what does this mean?

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From Leticia Sierras on November 14, 2021 :: 9:31 am


There is half ribbon next two dots on the top right corner of snap chats. These snap chats are not from my regular list,  it do happen to say beauty hacks.

I was looking for something to tag to come back to at a later time.


What’s the best way?
Thanks,
Bonnie

Reply

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From Paul campbell on December 01, 2021 :: 6:53 pm


we are all fucked

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From jane on January 07, 2022 :: 10:58 am


Hi, I have searched on google about the green ring around some of my friends’ snapchat stories and google says it’s a close friends list. How do you even make a close friends list on snapchat? This is different to the private stories which are outlined purple. Pls help! Thanks.

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From John on April 21, 2022 :: 6:27 pm


What does it mean when tgere are 3 dots above friends icon in friends list? Does it mean they are writing you a message or messaging someone else?

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From Jason on May 04, 2022 :: 10:32 pm


There is a random purple ring around people’s bitmojis when you go to send a snap and idk what it is. Btw, it’s not to see who’s actively using the app I tested that by looking at snapmap.

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From Cynthia Berland on May 20, 2022 :: 10:16 am


Someone blocked me and it showed pending for a few weeks then it changed to delivered on the snap it also shows an X or the camera when I click on the head it doesn’t show me any information what does this mean?

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From Mykenzie rimbo on May 25, 2022 :: 11:33 pm


I literally was looking for someone to ask this as well. I’m not sure I want to know as well.

Reply

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From Katja Summers on June 25, 2022 :: 7:30 am


I have the 👀 emoji when I look to see who views my story right next to the number of people who have viewed. What does that mean? I’ve been trying to find something on it

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From Amy on July 02, 2022 :: 2:59 am


I have the same thing I can’t figure out what it could be I’ve tried googling it but I can’t find anything

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From Fillo on July 05, 2022 :: 6:43 am


You must be either a premium member or a beta tester. The 👀 is a counter for how many people have re-watched your story

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From Janurj on July 16, 2022 :: 6:10 pm


When I look at how many people have viewed my story. white arrows that are facing each other are beside the name(s) of the people that viewed it. What does it mean? Did they send my story to someone else or what’s happening?

Reply

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From Sophie on August 04, 2022 :: 7:11 pm


I am so confused, ok so this boy keeps snapping me a picture on a black background, and the word’s ‘st’ and a smiley face. What does this mean? :(

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From chris on August 22, 2022 :: 3:01 pm


so my friend unadded me but when i click on the message there’s a blue person with a check mark next to it what does it mean

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From Josh Kirschner on August 25, 2022 :: 12:45 pm


If you see a blue person with a checkmark on Snapchat, it means you added them as a friend but they haven’t added you back. If you see that for a person who was previously your friend, it means they’ve unadded you (as in your case).

Reply

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From Ed on July 22, 2024 :: 2:02 am


So they show that on the chat screen on a new friend you’ve added but they have t added you. What does it mean when that icon disappears? Does that mean they declined your request

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From Cmm on August 10, 2024 :: 7:18 pm


So this has happened to me they unfriended me and I had the blue man and check mark. I unfriended them on my side and re added them but it still shows up as a blue man and check mark why is this? Will they get the notification of me adding them again? Thanks

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From Chris on September 10, 2022 :: 9:46 am


What is the meaning and function of the blue camera “snap” icon in the context of having added a new friend? I added someone, I was prompted to “say hi,” there was the blue camera “snap” icon next to her name, but no one else’s, I tapped that blue “snap” camera out of curiosity, it seems like it sent something, but I had typed nothing. Did I just send her a random candid photo inadvertently? (Or maybe something that had been previously stored, like the last screenshot perhaps?) Did it just say a generic “Hi?” And nothing else? Please clarify this. [I had to go reluctantly on snapchat (I’m new to it, as a man in my 50s] only to follow my other friend, who I communicated daily with for years on Instagram, but she’s given up on IG now because she kept getting hacked.)

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From Harry Patzig on January 12, 2023 :: 1:05 pm


Say hi

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From Mick on September 13, 2022 :: 6:36 am


One of my friends has a flaming red heart next to their name. What does this mean?

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From Karen on September 23, 2022 :: 10:26 am


What does a backward L mean with a picture?

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From Connie Ruffing on December 09, 2022 :: 4:19 pm


When I view someone’s story, it shows a hollow bell at the top right hand corner, what does this mean and is it something I could be using. Also, does someone know if I remove them from my friends list?

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From Aubrey on December 29, 2022 :: 5:39 am


I opened my Snapchat and saw my friend’s bit moji was all red. But if I click on her profile it shows her bit moji is not red but is colored normally. I was just curious what this means exactly

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From Missaoui on January 10, 2023 :: 10:11 am


The call icon of my Snapchat friend is Changed to blue user icon

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From Beth on February 16, 2023 :: 9:54 pm


Ola! What does it mean to see a blue unfilled square and “saved to camera roll” - who saved it and was it something i sent or they sent?

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From Mason on March 13, 2023 :: 5:34 pm


What does it mean when someone posts “send c if you’re over 10” on their story

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From Renee on April 10, 2023 :: 7:41 am


The blue line beside messages sent to me turned green. Like the line for my message is red and theirs was blue but now it’s light green. Help me change it back to blue and find out why it’s green.

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From Same on April 11, 2023 :: 5:08 am


Is this something new?

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From Tim on April 11, 2023 :: 8:57 am


Was looking at saved messages and noticed the blue saved messages turned green. Went through other friends messages and most are still blue with two others turning green. Wonder what it means also.

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From Shay on April 11, 2023 :: 2:20 pm


Happened to me also wondering why one is green now 🤔

Reply

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