No, Snapchat does not allow you to see who your friends are following or allow your friends to see who you are following.
Snapchat is a private messaging app, so it intentionally limits the ability to see friends’ connections and activity outside of your direct interactions.
Why Snapchat doesn’t allow you to see friends’ followers
There are a few reasons why Snapchat restricts the ability to see friends’ followers:
Privacy
Snapchat wants to give users control over who can view their connections and activity. Since following other accounts can reveal interests, views, etc., Snapchat protects this info by default.
Focus on messaging
Snapchat is designed for sharing temporary photos/videos with friends, not for public social networking. So it limits social media-like features.
Prevent stalking/harassment
Not displaying friends’ followers helps prevent stalking and harassment that could happen if this info was open to all friends.
Encourage authentic connections
By not showing followers, Snapchat wants to focus on authentic friend-to-friend sharing rather than popularity contests.
What you can see about your Snapchat friends
While you can’t see your Snapchat friends’ followers, there are some details you can see about your friends on Snapchat:
Display name & username – You can see the name and username your friend has set for their Snapchat account.
Custom emojis – Any custom Snapchat emojis your friend has created will be visible when you’re messaging them.
Snap score – You can see your friends’ Snap score, which is a count of Snaps sent and received.
Snap Map location – If your friend has opted in, you may be able to see their current location via Snap Map.
Profile info – Any additional info your friend has added to their Snapchat profile that they’ve made public to friends.
Memories – If your friend saves Snaps to Memories and makes those public, you’ll be able to see them.
Snapstreaks – You can see any Snapstreaks (consecutive days of Snapping) you have going with each friend.
What your friends can see about you
Likewise, here’s what your Snapchat friends are able to see about your account:
- Your display name & username
- Any custom Snapchat emojis you’ve made
- Your Snap score
- Your location, if you have Snap Map enabled and have made your location visible to friends
- Profile info you’ve added and made public
- Memories that you’ve made public
- Your Snapstreaks with each friend
So in summary, Snapchat friends can see basic profile info, emojis, scores, locations, etc. But they can’t see your full list of followers or who you’re following.
Third-party apps that show followers
While Snapchat itself doesn’t allow you to see friends’ followers, some third-party apps claim to offer this functionality by accessing Snapchat data and contacts. Examples include:
- Snapdex
- Snap Map for Snapchat
- Snapchat Score Checker
- SnapStats
- SnapLookup
However, Snapchat does not authorize these third-party services and actively works to block them from their API. These apps may cease to work at any time if Snapchat blocks their access. Most security experts recommend avoiding these apps, as they often request broad access to your data and contacts.
Using social media to see Snapchat connections
One indirect way you may be able to discover some of the accounts your Snapchat friends follow is by cross-referencing their follower lists on other social media platforms like Instagram, Twitter, etc.
Of course, this would only work if you and your Snapchat friends also have publicly viewable follower lists on other social apps.
Even then, their followers on other platforms may not fully overlap with who they follow on Snapchat.
But if you and a Snapchat friend follow many of the same public accounts on another social app, there’s a chance they may follow some of those same accounts on Snapchat as well.
So you may be able to get hints at their Snapchat activity through their broader social media presence.
Building Snapchat followers organically
Since Snapchat keeps followers private and using third-party apps can be risky, the best approach is to organically build your Snapchat followers using Snapchat’s own tools and features. Here are some safe ways to get more Snapchat followers:
Leverage other social media – Promote your Snapchat on other platforms like Instagram or YouTube where you have an audience.
Cross-promote content – Share previews of your Snapchat stories on sites like Instagram.
Use Snapchat Ads – Advertise your account through Snapchat’s own advertising platform.
Make interesting content – Post fun, unique content that inspires viewers to follow you.
Engage with the Snapchat community – Follow popular Snapchatter accounts, join groups, use viral lenses/filters.
Collaborate with others – Team up with Snapchat influencers for shoutouts.
While gaining a huge follower count shouldn’t be the main goal, using Snapchat’s own tools to organically grow your audience is the safest approach if you want to build out your followers on Snapchat.