Yes, your best friends list on Snapchat is private and cannot be seen by other users. The only person who can view your entire best friends list is you.
What is the best friends list on Snapchat?
The best friends list on Snapchat shows the people you interact with the most on the app. It lists the Snapchat friends you send snaps, chats, and videos to the most frequently. Snapchat tracks this activity in the background to populate your best friends list.
Your best friends list can contain up to 8 friends at a time. These friends may shuffle around as your interactions change over time. Snapchat refreshes the list every month to capture your most recent friend activity.
Who can see your best friends list?
Only you can view your full best friends list in its entirety. No one else on Snapchat has access to your personal best friends ranking. Not even your friends who appear on the list can see their own placement or the full list.
The best friends list lives privately on your profile. Other Snapchat users have no way to access it. You alone decide when and with whom to share your best friend rankings.
What your friends can see
While your friends can’t see your best friends list, they can see their own status on your profile. For example, if Alice appears at #1 on your best friend list, she will see a gold heart next to your name when she views your profile.
The different heart colors indicate what tier that friend reaches on your list:
- Gold heart – #1 best friend
- Red heart – Top best friend
- Pink heart – Middle best friend
- Yellow heart – Bottom best friend
- Grey heart – Not a best friend
So your friends can only see their individual placement on your list. They cannot see the full rankings or who else appears at the top.
Privacy settings for your best friends list
Since your best friends list is private, there are no settings to adjust its visibility. You automatically have the maximum privacy. There is no way for other Snapchat users to access your list without your consent.
However, you can control whether your friends can see their placement on your profile. To hide it:
- Go to your profile and tap the Settings (gear) icon
- Tap “See Friendship Status”
- Toggle off “Display Status Next to Friends’ Names”
This will remove the colored hearts next to your friends’ names when they view your profile. They will no longer see their ranking on your best friends list.
Why your best friends list is private
Snapchat keeps your best friends list private for a few key reasons:
- Privacy – Keeping the rankings private prevents unwanted scrutiny of your interactions.
- Avoid competition – Public lists may motivate some friends to try moving up the rankings.
- Encourage authentic connections – Private lists allow you to interact naturally without overthinking.
The goal is to help Snapchat reflect your true friendships. A public list could encourage users to send inauthentic snaps just to boost their ranking.
When your best friends list updates
Snapchat refreshes your best friends list once a month to capture your latest interactions. Around the first of each month, your rankings will shuffle and change based on who you snapped the most recently.
However, the list does not update in real-time. It won’t immediately match who you snap that same day. This prevents the rankings from constantly changing and fluctuating.
Snapchat also notes that taking a break from the app won’t hurt your placement. Your friends may temporarily drop down, but can move back up after you start snapping again.
Who can I share my best friends list with?
Because your best friends list is private, you have full control over who sees it. You can selectively choose to share your rankings with specific friends:
- Verbally share your list during an in-person conversation
- Send a photo or screenshot of your list
- Show the list on your device to friends
Just remember that your friends can’t prove their placement without your confirmation. Feel free to share at your own discretion without worrying about leaks.
My best friend disappeared from my list – why?
If a previously top best friend drops off your list, here are some possible reasons why:
- You haven’t snapped them as frequently lately
- Their ranking dropped enough that they fell off the top 8
- It’s the beginning of the month and rankings refreshed
- One of you took a break from Snapchat for a while
Don’t panic if a good friend slides down or off your best friends list. It likely just means your Snapchat activity with them decreased recently. Keep snapping them and they can easily move back up.
Does deleting conversations affect your best friends list?
No, clearing your conversation history does not affect the best friends algorithm. Snapchat’s system tracks your interactions behind the scenes. Deleting chats does not reset that data.
Your best friends ranking is based on your overall two-way communication over time. The existing chat logs are not factored into the calculations.
Does blocking someone remove them from your best friends list?
Yes, if you block someone on Snapchat they will be immediately removed from your best friends list. Blocking cuts off communication, so it is no longer possible for them to maintain a top ranking.
Once you unblock the friend, their ranking does not automatically restore. They will have to move back up through regular Snapchat interaction.
Can I rearrange my best friends list or boost someone up?
Unfortunately, there is no way to manually edit or reorder your Snapchat best friends list. The rankings are calculated automatically based on your snap activity.
If you want to move someone up, you need to intentionally snap them more. Send snaps, chat often, and frequently watch their stories. Consistent two-way interaction is key for ranking higher.
I need more best friend slots
Snapchat currently limits your best friends list to 8 friends. There is no setting to increase the capacity beyond 8.
The company does this intentionally to keep the focus on your very top tier of friends. But your interactions with all your friends contribute to their ranking, even if they don’t make the top 8.
If you wish to showcase a wider circle of friends, try creating custom Snapchat stories and adding close friends to them. You can share these stories publicly or privately with selected friends.
Someone is not my real best friend
Sometimes the algorithm may rank someone highly who you don’t actually consider a best friend. This can happen if:
- You have lots of short, casual snaps over a short period of time.
- You have a very close score with multiple friends.
- You recently increased snaps to someone new.
Give it some time for your scores to stabilize. In a month the rankings usually realign to capture your true best friends.
If a friend lingers too long, temporarily snapping your real besties more can help shuffle the list. The rankings will catch up to your actual closest friends through consistent communication.