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May 10 2021, Updated 1:30 p.m. ET
Since Snapchat took away the divisive and public best friends list, users have been trying desperately to understand where they rank in their friends lists. While Snapchat promises privacy by deleting your messages and photos immediately after they're opened, the app still offers some sneaky ways to understand your ranking.
Snapchat's use of emojis is probably the best way to understand where you fit in. Here's what the Snapchat emojis mean in 2021.
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The baby face emoji
The baby face emoji appears next to anyone you've recently added as a friend on the app, signifying that your connection with them is still young. Whether or not you message that person, this emoji will disappear a few days after you add them.
The smiling face emoji
Anyone on your friends list with the smiling face emoji next to their name is one of your best friends on the app. They're one of the people on your friends list who you Snapchat with the most, even if they're not your best friend IRL.
This emoji appears next to your top friend even if you are not their top friend.
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The three types of hearts
On Snapchat, there are three different heart emojis. If you open your feed and find a little yellow heart next to someone's name, that means you and that person have just become each other's number one best friend. This emoji only appears if you both Snapchat each other the most out of your friends list.
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The red heart emoji replaces the yellow heart if you've been best friends with them for more than two weeks. Again, you can only get this emoji if you're each other's most Snapchatted friend.
The red heart upgrades to the pink double heart after two months of friendship. Since Snapchat has removed the public best friends lists, the hearts are the best way to decipher rankings in other users' friends lists.
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The fire emoji
The fire emoji is usually paired with a number, signifying the length of your communication streak. To start a streak with someone, you each need to send each other a Snapchat photo or video message once a day for at least three days. Regular messages will not count toward your streak.
Once you've kept your streak going for 100 days, the 100 emoji will appear next to the fire emoji.
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The hourglass emoji
This emoji usually appears next to your streaks emoji. The hourglass means that your streak is about to run out, and that you need to send another Snapchat to that person if you wish to keep it. However, if they don't also send a Snapchat back to you, the streak might still go away if the timer is present.
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The face with sunglasses emoji
This cool-looking emoji signifies that one of your best friends on Snapchat is also one of their best friends. This means you both Snapchat the same people often, though it won't tell you which of your best friends you share.
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The grimacing face emoji
The grimace emoji appears next to the name of a user who shares your same best friend. You both send the most Snapchats to the same person, and the emoji will appear even if you don't talk to that user at all.
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The smirking face emoji
The smirk emoji means you rank higher in this user's friend list than they rank in yours. This means they likely send you a lot of Snapchats, while you don't send them as many.
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The gold star emoji
The gold star emoji signifies that this person has a Snapchat that's been replayed in the last 24 hours. If you don't allow Snapchats to be replayed, you might not be able to have this emoji next to your name.
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How do you change the emojis on Snapchat in 2021?
While this is what the emojis currently mean, users also have the option to change the emojis in their settings. To do this, go to the settings tab, and then under "Additional Services" click "Manage."
Select "Friend Emojis." Here you can not only see an up-to-date list of what each emoji means, but you can choose which emojis mean what. For example, if you want to change the streak emoji from a fire to a cookie, you can!
