How to Tell If Someone Unadded You on Snapchat (2025 Guide)

There’s a particular kind of quiet dread that settles in when someone opens Snapchat and notices something feels… off. Maybe a best friend’s Snap Score vanished into thin air. Perhaps messages that used to deliver instantly now sit there with a stubborn “Pending” label. The question creeps in: did they just get unadded?

Learning how to tell if someone unadded you on Snapchat isn’t complicated, but it does require knowing where to look. The tricky part? Snapchat never sends a notification when someone removes a friend. No alert. No email. Nothing. It’s by design, and honestly, it makes the whole situation feel a bit like detective work.

This guide walks through the seven clear signs that someone has removed a connection, explains the difference between being blocked versus unadded, and offers some perspective on what to do next. With nearly 477 million people using Snapchat daily in 2025, understanding how Gen Z uses social media friendships has never been more relevant.

The Quick Answer: Can You Tell If Someone Removed You on Snapchat?

Yes, absolutely. While Snapchat keeps things discreet by not announcing when someone unfriends another user, there are several telltale signs that make it pretty obvious. The whole process takes less than two minutes to verify.

A woman once shared a story about checking her phone on a random Tuesday and realizing her college roommate’s name had vanished from her best friends list. No fight had happened. No dramatic falling out. Just… gone. That silent removal stung more than she expected, mostly because of the wondering that followed. Was it intentional? An accident? A purge of old contacts?

The good news: anyone can figure out exactly what happened by checking a few simple things.

7 Clear Signs Someone Unadded You on Snapchat

These signs range from obvious to subtle. Not all of them will apply in every situation, but spotting even two or three usually confirms what happened.

1. They’re Missing from Your Friends List

This is the most straightforward check. Here’s how to do it:

  1. Open Snapchat and tap the profile icon in the top-left corner
  2. Scroll down and tap “My Friends”
  3. Use the search bar to type their username
  4. If nothing comes up, they’ve removed the friendship

Keep in mind that Snapchat friend lists are private. Nobody else can see who’s on anyone’s friend list, which means this check stays between the person and their phone.

2. Your Messages Show ‘Pending’ Status

When a message gets sent to someone who’s no longer a friend, it doesn’t deliver normally. Instead, a grey arrow appears next to it with the word “Pending” underneath.

This pending status means one of two things: either the person removed the friendship, or they never accepted a friend request in the first place. If someone was definitely a mutual friend before and now sees pending messages, the friendship got severed somewhere along the way.

3. Their Snap Score Disappeared

Snap Scores only show up between mutual friends. When someone opens a profile and sees their name, Bitmoji, and username but no number underneath indicating their Snap Score, that’s a red flag.

Before jumping to conclusions, it’s worth knowing that some users hide their Snap Scores in privacy settings. But if someone could see a friend’s score before and now it’s gone, the math adds up to an unfriend.

4. You See an ‘Add’ Button Instead of Chat Options

Open a chat with the person in question. Where there used to be options for sending photos, messages, or starting calls, there’s now just a lonely blue “Add” button staring back.

This button is Snapchat’s way of saying: “Hey, you’re not actually friends with this person anymore. Want to fix that?” The presence of this add button where chat options used to live is one of the clearest indicators.

5. Voice and Video Call Icons Are Gone

Mutual friends can call each other directly through Snapchat. When someone opens a chat and those phone and video camera icons have vanished from the top of the screen, the mutual friendship no longer exists.

This ties back to the add button situation. No friendship means no calls. It’s simple but effective confirmation.

6. Their Stories Moved to ‘Following’ Instead of ‘Friends’

Here’s a subtle one that many people miss. On Snapchat, stories from friends appear in one section, while stories from public accounts or people who allow followers appear in another.

If someone notices that a person’s stories shifted from the Friends section to the Following section, something changed. Either the person switched their story settings to public and removed the friendship, or they unfriended while keeping their profile open to followers.

7. Their Profile Looks Empty or Minimal

When viewing someone’s profile as a non-friend, the experience feels stripped down. Less information shows. The Bitmoji might still appear, but the profile lacks the richness that comes with mutual friendship.

Compare it to how the profile looked before. If it seems emptier or less detailed, that’s another piece of the puzzle sliding into place.

Unadded vs. Blocked: What’s the Difference?

People often confuse these two, but they’re very different situations with different implications. Understanding which one happened helps process the situation and decide what to do next.

Signs You Were Unadded (Not Blocked)

  • Profile still searchable: Searching their username brings up their profile
  • Chat history remains: Previous conversations still appear in the chat list
  • Can send messages: Messages show as “pending” rather than failing completely
  • Re-adding is possible: The option to add them as a friend still exists

Being unadded is like someone quietly removing themselves from a contact list. They’re still around; they just chose to disconnect.

