No, not everyone can see your friends list on Snapchat. Your friends list and friendships on Snapchat are private by default. Only you and your friends can see each other on Snapchat. Strangers, people not on your friends list, and people you haven’t added back cannot see who your friends are.
Who can see your friends on Snapchat?
On Snapchat, your friends list and friendships are private. Only the following people can see your friends list and the friends you have added on Snapchat:
- You
- Your friends who you have added and who have added you back
- No one else
Snapchat does not have a public friends list that is visible to anyone else using the app like other social networks. Your friendships are meant to be private.
Strangers and public profiles
Strangers and people not on your friends list cannot see who you are friends with on Snapchat. They also cannot see your private friends list. This applies to both people you haven’t added yet, and also people who have added you but you haven’t added back.
Snapchat also does not have the concept of public profiles that anyone can access. The only Snapchat profile accessible to strangers is your own public profile if you have set it to public. But strangers still cannot see your friends list or friendships from your public profile.
What friends can see
When someone becomes your friend on Snapchat, they can see your public Snapchat profile if you have set it to public. They can also see your Snapchat username, Bitmoji if linked, Snap score, and any public content on your Snapchat story if you have posted anything.
Importantly, they can also see your friend list and will show up as a friend on your friend list. This is mutual for both people once a friend connection is made on Snapchat.
Finding friends on Snapchat
While strangers can’t see your friends, there are ways they can find and add your Snapchat friends if they get access to your friends list including:
- Browsing suggested friends – Snapchat recommends friends based on your contacts and connections.
- Quick add through contacts – Adding Snapchat friends easily through your phone’s contacts.
- Snapcodes – Scanning and adding friends via Snapcodes.
- Username search – Searching for your friends’ Snapchat usernames.
However, this requires them to already know the names, numbers, or usernames of your connections. They still won’t have access to your full unfiltered friends list.
When strangers can see your friends
In some limited cases, strangers may be able to see your Snapchat friends including:
- Saved Snapchat videos – If you save a Snapchat video they sent you which has other friends in it.
- Public stories and groups – If you and friends post content to public groups or stories.
- Over-the-shoulder snooping – Physically looking over your shoulder when you have the app open.
- Access to your device – If someone gains access to your phone and opens Snapchat.
However, in most cases this access is limited and not an intended feature of Snapchat. The app still tries to keep your friends list private in general.
Making your friends list public
While Snapchat is designed to have private friends lists, there are some rare cases where you can make your Snapchat friends public using apps and sites like:
- Snapchat friend exporter apps
- Public Snapchat friend finder websites
- Third-party Snapchat apps
However, these often break Snapchat’s terms of service and privacy policies. They may also compromise your account security. Most people keep their Snapchat friends list private as intended by default.
Finding out who views your Stories
While basic friendships are private, you can see a list of friends who have viewed your Snapchat Stories. This lets you see which of your connections saw a particular Story post. However, this is still limited to current Snapchat friends only.
Making Snapchat friendships private
Since Snapchat friendships are private by default, there’s nothing additional you need to do to make them more private. However, you can take steps like:
- Not posting public Stories
- Not joining public groups
- Blocking unwanted Snapchatters
- Using privacy settings
This gives you even more control over who can see any part of your Snapchat activity.
Downsides of a private friends list
While increased privacy is good, some downsides of Snapchat’s strictly private friends include:
- No open social connections – Harder to make new friends organically.
- No public profiles – Limits social growth and discovery.
- Less social sharing – Less viral social activity possible.
For these reasons, some prefer friend networks like Facebook that enable more public discovery and growth.
Is my number of friends private?
Yes, the number of friends you have added on Snapchat is also private. Only you can see your number of Snapchat friends. This number is not visible to your Snapchat connections or anyone else.
You can see your total Snapchat friend count in your profile settings. But no one else will know if you have 10 or 10,000 friends!
Making friendships public on purpose
In rare cases, you may want to make your Snapchat friendships more public on purpose. This can help with discoverability and meeting new connections. Ways to do this include:
- Posting public Stories frequently
- Joining public Snapchat groups
- Syncing Snapchat with other public social networks
- Using friend finder sites to generate a public link
However, be cautious about privacy and security when doing this. Public access opens you up to unknown viewers, bullies, harassment, and spam.
The Bottom Line
Snapchat is designed to have private friend lists and friendships. Unlike other social networks, Snapchat does not enable strangers, search engines, or the general public to look up your connections.
By default, only you and your confirmed friends can see each other’s profiles and friendships on Snapchat. This gives Snapchat an inherently more private and closed social experience compared to platforms like Facebook.
While some limited visibility is possible through saved chats, public Stories, groups, friend finders, etc., Snapchat still retains private friend lists as a core experience and value proposition compared to other apps.