Snapchat Family Toolkit
Our Snapchat Family Toolkit is your ultimate guide to navigating Snapchat safely. Get excited about keeping the whole family protected and connected using our easy-to-use resources.
Find out the features of Snapchat, what you can do in it and the safety tools available. Our Snapchat guide covers what you can do in the app and how to use the privacy settings available.
Our Snapchat Family Toolkit is your ultimate guide to navigating Snapchat safely. Get excited about keeping the whole family protected and connected using our easy-to-use resources.
Last Updated01/10/2024
Snapchat is a messaging app used to take photos and videos, decorate them with text and pictures, and then send them to friends.
These photos and videos are called ‘Snaps’. Snaps aren’t saved like regular messaging apps – they’re only available to view for a few seconds and then they disappear.
Once everyone that has been sent a Snap has viewed it, Snapchat’s system automatically deletes it from their servers.
Snapchat also has other features, including Stories, Spotlight and the Snap Map, which are explained below.
Snaps: You can send photos and videos to your Snapchat friends.
Most Snaps sent over Snapchat are automatically deleted once they’ve been viewed or have expired. All one-on-one and Group Chat Snaps are automatically deleted after they've been viewed by all recipients.
In one-on-one conversations, you or your friend can set some Snaps to delete after 24 hours instead. In one-on-one conversation, Chats are set to delete 24 hours after you have viewed them, while messages sent in Group Chat are set to delete one day after everyone has viewed or one week after the message was sent, whichever is sooner.
You can decorate your Snaps with filters, lenses, stickers and text – and add them to your Story if you want them to be available to be viewed for longer. You can also ‘replay’ a video or snap you receive from someone else once. Snaps can also be saved to your chat and will appear in Chat Media.
Lenses: Lenses add real-time augmented reality to a Snap. For example, some lenses add animal masks to the user’s face and another makes the person appear to be surrounded by butterflies.
Filters: Filters are a way to customise your Snaps. You can add a filter to your image or video that shows the time, weather, the location that you’re at and others.
Stickers: Stickers are colourful images and cartoons that you can use to decorate your images and videos.
Screenshot: Snaps disappear once the person who it was sent to has seen it, but people can still take screenshots of Snaps. It’s important to know that even though Snapchat deletes Snaps once they’ve been seen, if someone does take a screenshot there is a record of the Snap. If someone screenshots a Snap, the person who sent it will get a notification to let them know.
Messages: You can also use Snapchat to send messages. In one-on-one conversations, Chats are set to delete 24 hours after you have viewed them.
Messages sent in Group Chats are set to delete one day after everyone has viewed or one week after the message was sent, whichever is sooner. Like with Snaps, people can choose to save text chats in the app.
My AI: This is a chatbot that you can ask questions to. My AI is powered by OpenAI's ChatGPT technology, with additional safety enhancements and controls tailored to Snapchat. My AI appears in the Chat tab. Click here for more information on My AI.(https://help.snapchat.com/hc/en-gb/articles/13266788358932-What-is-My-AI-on-Snapchat-and-how-do-I-use-it)
Stories: Adding images or video to your Story creates a series of Snaps that stay on Snapchat for 24 hours. You can choose to have your Story visible to all Snapchatters, just your Snapchat friends or a custom group of your friends.
Memories: Memories is your own personal collection of Snaps and Stories you’ve created that you want to save. You’re able to put a password on private Snaps and Stories, called “My Eyes Only”, so that only you can unlock these memories.
Discover: Discover is the public curated feed of Stories. All content that goes to a large audience on Discover has been moderated by Snapchat.
Spotlight: Spotlight provides a public feed of content from Snap Stars and Snapchat’s publishing partners. All content on Spotlight has been curated and moderated by Snapchat.
Snap Map allows you to view Snaps of events like sporting events, celebrations, breaking news, from around the world. If you and a friend follow one another, you can share your locations with each other so you can see where they are and what’s going on around them. You’re able to choose who can view your location, or enter ‘Ghost Mode’ so no one can see your location. Location sharing is off by default.
To open the Snap Map, use the map button on the bottom menu of the app. There are always potential risks with sharing your location with other people, so it’s important to think carefully about who you’re sharing this information with. See our privacy information below for instructions on entering Ghost Mode.
Important:
Snapchatters who see your messages can always potentially save them, whether by taking a screenshot or by using some other image-capture technology (whether that be a separate piece of software, or even simply taking a photo of their screen with a second camera).
Most messages sent over Snapchat will be automatically deleted once they’ve been viewed or have expired.
To see or change who can view your Snaps and Stories, tap on your avatar on the camera screen to access your profile, then tap the gear icon in the upper-right corner of the screen and scroll down to the ‘Privacy Control’ section.
For Chat and Snaps:
Tap the ‘Contact Me’ option and choose either:
For Stories
Tap the ‘View My Story’ option and choose either:
Snap Map is off by default.
Only the people you choose can see your location – you can choose to share your location with all your friends you’ve added back or just a group of select friends.
To share your location with all of your friends on Snapchat:
To only share your location with select friends on Snapchat:
To turn Ghost Mode on:
When you block a friend, they won’t be able to view your Story or Charms, or send you Snaps or Chats.
When you remove a friend from your friends list, they won’t be able to view any of your private Stories or Charms, but they’ll still be able to view any content you have set to public.
Depending on your privacy settings, they may also still be able to Chat or Snap you.
To block or delete a contact:
You can report abuse on Snapchat, including harassment, bullying, blackmail, or other safety concerns or illegal content.
To report a Snap or Story you see on Snapchat:
To report content in Stories:
To report someone's Snapchat account:
To report a Chat message:
Teens must be at least 13 to create a Snapchat account.
If Snapchat becomes aware that an account belongs to a person under 13, the account will be terminated.
For the parents of teens aged 13-17, Snapchat provides an in-app tool called Family Centre to help get more insight into who their teens are friends with on Snapchat, and who they have been communicating with, without revealing any of the substance of those conversations.
To de-activate or delete a Snapchat account on Android or the web:
To de-activate or delete a Snapchat account on iOS:
This will de-activate an account for 30 days, during which time the account can still be re-activated. After 30 more days the account will be permanently deleted.
Family Centre is an in-app tool to help parents get more insight into who their teens are friends with on Snapchat, and who they have been communicating with, while still respecting their teens' privacy and autonomy.
Family Centre provides parental supervision for parents over the age of 25 and gives them the ability to:
You might find these links useful for further information
Check out our handy guide designed for parents to support their whānau to stay safe online.
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