Snapchat introduced the stories feature in 2013 as a way for users to share photos and videos that expire after 24 hours. The stories tab is where you can view stories from your friends and the creators, publishers, and communities you follow. Stories provide a narrative experience by sharing moments over the course of a day. They also let you get to know your friends and connections better as their daily lives unfold before your eyes.
What are stories on Snapchat?
Stories on Snapchat are photos and videos shared by users that play in the order they were taken and disappear after 24 hours. When you take a photo or video, you have the option to add it to your story by clicking on “My Story” after taking the snap. Your story becomes available for all your friends to view in the stories tab. They can tap to skip through stories or swipe to view the next person’s story. You can also create custom stories to share with specific friends. Snapchatters can view stories an unlimited number of times within the 24-hour period before they disappear.
Stories enable Snapchatters to share an ongoing narrative. Rather than individual snaps sent directly to friends, stories piece together snapshots from your day. They capture the moments between big events that highlight your daily life. Stories have become a key way Snapchatters communicate and view content from friends, celebrities, and publishers. Snapchat now has over 450 million daily active users engaging with stories.
Where do you view stories on Snapchat?
All stories that have been shared with you are viewable in the stories tab on Snapchat. To access it, simply swipe right from the camera screen or tap on the stories icon on the far left of the navigation bar at the bottom. The stories tab is indicated by a series of circles, with each circle representing a person’s story available to view. When a circle is highlighted, it means there is new story content from that person to watch.
The stories tab has a few sections:
- Friends Stories – View stories from your friends list. Friends with active stories will have a blue ring around their profile photo.
- Subscriptions – View stories from creators, publishers, and communities you follow.
- For You – Editorial content and stories Snapchat recommends for you based on your interests.
- Featured – Top stories across Snapchat from verified accounts and Our Stories.
- Discover – Professionally produced content from Snapchat’s publishing partners.
When you open someone’s story, their snaps will play in a continuous sequence. You can tap to skip ahead or swipe to immediately view the next person’s story. This lets you easily watch stories from all your friends and connections seamlessly.
How do you post to your Snapchat story?
Posting to your Snapchat story is easy. Simply follow these steps:
- Open the Snapchat app and swipe right to open the camera.
- Take a photo or video snap.
- Before sending it, tap “My Story” at the bottom to add it to your story. Or tap “Send To” to share it directly with friends.
- Edit the snap with captions, stickers, filters, etc. if desired.
- Tap the arrow icon to post it to your story. It will now be viewable by your friends.
Every snap you add to your story stitches together to create a narrative of your day. Your story continually updates with your newest snaps, while old ones expire after 24 hours. You can also post multiple times to your story throughout the day to share more moments.
Who can view your Snapchat story?
By default, all your friends on Snapchat can view your story. It will appear in the stories tab for 24 hours for your friends to see. However, you can customize who can view your story in your settings:
- Everyone – All your Snapchat friends can view your story.
- My Friends – Only friends you’ve added can view your story.
- Custom – Select specific friends who can view your story.
Changing this setting updates who will be able to see your current and future stories. Stories that are already posted can’t be retroactively hidden from specific people after being shared.
How do stories disappear in Snapchat?
One of the signature features of Snapchat is ephemerality – the ephemeral, temporary nature of photos, videos, and stories. Each story snap expires after 24 hours. The app automatically removes it from the stories tab at that point.
When you post to your story, each individual snap has a 24-hour expiration timer. After that time limit passes, that snap is deleted and no longer accessible. New snaps you add push old ones out of your story as it progresses. The stories tab provides a chronological viewing experience as your friends watch the narrative unfold throughout the day.
This ephemeral experience creates a natural flow of ongoing stories. Since your friends know stories disappear, they feel compelled to view them before time runs out. Stories capture candid moments of real life as it happens while maintaining a temporary lifecycle.
What happens when you view someone’s story?
Viewing stories on Snapchat is designed to be fast-paced and seamless. As you’re viewing a friend’s story, their snaps automatically advance after a few seconds. This keeps the narrative moving forward through the moments they’ve shared.
You also have the option to skip a snap and immediately move to the next by tapping your screen. At any time, you can swipe up to stop viewing their story and automatically load the next friend’s story. This creates a quick “story playlist” of moments from your friends.
