Following on Snapchat but not friends

It’s common on Snapchat to follow someone or have someone follow you without becoming friends. There are a few reasons this can happen. Snapchat makes it easy to find and follow people you don’t know well through search, Snapcodes, Snap Map, etc. You may end up following acquaintances, celebrities, influencers, brands, and more without ever interacting. Or you may have added someone as a friend at one point but later unfriended them while still following each other. Here’s a closer look at what it means to follow someone on Snapchat without being friends.

How Following Works on Snapchat

Following someone on Snapchat allows you to view their public Story updates. Their stories will appear alongside your friends’ stories when you swipe left on the camera screen. This lets you keep up with their content without needing a friend connection.

Following does not provide access to private communications. You won’t be able to view private chats, video/voice calls, memories, etc for people you only follow. You also won’t show up as “friends” in their friend list. Your activities are disconnected unless one of you sends a friend request.

Reasons You Might Follow Without Friending

There are many reasons you may end up following someone without becoming Snapchat friends. Here are some of the most common:

You found them through Search or Snap Map – Snapchat makes it easy to find and follow celebrities, influencers, brands, and other public figures you don’t have a personal connection with.
Scanned their Snapcode – You may have scanned a Snapcode you saw on a poster, in a magazine, etc without having met the person.

Met in person but didn’t friend – You may have met the person briefly and followed them but didn’t take the next step to become friends.
Used to be friends – You may have been friends at one point but later removed them while staying followed.
Followed randomly – You may have followed someone randomly that followed you without knowing them.

Don’t know well enough to friend – You may want to follow an acquaintance or loose connection that you don’t know well enough to friend.

In most cases, following without friending comes from not having enough of a relationship to warrant full friendship. But it allows you to stay updated on their public content if you’re interested.

Following Celebrities, Influencers, and Brands

A major use case for following without friending is to keep up with celebrities, influencers, brands, and other public figures you don’t have a personal relationship with. Snapchat makes it easy to find these accounts through Search and Snap Map.

Following these kinds of accounts lets you keep up with their content without cluttering up your friend list. And they won’t see anything private from you. You can enjoy their public Stories without needing a two-way friend connection.

When to Unfollow Someone

Since following someone requires little commitment, you may end up following some accounts that you later want to unfollow. Here are some signs it may be time to unfollow someone on Snapchat:

Their content is no longer interesting to you

Their Stories have become spammy or promotional
They post too much and clutter your feed
You followed randomly but now want to clean up your Following list

The account has changed owners
They don’t follow you back and you want to unfollow

Unfollowing people you no longer want to see Stories from can help keep your Snapchat feed personalized and focused. It’s easy to unfollow – just press and hold on their name in your Following list and tap “Unfollow.” They won’t be notified when you unfollow.

Following Back People Who Follow You

When someone follows your Snapchat account, you’ll get notified in your Snapchat notifications. You can choose to follow them back or not. Following back keeps things reciprocal and allows you to see their Story updates too. Here are some best practices around following back:

If it’s someone you know and want to see their updates, follow back to keep things mutual.
If it’s a celebrity or influencer you’re interested in, follow back to see their content.

If it’s a brand or business you want to stay updated on, follow back.
If it’s a stranger or random person, use your judgment on whether to follow back.
If your Following list is getting too cluttered, be more selective about who you follow back.

Following back is a personal decision based on whether you’re genuinely interested in seeing their content. Don’t feel obligated to follow back everyone who follows you if their updates don’t interest you.

Changing Followers to Friends

If you have been following someone for a while and want to upgrade them to a friend, you can send them a friend request. Here’s how:

Go to your Following list and tap their name.

Tap the Add Friend button.
Select the friend request message you want to send.
If they accept your request, they will be moved to your Friends list.

Upgrading followers you know and interact with to friend status lets you communicate directly and share more on Snapchat. But it’s not necessary to friend every follower – following is fine for casual relationships.

Adding Friends You Only Want to Follow

You can also add someone as a friend but then immediately unfriend them while staying followed. This is useful when:

You only want to see their public Stories, not private content.

You don’t know them well enough to connect as friends.
You want to control the friend connection.

Just add them as a friend, then go to your Friends list, press and hold their name, and select “Unfriend.” You’ll remain followed without a two-way friend connection.

Using Snapchat Just to Follow

For those who don’t post Stories often, Snapchat can function as just a “following” app. You can search and follow accounts you’re interested in without needing a robust friends list or posting your own Stories. Following serves as a more casual, passive way to use Snapchat solely to consume content.

This can be an easy way to keep up with influencers, celebrities, brands, and more. But if you want to engage with friends, you’ll need to make connections.

Finding Followers You Don’t Know

If you notice a follower you don’t recognize, you can try to figure out how they found you through a few methods:

Check their username – This may give context if it’s someone from school, work, etc.
Check their bio – Their bio may explain who they are.
See if you have shared friends – This can indicate how they found you.

Ask around – Ask mutual friends if they know the person.
Ask them – Message them politely asking how they found you.

Random followers are common, but can feel weird. Polite detective work can often uncover if it’s an old acquaintance or someone with shared connections.

Troubleshooting Followers and Following

Here are some troubleshooting tips for issues around followers and following on Snapchat:

If someone you want to follow disappeared from Search, they may have changed their settings.
If your followers suddenly dropped, it could be a glitch or Snapchat deleting fake/spam accounts.

If someone you followed disappears, try searching their username to see if they blocked you.
If you notice a follower acting suspiciously, you can block them.
If you can’t view your own Story, you may have been blocked by followers.

With any social media platform, follower and following connections can have occasional issues. Snapchat support can help if you’re unable to resolve a problem.