How To Use Snapchat [Beginner’s Complete Guide]

July 3, 2020 Yukta Jaiswal 1 Comment

The number of Social media users is growing every single day. Especially, the lockdown has increased the number of users and the time they use on social media, tremendously. Social media companies are earning a huge profit from it. It has become an essential part of life, people even get jobs through social media. And one of these social media apps/sites is Snapchat.

Snapchat is a social media app purposely made to share messages and photos with friends along with viewing stories and news from all around the world.

So let’s see How To Use Snapchat app:

1. Download

There are two methods to download this app.

Method-1 (From the website)

1) To download the Snapchat app from the website, go to the official website.

2) Enter your phone number in the space provided and click on “Send Link”.

3) Snapchat will send you a download link. Use that link to download the app.

You can also see the link to download the app from Playstore and AppStore on the website in the download section.

Method-2 (Playstore/AppStore)

To download the app you can use the above method or you can simply download the app from Playstore( for your android) or from AppStore(for your iOS device).

This app is just 57MB in size.

2. Getting started

Open the app and Log In or Sign Up with your account.

1) For Signing Up, first tap on “Sign up”, then tap on “Continue” and “Allow” to give the app permissions.

2) Enter your First name and Last name in the space provided.

3) Tap on “Sign Up and Accept”.

4) Enter your date of birth and click on “Continue”.

5) After tapping “Continue” you will see your username provided by Snapchat on the screen.

6) You can also change the username provided by clicking “Change my username”. Enter your new username and click “Continue”. Your username will be changed.

7) Set a password that should be at least 8 characters long. Tap “Continue”.

8) Enter your mobile number and click “Continue”.

9) Enter the confirmation code that was sent to your phone number.

10) After verifying your account, you can find your friends on Snapchat by tapping “Continue” on “Find your Friends” screen, or you can just skip the process.

11) To add your friends, you can do it by tapping add against their name or if you wish to, you can also skip this process.

12) Tap on “TURN ON” and “Allow”, to give Snapchat access to your camera, storage, and allow it to record audio.

3. Interface

Let us understand the interface of this wonderful app.

Location: In the bottom left corner of the screen, you will get the option of Location from where you can give access to your location to Snapchat which will be visible to all your friends.

Chat: Adjacent to the Location, tap on “Chat” to chat with your friends.

Profile: To view your profile tap the profile icon on the top left corner of the screen.

Camera: Using the camera option, you can take shots to share with your friends or to share on your story.

Stories: Adjacent to the Discover, you will find the option of stories from where you can see the stories of your friends and celebrities that they have posted which remain for 24 hours from the time it has been published.

Discover: In the bottom right corner of the screen tap on “Discover”, to explore stories from your friends and worldwide. Here, you can also search your friends in the search bar.

You can edit your details, or log out, by clicking on the settings icon on the profile page.

4. Snaps & Streak

Snap: A Snap is a photo or video you send in Snapchat, to one or more of your friends. A video snap can only not be more than 10 seconds long. Snaps are deleted once all recipients have viewed them. However, you can add them to your Story, so that they disappear after 24 hours. Unopened Snaps are deleted after 30 days.

Open Snapchat. You will realize that whenever you open the app it will always open the camera screen.

You can see the button(two arrows icon) to change the camera (front or rear) at the top right corner of the screen. Click on the emoji icon to use exciting filters on your camera.

Streak:

Snapchat streak shows how many consecutive days two people share photos (basically, snaps) with each other. When 10 Consecutive days snaps will be shared, 10 streaks will appear on the profile of your friend

Note: Streak count starts after the first three consecutive days snaps are being shared between two friends.

Photo

Tap on the circle shape and tap “Allow”(for the first time) to click a photo.

Use the tools in the right side of the screen to edit your photo. You can also set the time limit after which the photo will be deleted after your friend has seen it.

Video

To record a video tap-hold the circle shape. You can also go handsfree by dragging to the left, towards the lock icon.

Use the same steps mentioned above, to edit and share the video.

Related: Snapchat Statistics

5. Share & Send

To share the photo and video there are some steps:-

1) Save: Tap on “Save” in the bottom left to save the photo to your gallery.

2) Story: Tap on “Story” to add it to your story.

3) Send To: To send it to your friends, tap on “Send To”, select your friends. Here also, you can choose My story/Our story to add it to your story. Tap the blue arrow to share.

Profile: To share your profile, go to profile, as mentioned above, tap the Snapchat icon and choose the option to share your profile.

6. Bitmoji

One of the things that make Snapchat different from other social media platforms is that you can create your own Bitmoji (your own personal emoji).

To create Bitmoji go to your profile, tap “Create My Bitmoji” and customize your Bitmoji however you like.

Download Bitmoji: Playstore (On Android Device), AppStore (on iOS device)

7. Play Games With Friends on Snapchat

Just open the chatbox of the friend with whom you want to play, click on the icon (jet icon), located at the bottom left corner, and choose the game that you want to play.

8. Useful Settings

To save the chat with friends in Snapchat Message for forever, just open the message and tap once on the text that you want to save. You’ve to do this individually for every text.

To Delete chats after 24 hours of viewing, just open the individual setting for friends by holding the bitmoji of friend. Here, you will find the option of Delete Chats… Just click on it and choose the option “24 ours after Viewing”.

Note: Whenever, you take a screenshot of either chat, snaps, or story, the sender of that very chat, snaps, or story will get a notification that you took the screenshot.

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Yukta Jaiswal

An ambitious, studious work loving, person. At the age of 17, I started editing and designing books, and I have also worked as an editor in a publishing company.