Snapchat Best Friends List Order: How it Works?

One of the most well-known social media apps, Snapchat, keeps releasing a tonne of fresh and cool features. One of its unique features is the “Best Friends List” which includes those Snapchat friends with whom you talk the most. Snapchat automatically determines your closest friends on the basis of your activity and engagement. In this article, I will explain the Snapchat Best Friends List Order and how it works.

It’s not shocking to know that many Snapchat users are concerned or curious about who is listed as their best friend on Snapchat. Snapchat has always kept its algorithm a secret but as a tech enthusiast, I know many factors that decide who is going to be included in your best friends list. It is mostly dependent upon your daily activities and your communication on the app.

Snapchat Algorithm For Best Friends

Before 2018, the criteria for selecting your best friends on Snapchat were quite simple. Snapchat was using the last week’s interactions with other users to decide which user should be included in the best friends list. These interactions were mostly the number of snaps you sent and received from each other.

At the beginning of 2018, Snapchat changed how your friends are sorted. Their updated algorithm is more complex and takes factors like your participation in group chats into account. In addition, each best friend is also assigned a specific emoji according to their ranking. Additionally, you can have up to eight best friends, making it difficult to determine who is really in the first place.

Snapchat Best Friends List Order

The first column of the Best Friends list contains the first four names, and the next column contains the next names from five to eight, as your best friends’ names appear in the list order on Snapchat from top to bottom. 

Snapchat determines who is your best friend on the platform by using information from your chat history and interactions with them. Snapchat determines who is your best friend on the platform. The remaining task of ranking them in the list is handled by the Snapchat algorithm.

How Snapchat Determines Your Best Friends?

Snapchat organizes your list of best friends on the basis of who you communicate with the most. The people on the list will be those who receive your snaps the most frequently (the top recipient will appear at the top of the list).

Even if you don’t use Snapchat on a regular basis, the algorithm will look at your snapping history to determine who should be on your list of best friends. If you have a boyfriend or girlfriend and are curious as to why certain individuals are at the top or bottom of their list of best friends, it means that they communicate with them frequently that’s why Snapchat has included them in that list. However, you should also keep in mind that Snapchat keeps changing its algorithm and changing the factors that decide the best friends of any user.

Snapchat commonly uses the following factors to decide who should be added to the best friend list of any user:

Number of Red Snaps

Someone will rank higher on your list of best friends if you red snap them more frequently as compared to your other friends. Snapchat gives Red Snaps priority in comparison with regular chats because they are more interactive. 

When Snapchat was launched, Red snaps were the only way to communicate with your Snapchat friends. This can be the reason why Snapchat gives red snaps so much weight when ranking your best friends list.

Snapchat Streaks

When you and your friend have a streak of more days than the others, that is the most important factor that determines whether a friend is added to your list of best friends. If you send a Snap to any of your friends daily without any gap you can maintain a streak with them. Simply streaking someone will turn them into your best friend on the app.

Number of Media Files

Sending someone more multimedia messages, such as voice notes, photos from your camera roll, Snaps, stickers, etc., will elevate them to the top of your list of best friends.

Snapchat will give priority to this when deciding the order of the best friends list because you are more likely to talk to someone when communicating via interactive media rather than plain text. You will observe that people higher on your list of best friends will interact with you through multimedia more frequently than people lower down the list.

Your Snapchat Story Replies

The order of your best friends list is somewhat influenced by how you interact with each other’s snaps and stories. The algorithm will prioritize a particular friend at the top of the list if they consistently reply to your snaps and stories, which may lead you to message them more regularly.

Your Recent Interactions

How recently you spoke to someone will affect where they rank on your list of best friends. You will notice that the individuals who are near the top of your list of best friends are those with whom you have spoken most recently. Similarly, you will also notice that you don’t talk to the individuals at the bottom of the list as frequently as you do with those at the top.

How to Add Someone to Your Best friends List?

On Snapchat, it is simple to turn someone into one of your closest friends if you talk to them for a long time. However, the algorithm only needs 1 or 2 days to identify the person and relocate them up the list. 

If you don’t communicate with some of your friends on a regular basis, they will not be added to your best friend list. Even if they are included in this list, they will be removed as your best friends due to consistent inactivity. 

If after sending numerous messages or snaps, they still don’t respond. They won’t be listed as best friends by the algorithm. The algorithm will take some time to add someone to your best friend list even if the person has responded to your chat. The algorithm considers engagement over time. They must respond to you and you must communicate with them continuously in order to be included in each other’s best friend list.

Can Anyone View My Best Friends List on Snapchat?

No, Nobody can view your best friend list on the Snapchat app. Although you once had access to more of your friends’ personal information on their profiles, Snapchat’s first significant redesign three years ago made Best Friends lists private. The app has since undergone another redesign, but this list hasn’t been made public again.

Can I Hide My Best Friends on Snapchat?

Best Friends cannot be covered up on the “Send To” screen, but it can be hidden on the Chat screen. You can hide your Best Friends by changing the emoji placed next to their names. 

For this purpose, follow the simple steps below:

  • Open the Snapchat app and go to chats.
  • In chats, the top-right corner of the screen will display a three-dot icon.
  • Following that, you’ll see a menu with lots of choices. You should select the option labeled “Customize Best Friend Emojis”.
  • You can now select any preferred Emoji with a relevant description already provided.
  • You can replace the emoji of your “best friend forever” with any other option available there.
  • After that, Your best friend will no longer have that status, and their name will no longer be at the top of the friend list.

Final Words

The Snapchat algorithm determines Snapchat Best Friends List Order on the basis of your recent activity, conversations, number of Snaps sent/received, and maximum interactions you had with your top 8 friends in a certain period of time. If you stop sending Snaps and messages to any of your friends, he/she will be automatically removed from your best friend list after a certain time. Similarly, if you start interacting with someone more often on Snapchat, that person will be added to your best friend list.

F.A.Qs

Why do I have only 7 friends in my Snapchat Best friends list?

You have interacted with only 7 people on Snapchat which is the reason why you have only seven friends in the best friends list.

How is Snapchat’s best friends list ordered?

Snapchat best friend list is ordered on the basis of your interactions with your friends. There are emoji indicators that show your shared best friends but you cannot view the best friend list of your friends.

How to become someone’s best friend on Snapchat?

In order to become someone’s best friend on Snapchat, make sure to send Snaps and talk to each other. You will be added to someone’s best friend list after communicating with them on a regular basis.