How Does Snapchat Suggest Friends?

After finding out random people in my suggestions, I decided to explore how Snapchat suggests friends. Soon, I found out that Snapchat suggests friends using several methods. It looks at your activity, such as people you chat with or share Snaps with.

If you interact often with someone, Snapchat might suggest them as a friend. The app also considers your past interactions and connections.

For example, if you’ve chatted with someone frequently, they could show up in your suggestions. If you’ve synced your contacts, Snapchat suggests friends who are already on the platform but aren’t in your list.

Location also plays a role, which helps Snapchat suggest people in your area. Additionally, mutual friends and algorithms help the app suggest new connections. 

What is the Snapchat Friend Suggestion Feature?

Snapchat suggests friends in different ways. It mainly suggests friends through the “Quick Add” section.

This feature appears when you open Snapchat and look at your “Add Friends” list. The people in this list are users Snapchat thinks you may know or want to connect with. 

How Does Snapchat Suggest Friends?

Snapchat uses a lot of different methods to suggest friends to its users. These suggestions are not random; they are based on certain factors. Let’s explore these factors and see how Snapchat works behind the scenes to recommend new friends. 

1. Activity-Based Suggestions:

When you actively use Snapchat, it keeps track of your activities, such as the people you interact with or the chats you have. Based on this data, the app suggests friends who share common connections with you. If you have been chatting with someone frequently who has a public profile, they could also appear as a friend suggestion. 

2. Friend Suggestions Based on History

Not only your current activity, Snapchat also looks at yoru past interactions. If you have been interacting with certain people frequenlty. Snapchat also suggests those individuals as friends. 

3. Account Creation: 

When you create an account on Snapchat, the app begins tracking your activity and connections. Then, snapchat starts suggesting friends to add to your account. You can add them to the people and send them snaps and texts. 

4. Syncing Your Contacts:

If you allowed Snapchat to access your phone contacts. It can suggest who are already on Snapchat but are not in your friend list yet. For example, if you have a friend named John in your contacts who has Snapchat but is not in your list. Then, Snapchat can suggest him to your contact list under the “Quick Add” feature. 

5. Mutual Friends:

Mutual friends play a significant role in the friend suggestions you receive. If you frequently chat with someone on Snapchat, watch their stories, or exchange Snaps. Snapchat also suggests that the person as a friend. The more active you are with certain users, the higher the chances that Snapchat will be suggested to you as a friend. 

6. Location-Based Suggestions:

Snapchat also uses your location to suggest friends, especially through features like “Quick Add”. Snapchat suggests people from the same city or area, even if you don’t know them. Moreover, this works better when you allow location services on your phone. 

7. Third-Party Social Networks:

In the past, Snapchat allowed users to connect their social media accounts, such as Facebook or Instagram. Although this feature is no longer as common. This feature will help to suggest frineds based on your connections on other platforms. 

8. Random Suggestions (Algorithm-Based):

Along with all of these possible reasons, Snapchat occasionally suggests random people. These suggestions are based on complex algorithms that are based on different factors, such as searches and interaction between users. 

Can You Control Who Appears in Friend Suggestions?

Yes, you can manage your privacy settings to control who can appear in your friend suggestions. Here are some of the steps you can take; 

1. Block or Remove Users:

If you don’t want someone to show up in your friend suggestions, you can block them. Blocking someone will remove them from your friend suggestions, and they will no longer be able to view your profile or send your Snaps. 

2. Disable Contact Syncing:

If you don’t want Snapchat to access your phone contacts for friend suggestions, you can turn off the app’s access to your contacts in your phone settings. Once you stop giving access to Snapchat to yoru accounts, this will prevent the app from scanning your contacts and suggesting people from your phone. 

How to Enable or Disable Contact Syncing?

• Open Snapchat and tap your profile icon.
• Go to Settings (⚙️).
• Scroll down to “Contacts Syncing” and choose to enable or disable it.

3. Hide Your Location:

Snapchat has a feature called Snap Map. It shows your location to your friends. If you don’t want people to know where you are or if you don’t want your location to influence friend suggestions, you can hide your location. This can be done by changing your Snap Map settings. 

How to Turn Off Location-Based Suggestions?

• Go to your Snapchat account and tap on the “Profile” Icon. 
• Click on the “See My Location” under Privacy Control. 

Why Does Snapchat Suggest People I Don’t Know?

Sometimes, Snapchat suggests people you don’t know about. Here is why; 

• In that case, if someone recently joined Snapchat, they are being suggested to many users. 
• You have indirect mutual friends (friends of friends). 
• They viewed your public story or interacted with your content. 
• Snapchat algorithm predicts you might know them.

How To Turn Off Quick Add On Snapchat?

To adjust who can send you friend requests or see your profile. You need to follow these steps; 

• Go to your Snapchat and click on your “Profile”. After that, in the upper right corner, tap on the “Settings”. 

• Scroll down until you reach the Privacy Control section. Under this section, find and tap on See Me in Quick Add. This will open the settings for whether or not your profile can appear in the Quick Add suggestions for other users.

• Once you tap on it, you’ll see a small box with a check mark inside. This means the feature is currently turned on. Tap the box to remove the check mark — this will disable the setting so your profile no longer appears in other people’s Quick Add suggestions.

Does Snapchat recommend friends of friends?

Yes, Snapchat suggests friends of your friends. If you have mutual friends with someone, Snapchat starts showing them in your “Quick Add” section.

Once you see them in your quick add, you can connect with people who are in your social circle but not in your friend list. Now, you can add them to your friend list from suggestions and start exchanging snaps. 

Does Snapchat send friend Suggestion Notifications?

No, Snapchat does not send a notification when you appear in someone’s friend suggestions. If you are suggested to another user, they will see you in their “Quick Add” section. Similarly, you will not get a notification when someone sees you in their suggestions. 

If Someone Is on My Quick Add, Am I on Theirs?

Not necessarily, just because someone appears in your “Quick Add” does not mean you appear in theirs. Snapchat uses algorithms and different types of factors for each user, as per their activity. However, if the reason for the suggestion is mutual friends or location, there is a chance you appear on their lists, too. 

How to Add Friends Using Quick Add?

Adding friends through Quick Add is simple. Follow these steps; 

• Open Snapchat on your phone.
• Tap the Add Friends button (a person with a + sign) in the top right corner.
• You will see the Quick Add section.
• Find a person you want to add.
• Tap Add next to their name.
• The person will receive your friend request. If they accept, you will be connected.

How to Remove People from Quick Add?

If you don’t want to see certain people in Quick Add, you can remove them. Here’s how:

• Open Snapchat and go to Add Friends.
• Scroll to the Quick Add section.
• Find the person you want to remove.
• Tap the X next to their name.
• Select a reason for removing them (optional).

User Experiences about Snapchat Suggest Friends

During my research about how Snapchat suggests friends, I found that many users were puzzled, even with little to no contacts or social media connections.

Snapchat uses connections between your contacts and theirs, suggesting friends you haven’t interacted with yet. For example, if you frequently chat with someone, Snapchat might assume you know some of their friends. 

It also suggests people based on phone numbers in your contacts, even if they’re not in your list. Some users got suggestions for people they hadn’t been in touch with for years, sparking theories that Snapchat may gather data from mobile carriers or rely on location, mutual friends, or phone syncing features.

FAQs

Amber Burnett

Amber Burnett, M.A., is a communication expert and educator with over 15 years of experience driving social media growth. She is sharing snapchat growth at scplanetorder.com. Specialising in effective communication, collaboration, and STEM education, she has a proven track record of building successful businesses across the globe. She is serving as lecturer at school of professional communication at Texas Tech University.

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