The best Snapchat tips, tricks, and secret hacks

Alex Heath
Snapchat messageSnap

There’s a lot to Snapchat.

Even for the young folks who make up the bulk of its users, there are lots of hidden features to uncover.

Luckily, we’ve done the hard work for you.

Here are the best Snapchat tips and expert tricks to take your snap game to the next level:

Get the latest Snap stock price here.

You've probably tried Snapchat's famous selfie lenses at least once. But did you know there are similar effects for your rear-facing camera? They're fun!

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They're called World Lenses. You simply tap your screen while using your rear-facing camera to try them out.

Snapchat messages normally disappear within 10 seconds of being viewed, but you can stop them from being deleted right away by turning on 'infinity' mode. The messages will still disappear after the recipient exists your conversation.

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You can draw with emojis. To get started, tap the pen drawing tool, then the star emoji under the colour bar.

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You can stack filters on top of each other to create multiple effects. With one filter enabled, tap and hold on the screen and then swipe again with a second finger to add another filter.

You can create your own location-based filters for particular cities, neighbourhoods, and even site-specific events like birthday parties and weddings.

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Head on over to Snapchat's website to learn more.

When watching someone's Story, you can quickly send them a message by just swiping up.

Snapchat Stories no longer autoplay from person to person by default. But you can turn that feature back on by tapping the triangle icon at the bottom of the screen.

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If you're worried about Snapchat using too much of your phone's data plan or battery charge, turn on Travel Mode. You can find it under 'Manage' in your settings.

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One of Snapchat's many quirks is the list of emojis it puts next to your friends' names. You can read the description of each Friend Emoji and even change the symbol used for each category by going to 'Manage' in settings.

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A Snapstreak is the number of consecutive days you've snapped with a friend. It's represented by the number next to your friend's name. An hourglass emoji warns that your streak with someone is about to end.

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And yes, people are obsessed with keeping their Snapstreaks alive.

In your settings, you can choose to let anyone send you messages (if they know your username). You can also change whether you want your Story to be visible to anyone who adds you, or only people you add back. The 'Custom' setting lets you block specific people from seeing your Story (but they can still message you directly).

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Snapchat doesn't notify you when someone unfriends you, but you can always check by looking for their Snapscore, which sits next to their username. If it's not visible, they don't follow you.

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No service? No problem. You can shoot snaps without an internet connection and send them later when you get back online.

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You can save all your snaps to Memories, which you can find by swiping down from the Snapchat camera. There's a separate 'My Eyes Only' section in Memories for snaps you don't want anyone else to see.

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Your Trophy Case is visible above your Snapcode. You unlock trophies as you complete certain activities in the app, like sending a certain number of snaps using video zoom.

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With the search feature, you can look up a particular contact, find the friends you talk to the most, or search for a specific event in crowdsourced stories no matter where you are in the app. Just tap on 'Search' from the top of the screen.

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Not all conversations in Snapchat have to disappear. If you tap and hold on a chat bubble, you can save it for later. The next time you open the conversation, scroll up and you'll see what you saved. If you want to reset it so that it will disappear, tap and hold again. (When you save something, the app will notify the person you're chatting with).

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You can search for stickers in a chat conversation with keywords. Just type a keyword, like 'wow,' love,' or 'dope' and tap the sticker button.

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Snapchat supports group chats. Just select multiple people from your contacts when you're sending a message. You can name a group too.

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The Snapchat camera can recognise any QR code and open its corresponding web link.

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If you want a friend's name to show up differently in your contact list, just edit it.

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If there's a publisher story you want to stop seeing, you can hide it from Snapchat by tapping and holding.

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There's a way to record video in Snapchat without any hands...

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Check out our full guide to learn more.

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