How To Get People Off Your Best Friends List

Snapchat is the go-to social media platform for many people between the ages of 13 and 25. It aims to keep friends in touch with one another. As such, the app lists your contacts in the Send To function, and right at the top, you'll find your "Best Friends".

But what does Best Friends mean on Snapchat? Can anyone else see who you're friends with? And how can you get someone off your Best Friends list on Snapchat?

How Does Snapchat's "Best Friends" Work?

Your Best Friends list on Snapchat keeps track of the people you chat with most often. It appears at the top of your main friends list, making those users more accessible when you're sending a new Snap.

But how does Snapchat calculate who your Best Friends are? It's pretty simple.

You may have noticed that every user has a Snap Score—a measure of the total number of Snaps sent and received since joining. A similar score is assigned to individual conversations between you and your friends. The more you chat with a particular person, the higher your friendship score becomes.

To determine your Best Friends list, Snapchat analyzes these scores and lists the friends you chat with the most, in order of your friendship score.

What Do Snapchat's "Friend Emojis" Mean?

How can you tell who your Snapchat Best Friends are? They'll appear at the top of your Send To screen. You can also click on your profile (the circle to the top-left of your interface), thenMy Friends, and yourBest Friends are listed at the top.

When you swipe to your Chat screen, you'll see your contacts listed alongside emojis. These show your Best Friends too.

Here's what some of them mean:

Baby: You're new friends.
Double pink heart: This is your #1 Best Friend; you've also been their #1 Best Friend for at least two months.
Red heart: You've been each other's #1 Best Friend for two weeks.
Gold heart: You're each other's #1 Best Friend, albeit for fewer than two weeks.
Smile: They're one of your Best Friends, though they're not your #1 Best Friend.
Smirking Smiling Face: You're one of their Best Friends, but they're not one of yours. This means they send you a lot of Snaps, but you're not so keen to return the favor.
Smiling Face With Sunglasses: You share a mutual Best Friend.
Grimacing Face: You both share a #1 Best Friend.
Fire: This appears when you're on a "Snapstreak", along with the number of consecutive days you've snapped each other.

Emojis are also used by contacts in Snaps and Chats. If you use the service, you might need to understand the meanings of emojis to get the most out of your chats.

Best Friends on Snapchat: Your Questions Answered

Before we show you how to get someone off your Best Friends list, let's cover some of the related questions you may have about the feature.

Can Other Users See Your Best Friends List on Snapchat?

You might be concerned about privacy and want to know how to hide Best Friends on Snapchat. But don't worry: no one else can see who you're friends with on the app.

Others used to be able to see Best Friends lists. Fortunately, Snapchat saw the light and deleted this feature in a 2015 update.

Beware: some emojis, like the Smiling Face With Sunglasses icon, still indicate shared Best Friends.

How Many Best Friends Can You Have on Snapchat?

You can have up to eight Best Friends.

Some only have one or two. Others converse with so many people, the Best Friends emojis shift between contacts daily.

How Can You Make Someone Your Best Friend on Snapchat?

You can't specifically "set" someone as your Best Friend. Snapchat's algorithm works by analyzing who you converse with most.

If you want someone to be your Best Friend on Snapchat, send them lots of Snaps and Chats! Of course, you should make sure the feeling's mutual—there's little point in bombarding someone with Snaps if it's just going to annoy them.

And while one user might be your Best Friend, that doesn't mean you're necessarily theirs.

How To Remove Snapchat Best Friends

Remember, only you can see who your Best Friends are anyway.

Nonetheless, you might still want to remove Best Friends from your Snapchat. It can be easy, but it depends on how frequently you Snap or Chat with them. You used to be able to block someone and then add them again, but this method no longer works.

You have three options.

How to Delete Friends on Snapchat

The first is to remove that friend entirely. This might be because of a break-up and you don't want to be reminded of them every time you open the platform.

Swipe to the Chat function, to the left of your camera interface, then tap on the Bitmoji or profile icon of the person you want to remove. Then click on the vertical ellipsis at the top-right of your screen, and tap either Remove Friend or Block.

Remove Friend is a temporary option: it's easy to undo and they can still message you. Block is more permanent. This option will remove them from your Best Friends list, and the app overall.

That user will no longer be able to see your Snap Score, so they may presume that they've been removed or even guess that you've blocked them.

How to Get Rid of Your Best Friends on Snapchat

This method isn't ideal, but since Snapchat removed the loophole that let you block then add users again, it's one of the only ways to to get someone off your Best Friends list without blocking them. You've got to use the algorithm to your own advantage.

How? You need to send fewer Snaps and Chats to the person you don't want listed as a Best Friend any more. Prioritize someone else.

So how long do the Best Friend emojis last on Snapchat? This depends largely on how many contacts you have and how many you talk to frequently.

If you know very few people on Snapchat, sending one Snap might mean they instantly become your Best Friend. If you know lots of people and have numerous Snapstreaks going, you'll probably have many Best Friends.

How to Hide Best Friends on Snapchat

The third option disguises who your Best Friends are.

Let's posit that someone you know often checks your smartphone and wants to know who you're regularly in contact with. You should really implement better security, but perhaps you don't want to lock someone out of your phone completely.

There's nothing you can do to hide Best Friends on the Send To screen, but you can mask it on the Chat screen (which someone else is most likely to check because it's quicker and easier).

You can hide who your Best Friends are by changing the related emoji.

Open your profile then click the cog icon in the top-right. iOS users should go to Manage > Friend Emojis then click on whichever field you want to toggle. These include Super BFF, BFF, Besties, and BFs. You can change the emoji to whatever you want, as long as two fields don't share the same one.

Android users can do this by clicking on Customize Emojis, also found after clicking on the cog icon.

Don't Worry About Snapchat's Best Friends

Knowing you're not someone's Best Friend on Snapchat shouldn't concern you.

Maybe you just don't talk enough on the app, but that doesn't mean you're not good friends in real life. After all, Snapchat's Best Friends feature doesn't account for SMS, messaging platforms, or face-to-face conversations.

What Is "Our Story" on Snapchat?

For those who have heard of the feature but don't know what it is, we explain all.