The Snapchat map allows you to view the locations of your friends on a map in real time. To see your friends on the Snapchat map, first make sure you have location sharing enabled in your Snapchat settings. Then open the Snapchat app and pinch to zoom out from the camera screen to access the Snapchat map. You’ll see cartoon avatars representing friends who are currently sharing their locations. Tap on a friend’s avatar to view their Snapchat story and current location.
Enable location sharing
Before you can see your friends on the Snapchat map, you need to enable location sharing in your app settings:
- Open Snapchat and tap your profile icon in the top left corner.
- Tap the Settings gear icon in the top right corner.
- Under “Who Can…” tap “See My Location.”
- Choose either “My Friends” or “Only These Friends…” to limit location sharing.
- Tap back to return to the Snapchat camera.
With location sharing enabled, your friends will now be able to see your location on the map. Note that you can turn off location sharing temporarily by tapping the ghost icon when accessing the map.
View the map
Once location sharing is enabled, you can view the Snapchat map and see your friends’ locations:
- From the Snapchat camera, pinch the screen with two fingers to zoom out.
- This will bring up the Snapchat map view. You’ll see “Map” across the top.
- On the map, you’ll see Bitmoji avatars of friends who are sharing their location.
- Blue stacks indicate a friend has shared a Snap in that location in the past 24 hours.
From the Snapchat map, you can see where your friends currently are across the world. Their Bitmoji will move and update in real-time as they move locations.
View a friend’s location
To get more details on a friend’s location on the Snapchat map:
- Tap on their Bitmoji avatar on the map.
- This will open their profile card, including any Snapchat content.
- Under their name, you’ll see “Active at [location]” indicating where they currently are.
- Tap the location name to open the location in the Snapchat map.
From your friend’s profile card, you can also view their public Snapchat story by tapping on their avatar or name. This lets you see specific Snaps they’ve shared from their current location.
Search for friends
You can also search for specific friends on the Snapchat map:
- Tap the magnifying glass icon at the bottom of the Snapchat map.
- Type your friend’s name into the search field.
- Tap your friend’s name or avatar as it appears below.
- This will center the map on their current location and open their profile card.
The search bar makes it easy to quickly locate friends if you don’t see them initially on the map view.
View stories on the map
In addition to seeing your friends’ locations, the Snapchat map lets you view public Snapchat stories shared at various locations around the world:
- Zoom and pan around the Snapchat map until you see a blue heatmap area.
- Tap the blue heatmap area to reveal the circular story icons.
- Tap any story bubble to view Snaps shared publicly from that location.
Exploring the Snapchat map and viewing stories is a great way to experience events and locations as if you were there in person. The stories disappear after 24 hours, so check the map daily for new content.
Temporarily hide your location
If you want to open the Snapchat map but not share your location temporarily:
- Tap the ghost icon in the top left of the map screen.
- This will prevent your location from updating for the next 8 hours or until you reverse it.
- Friends will not be able to see your location until you tap the ghost again.
This provides a quick way to access the map and see what friends are up to without sharing your own location.
Permanently hide your location
If you want to completely stop sharing your location on the Snapchat map:
- Go to your profile and tap the Settings gear icon.
- Tap “Who Can…” and then “See My Location.”
- Select “Only These Friends” and deselect all friends.
- Tap “My Friends” and then uncheck the “Share My Location” box.
With location sharing disabled, you’ll no longer appear on the map for friends. You can still see their locations as long as they have location sharing enabled.
Remove a friend’s access
If you only want to hide your location from specific friends:
- Go to your profile, tap the Settings gear and select “Who Can…” > “See My Location.”
- Tap “Only These Friends” and deselect any friends you wish to hide from.
This will prevent those friends from being able to view your location on the map while keeping it visible to other friends.
Troubleshooting issues
If you’re having issues seeing friends on the Snapchat map, here are some steps to try:
- Make sure location services are enabled for Snapchat in your device settings.
- Check that your friends also have location sharing enabled in their Snapchat settings.
- Force close and relaunch the Snapchat app if the map is not updating.
- Enable location sharing again in case it was accidentally switched off.
- Update to the latest version of the Snapchat app.
The Snapchat map provides a fun way to visualize where your friends are and what they’re up to around the world. Following these tips will help ensure you can stay connected through the map on Snapchat.