Signs You Were Blocked (Not Just Unadded)

  • Profile vanishes completely: Searching their exact username shows nothing
  • Chat history disappears: The entire conversation thread is gone
  • No way to interact: Can’t send anything or view anything
  • Complete invisibility: It’s as if the account doesn’t exist

Blocking is a stronger action. It creates a wall between two users. The person who blocked essentially becomes invisible to the blocked party.

How to Test the Difference

The easiest way to know for certain: check from another account. Ask a trusted friend to search for the username, or create a secondary account to look. If the profile shows up for others but not for you, that’s a block. If it shows up everywhere but you’re just not friends anymore, that’s an unadd.

This method works for how privacy works on Instagram and other platforms too. The principle stays the same: if someone else can see what you can’t, blocking is involved.

Why Snapchat Doesn’t Notify You (And What That Means)

Snapchat made a deliberate choice to keep unfriending quiet. No notifications. No alerts. Just a silent removal that the other person has to discover on their own.

This design philosophy centers on privacy and reducing social drama. Imagine the alternative: getting a push notification every time someone decided to clean up their friend list. The awkwardness and potential confrontations would make the app stressful to use.

By keeping these changes invisible, Snapchat allows users to curate their social circles without facing immediate consequences. It’s actually similar to managing your social media privacy settings on other platforms. The goal is giving people control over their space without creating drama.

Does this approach make being unadded feel worse when someone figures it out? Maybe. But it also means people can make changes freely without worrying about instant notification going out.

What to Do After Someone Unadds You

Finding out someone removed a Snapchat friendship can bring up complicated feelings. Here’s some perspective on handling the situation with grace.

Should You Add Them Back?

That depends. Consider a few things first:

  • How close was the relationship in real life?
  • Was there any conflict or awkwardness recently?
  • Does re-adding seem like it would make things weird?

Sometimes people accidentally remove friends while clearing out their list. A casual re-add might not be a big deal. Other times, the removal was intentional, and adding them back would just create an uncomfortable situation.

How to Handle It Gracefully

The healthiest approach involves not taking it too personally. People curate their social media for all kinds of reasons that have nothing to do with the other person’s worth or value. Maybe they’re reducing their digital footprint. Maybe they only want close friends on Snapchat. Maybe they’re going through something personal.

Reaching out through other channels to ask about it directly usually creates more awkwardness than it solves. Unless the relationship was significant enough to warrant a conversation, letting it go tends to be the smoother path.

When to Just Move On

If someone removed the friendship and there’s no real-life connection to maintain, moving on makes the most sense. Social media friendships come and go. The people who want to stay connected will stay connected.

Focus energy on relationships that feel mutual and reciprocal. Those connections matter more than any friend count on an app.

Frequently Asked Questions

Can someone who unadded me still see my stories?

It depends on story privacy settings. If stories are set to “Friends Only,” someone who unadded won’t see them. But if stories are set to public or include followers, they might still be able to view. Check story settings by going to Settings > Privacy Controls > Story to see who currently has access.

Will my old messages disappear if someone unadds me?

No. Unlike being blocked, getting unadded keeps the chat history intact. Previous messages, saved snaps, and conversation history all remain visible. New messages just won’t deliver normally until the friendship gets restored.

Can I re-add someone who removed me?

Yes. Simply search for their username and tap the Add button to send a new friend request. They’ll receive it just like any other request. Whether they accept is up to them. Curious about checking activity on other platforms? Similar principles apply there too.

Does Snapchat tell the other person if I check their profile?

No. Snapchat doesn’t notify anyone when someone views their profile. The checking can happen as many times as needed without the other person ever knowing. This is different from viewing stories, which do show who watched them.

Moving Forward with Digital Friendships

Figuring out how to tell if someone unadded you on Snapchat comes down to checking a few simple indicators. Missing from the friends list. Pending messages. Vanished Snap Score. Add button instead of chat options. Any combination of these signs points to one conclusion.

The harder part isn’t the detective work. It’s processing what it means and deciding how to respond. Social media friendships exist in a strange space between casual and meaningful. Someone removing a connection might feel significant or might mean nothing at all.

What matters most is focusing on the relationships that bring genuine value. Understanding common Snapchat slang and features helps navigate the platform, but navigating real human connections requires something technology can’t provide: perspective and emotional intelligence.

For those still feeling curious about social media dynamics, plenty of resources exist for understanding different platforms and their quirks. The digital landscape keeps evolving, and staying informed makes the journey a little less confusing.

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