One thing to note is that friends can see when you’ve viewed their stories. A special notification shows who has watched their snaps. So while stories disappear after 24 hours, friends still know if you’ve viewed their content.
Can you share other people’s stories?
Yes, Snapchat gives you the option to share other people’s stories that you find interesting. To do this:
- View a friend’s story or a story from a creator/publisher you follow.
- Tap the “Send To” arrow icon in the bottom left corner.
- Select which friends you want to share the story with or share it to your own story.
You can add a comment about why you’re sharing it to accompany the story. Shared stories will be marked as having been forwarded by you when your friends view them.
This lets you easily spread stories you find meaningful, funny, interesting, or relevant among your own friend group. It helps increase visibility for stories you think more people should see.
Can you save or download stories on Snapchat?
Since stories disappear after 24 hours, you may want to save some you really like. While Snapchat doesn’t allow downloading other people’s stories, there are a couple options to save them:
- Screen recording – You can use your phone’s screen recording capability to record a video of any story.
- Taking screenshots – Screenshots will save photos from a story to your camera roll.
However, the person who posted the story will receive a notification if you screenshot any part of their story. Keep that in mind if you want to be discreet.
You can also save your own stories before they disappear:
- Tap the story you posted and swipe up to access options.
- Tap “Save” to save that entire story to your camera roll.
Saving your own stories lets you look back on favorite memories even after they’ve expired from the app.
How do you add friends’ stories to your own story?
Snapchat lets you stitch your friends’ public stories together with your own snaps to create collaborative stories with overlapping perspectives on shared events and experiences. Here’s how to create a group story with friends:
- Have a friend post a story while you’re hanging out together.
- In your own story, tap the “Add” button after taking a snap.
- Select your friend’s story that you want to add to your own.
- Post your collaborative story for all friends to see.
The added story willcredit your friend as the author. You can continue taking turns adding to the group story with different viewpoints of your experiences together.
How do live stories work on Snapchat?
Snapchat’s live story feature lets you share photos and videos from events as they happen in real-time. Live stories stitch together snaps from multiple perspectives to create a crowd-sourced narrative of events like sports games, concerts, holidays, breaking news, and more.
To contribute to a live story, open Snapchat at the event and capture snaps. If Snapchat is collecting for a relevant live story, you’ll see the option to “Add to Our Story” after taking a snap. Your published snaps will appear in the live story for anyone on Snapchat to view.
To view live stories, tap on them in the “For You” or “Featured” tabs in the stories screen. Live stories allow you to experience events live through the cameras of many different people. It’s an immersive, raw look into what it’s like to be at an event as it unfolds.
How are memories generated in Snapchat stories?
Snapchat Memories are old photos and videos you’ve saved in the app’s storage that you can re-share to your current story. Memories get generated automatically from:
- Old photos and videos from your camera roll that you’ve previously backed up to Snapchat Memories.
- Stories you’ve posted in the past that have since expired.
- Snaps and chats you’ve saved to Memories.
Memories uses machine learning to recognize the people, places, and events that are important to you. Over time, it generates relevant memories for occasions like birthdays, holidays, and more. You’ll get notified when new memories are available to rediscover and share.
To add memories to your current story, create a new story post and select a memory from the tabs at the bottom. You can customize it with captions, stickers, filters, etc. Posting memories to your current story lets you resurface nostalgic moments for your friends.
How to edit or delete a story on Snapchat
If you want to modify a story you’ve posted:
- Tap the story you want to edit from your story feed.
- Swipe up on the snap to access options.
- Tap “Edit Story” to make changes like add/remove snaps or rearrange them.
To permanently delete a story:
- Long press on the story in your feed.
- Tap the trash icon to delete.
This will remove the story from Snapchat. However, friends who have already viewed it will still be able to replay it until the 24-hour expiration.
Conclusion
The stories feature on Snapchat provides an engaging way to share glimpses into your daily life with friends and view their stories in return. Stories showcase candid moments from users’ days while still maintaining Snapchat’s ephemeral experience. The stories tab in Snapchat creates a central place to view visual narratives from your connections that highlight what matters day-to-day. From silly to serious, stories let you experience your friends’ lives through their eyes.