Snapchat is one of the most popular social media apps, allowing users to send disappearing photos, videos, and messages. One of Snapchat’s key features is the ability to make video and voice calls with friends and contacts. A common question that arises is whether Snapchat shows a “busy” status when trying to call someone who is already on a call or has declined the call.
Does Snapchat have a busy status?
Unlike apps like WhatsApp or FaceTime, Snapchat does not have any built-in busy statuses that are displayed when trying to call someone. When you attempt to call a friend on Snapchat who is already on another call or declines your call, it will simply not go through or ring on their end.
There is no visual indicator shown to the caller that the recipient is busy or has rejected the call. The call will simply not connect. If the recipient rejects or misses a Snapchat call, this is not made evident to the caller in any way other than the call not going through.
What happens when you try to call someone who is busy on Snapchat?
If you try to call a friend on Snapchat who is already on another call, your call will not go through at all. Unlike regular phone calls where you may hear a busy signal, on Snapchat the call will simply not ring for the recipient. The call attempt will fail silently without any notification.
Similarly, if your friend declines or ignores your Snapchat call, you will not get any indication that they actively rejected it. The call will again just fail to connect. There are a few situations when trying to call someone on Snapchat:
- If the recipient is available, your call will connect normally.
- If the recipient declines your call, it will not go through or make any ringing sound.
- If the recipient is already on a call, your incoming call will be ignored and not ring at all.
The caller has no way to distinguish between these scenarios of why a Snapchat call did not go through. The app simply does not have any calling statuses like “busy” or “rejected call” to provide this information.
Does Snapchat notify you if someone declines your call?
No, Snapchat does not notify or indicate to the caller if their call has been rejected or declined by the recipient. If someone declines or ignores your Snapchat call, you will not get any message or banner informing you of this.
The only indication that your call did not go through is that it will fail to connect. You will remain on the calling screen until you hang up manually. There are no call logs either, so there is no way to see if your call was rejected or missed.
The recipient who declined the call also does not get any notification that they missed or rejected a call attempt from you. There is no record of missed Snapchat calls for either the caller or the recipient.
Does the recipient know if you tried to call them on Snapchat?
No, if you try to call someone on Snapchat who declines the call, rejects it, or is already busy, they will not get any indication that you tried to call them. There is no notification or log of missed or rejected calls.
So if you call a friend who ignores your call, they will have no record or notification that you tried to call them. The call attempt is not logged or stored by Snapchat in any way for either the caller or the recipient.
Can you tell when a friend is already on a Snapchat call?
There is no indicator on Snapchat to show that one of your friends is already on a call. You have no way to see the calling status of your connections.
Snapchat does not have presence indicators like “active now” or “on another call”. There is also no way to see someone’s Bitmoji with a calling status. So you cannot proactively see if someone is available for a call before trying to call them.
What calling options does Snapchat have?
Snapchat has two main voice calling options:
- Quick calls: These are voice calls made directly to a friend in your Snapchat friends list. They allow real-time voice conversations.
- Group calls: You can start a group voice call with up to 32 friends at once. Everyone in the group call needs to be in your friends list.
For both quick and group calls, there are no calling statuses displayed if someone is unavailable to take your call. The call will simply not go through.
Does Snapchat have video calling?
Yes, Snapchat also allows you to make video calls to friends. The process is the same as voice calls:
- You can make one-on-one video calls for real-time video chats.
- Group video calls are also available to call up to 16 friends at once.
- Again, busy signals and rejected call notices are not available for video calls.
How do calls work between Android and iOS devices on Snapchat?
Snapchat allows cross-platform calling between Android smartphones and iPhones. You can make voice and video calls between devices seamlessly.
However, group calls have some limitations between operating systems. Here is how group calling works on Snapchat:
- Android to Android group calls support up to 32 participants.
- iOS to iOS group calls support up to 32 participants.
- Android to iOS group calls only support up to 8 participants. This is due to software limitations.
So you can only have up to 8 friends on a cross-platform Android and iOS group call. For one-on-one calls, there are no issues.
Can you call someone who has blocked you on Snapchat?
No, if someone has blocked you on Snapchat, you will be unable to call them. Your call will not go through and you will get no indicators that you have been blocked.
Similarly, any calls or messages to someone who has blocked you will fail to deliver. There is no notice that you have been blocked, as your calls will simply not connect.
Can you see Snapchat call history?
Unfortunately, Snapchat does not have a call history or call logs of any kind. There is no record of your past Snapchat calls that you can review.
This applies to both voice and video calls. So you cannot see any history of your incoming, outgoing, missed or rejected calls within Snapchat.
Why doesn’t Snapchat have call statuses or indicators?
Snapchat is designed as an ephemeral messaging app where interactions disappear. So the lack of call indicators is likely a deliberate choice to keep with Snapchat’s ephemeral ethos.
The app focuses on privacy and removing status indicators helps avoid awkwardness or confrontations about missed calls. Overall, the minimalist calling interface creates a more casual, in-the-moment experience.
How to check if someone is available before calling on Snapchat
Since Snapchat lacks calling statuses, the best way to check if someone can take your call is to send them a Chat first.
Snapchat Chats notify users when they receive a new message, so your friend will see the Chat notification before you call.
If they reply to your Chat, then you know they are active on Snapchat and available to take a call. If they don’t respond to your message, they may be busy or offline.
Conclusion
Snapchat’s voice and video calling features do not have any busy, rejected, or unavailable call indicators when trying to call someone. If the recipient declines your call or is already on another call, your call attempt will simply fail without any notice.
Snapchat is designed as an ephemeral app where interactions disappear, so the app does not keep any call histories or statuses. While this can be inconvenient, it aligns with Snapchat’s privacy-focused approach to social networking and communication.