If you have hidden friends on Snapchat and now want to unhide them, it’s easy to do. Here’s a step-by-step guide to unhiding friends on Snapchat.
Why You Might Want to Unhide Friends
There are a few main reasons you may want to unhide friends on Snapchat:
- You hid someone temporarily but now want to see their stories again
- You hid an ex during a breakup but are friends again now
- You hid someone by accident and didn’t mean to block their content
- A friend got a new Snapchat account and you want to see their snaps
Whatever the reason, unhiding friends is simple and can be done in just a few steps.
How to View Hidden Friends
Before unhiding anyone, you’ll need to view your list of hidden friends. Here’s how:
- Open the Snapchat app and tap your profile icon in the top left corner
- Tap the gear icon to access your settings
- Scroll down and select “My Friends”
- Tap “Hidden Friends” to view the list of any accounts you’ve hidden
This will display a list of friends whose stories and snaps you currently have hidden. From here, tap on any friend you want to unhide.
Unhiding a Friend
Once you’ve located the hidden friend you want to unhide, unhiding them only takes a second:
- Tap the friend’s name to open their profile
- Tap the “Unhide” button near the top
That’s it! The friend is now unhidden. You’ll be able to view their stories and receive their snaps again.
Unhiding Multiple Friends
If you want to unhide several friends at once rather than one by one, you can also do that:
- Go to your Hidden Friends list
- Tap the “Select” button at the top right
- Check the box next to each friend you want to unhide
- Tap “Unhide” at the bottom
This will quickly unhide any friends you selected. It’s a fast way to restore multiple hidden connections.
When Unhidden Friends Reappear
Once you unhide a friend, their stories and snaps won’t reappear instantly. It may take up to 24 hours for their content to show up in your feed again.
If you don’t see their snaps right away, don’t worry – just give it a little time. Their profile has been unhidden, it just takes a bit for their posts to become visible again.
Why Friends May Be Hidden Automatically
In some cases, Snapchat may have hidden a friend for you automatically. This usually happens if:
- You haven’t interacted with the friend in a while
- The friend hasn’t posted new stories in a long time
- You watch that friend’s stories infrequently
Snapchat hides less active friends automatically to declutter your feed. If you notice someone hidden that you didn’t hide yourself, it’s likely because the app hid them based on your interactions.
How to Prevent Friends From Being Hidden
To prevent Snapchat from automatically hiding your friends, be sure to:
- View their stories regularly when posted
- Send snaps back and forth instead of just viewing
- Interact with their posts by tapping or commenting
Keeping an active back-and-forth conversation and frequently viewing stories signals to Snapchat that they’re important connections to keep in your feed.
How to Permanently Remove a Friend
If you want to not just hide a friend temporarily but remove them permanently, that’s easy to do too:
- Go to their profile and tap the gear icon
- Select “Remove Friend”
- Confirm that you want to remove them
This will delete them from your friends list entirely. To add them back, you’d have to send another friend request.
Other Snapchat Friend Features
In addition to hiding and unhiding friends, Snapchat has a few other useful features for managing your connections:
- Groups: Organize friends into Groups to send snaps to just those groups.
- Favorites: Pin friends to the top of your chat screen for easy access.
- Snap Map: Only share your location with certain friends.
- Notifications: Configure notifications settings for each friend.
Take advantage of these to have more control over your Snapchat friends and feed.
What Happens When You Hide Someone
Hiding a friend stops their content from appearing in your Snapchat feed, but it doesn’t notify them or remove you from their friend list. Specifically:
- You won’t see their stories or receive their snaps
- They can still send you messages which go to the chat screen
- Your stories and snaps will still send to them as normal
- You stay visible on their friend list
- They don’t receive any notice that you hid them
So hiding is a one-way action – you stop seeing their content, but from their side, nothing changes in their interaction with you.
What Happens When You Unhide
Similarly, unhiding a friend doesn’t notify them at all. The effects are only on your side:
- Their stories and snaps will appear in your feed again
- You stay on each other’s friend lists as normal
- They won’t be notified in any way
Unhiding simply reverses the one-way nature of hiding someone – it removes the blinders without any other actions.
Can Friends Tell if You Hide Them?
No, friends can’t tell if you’ve hidden them on Snapchat. Hiding is completely anonymous:
- No notification is sent when you hide someone
- There’s no indication in the chat screen that they’re hidden
- Your name still appears in their friend list
- You can still send chat messages back and forth
So unless you tell them directly, friends have no way to know if they’ve been hidden. It’s invisible from their end.
How Long Do Friends Stay Hidden?
Once you hide a friend, they stay hidden until you manually unhide them. Hiding friends doesn’t expire after a certain time period.
Friends will remain hidden indefinitely unless you decide to unhide them. The only exception is if Snapchat automatically hides less active friends, which it may undo after some time.
Otherwise, consider hiding permanent unless you choose to reverse it. There’s no limit on how long you can keep a friend hidden.
Can You Hide Friends Temporarily?
While hiding friends doesn’t expire on its own, you can effectively hide someone temporarily by hiding and then unhiding them.
For example, you may want to hide an ex for a while after a breakup but then unhide them later. Or hide a friend while traveling to avoid flooding your feed.
Just tap “Unhide” again whenever you want their stories to reappear. This provides a pseudo-temporary hide capability.
Does Hiding Prevent Snaps?
Hiding friends only prevents their stories and snaps from appearing in your feed. It doesn’t block you from receiving chat messages.
So if a hidden friend sends you a snap or chat directly, you’ll still get it as usual in your incoming chats. Hiding only removes their stories from your Stories feed.
Of course, you can always block a friend completely to stop receiving their chat snaps. But regular hiding leaves your chat abilities intact.
Can Friends See Your Location if Hidden?
No, hiding a friend also hides your location from them on Snap Maps. They won’t be able to see your location on the map if hidden.
However, you can choose to share your location with specific friends while keeping others hidden. Just update your Snap Maps settings to customize.
So hiding provides control over who can view your location as well as your stories. Both settings can be managed independently.
In Summary
- Go to Settings > My Friends > Hidden Friends to see who you’ve hidden
- Tap a friend’s name then “Unhide” to make them visible again
- Friends aren’t notified when you hide or unhide them
- Hiding stops you seeing their stories but not their chat messages
- Hidden friends remain hidden indefinitely unless you unhide
Using Snapchat’s hide and unhide features gives you greater control over your feed. Hide friends as needed for your own comfort and privacy without affecting your relationship with them.