How to Start a Snapchat Streak

Snapchat remains immensely popular even after 10 years, primarily due to its unique messaging feature. Unlike other services, anything you send will disappear after a short time after viewing (unless you decide otherwise). Another selling point is its “Snapstreak,” which counts and displays the number of consecutive days users have sent snaps to each other.

If you’re looking to get into using Snapchat and starting streaks, you’re in the right place. Below, we’ll reveal everything you need to know about beginning streaks and making them last.

Snapchat Streaks

Both “streaks” and “Snapstreaks” refer to the same feature. A streak will start when you send snaps to a friend for three consecutive days. Each streak will only be between you and one friend, meaning you can maintain more than one streak at once.

After you send snaps to people for three days straight, a fire emoji will appear beside their names. You can also see a number next to the fire emoji to indicate how long the streak has been going. For example, a “60” will show you that your streak with this person has lasted almost two months.

The next milestone is the “100” emoji, which will only appear after continuing the streak for that many days. Beyond that, there aren’t any other unique emojis by default.

There are rumors of a mountain emoji that only surfaces after streaks are incredibly long, but no one has been able to confirm its existence. Snapchat itself has never confirmed or denied it. We can only be sure in the future if it genuinely exists.

Starting a Streak

To start a streak on Snapchat, you have to send someone you know a snap. Here are the steps:

1. Add a friend (or more) on Snapchat.
   
2. Send a snap to one or more of them.
   
3. Wait for them to send another back.
   
4. Repeat the steps above daily for as long as possible.

Snaps refer to pictures or videos. It doesn’t matter how short the video is or how random your snaps are. The only requirement is you send either a picture or video to your friend every day.

Streak Need-to-Knows

Streaks must be continued every day, or they’ll end. Once they’re gone, you’ll have to begin again by sending your friends snaps for three consecutive days. Unfortunately, this will happen every time you forget to continue the chain, and there are no exceptions.

To help remind you, there will be an hourglass emoji that appears beside a streak. It will only appear when there are four hours left. Once you see it, we recommend sending a snap immediately.

Of course, if you send snaps on time, the hourglass emoji won’t appear.

Switching Streak Emojis

The default streak emoji is the fire emoji, but you can also change it to whatever is available on emoji keyboards. If you’re not keen on seeing the flame every time, here’s how to change it.

1. Launch Snapchat on your mobile device.
   
2. Tap on your profile picture in the top-left corner.
   
3. Look for the cog icon and select it.
   
4. Scroll down and tap on “Customize Emojis.”
   
5. Go down again in the new menu and select “Snapstreak!”
   
6. There, plenty of emojis will appear, and you can pick one.
   

Changing the emoji won’t add to the streak or reset it, as this is only an aesthetic adjustment. You can even change it daily to spice up your app. It’s all up to personal preference.

How to Troubleshoot Streaks

Snapchat isn’t perfect, and sometimes you’ll find a precious multiple-year-long streak disappear into thin air. That’s when you should contact customer service and explain what happened. Make sure that your snaps record is clean and you didn’t forget to send one the day before.

When you go to the Snapchat Support page, you’ll see a myriad of problems to report. The “I’ve Lost My Snapstreak” option is what you’ll want to pick.

Once a representative checks your snaps and logs, they’ll reply to you via email. Hopefully, they’ll restore your streak so you can continue it.

Interactions That Do Not Count Towards Streaks

Other than sending pictures and videos, Snapchat comes with several other interaction methods. However, all of those listed below do not count towards a streak.

• Text chatting

While you can send text messages that disappear via Snapchat, these don’t count towards the streak.

• Stories

Stories are videos that recount what happened in a day. While followers can always check them out, doing so will not add to your snap chain.

• Memories

Sometimes, old events resurface after a year or other anniversaries. You can share these a second time, but they also don’t affect your streak at all.

• Group chats

As we mentioned, streaks are between two people, but communicating there won’t contribute to the number even though you’re both in the same group chat. Only snaps sent to the person directly will count.

Tips for Snapchat Streaks

Starting a streak isn’t easy, as you or your friend can easily forget. Here are some tips to help.

• Find a person willing to keep a streak

Of course, when both of you are willing to send snaps to each other daily, chances are you won’t forget as easily.

• Make sure the friend’s name stays on top

To go with the advice above, you can edit your friend’s name so it starts with the letter A. Snapchat lists streaks in alphabetical order, meaning you’ll always see the most extended and most crucial examples first.

This tip is also useful if your friend uses strange symbols or letters in their username.

• Send a “Good Morning” snap

You can clean up and send a good morning snap to a friend when you get up from bed. As they’ll likely respond, this is a great way to get the streak snap out of the way early.

• Consider starting the streak on an important day

By starting on a momentous occasion, you’ll have something to look back on once the streak continues for a year. It’ll also be easier to remember overall.

• If not in the morning, later in the day

An advantage of starting in the evening is you’re less likely to see the hourglass emoji. You tend to have more time in the evening, and sending a snap takes barely any effort. This option is better for people who have busier mornings.

• Checking the filters

As you may have to juggle multiple streaks at once, you may forget who to snap daily. Before sending a snap, you can check filters and look for the streak filter. This will show you how many days the streak has gone on.

You won’t have to check your friend list anymore after using this trick.

Many More Years to Go

With these tips in mind, you can maintain a Snapchat streak for a long time. If you don’t think you can handle too many, it’s always acceptable to just go with one. You can gradually begin more chains later when you’re comfortable.

How long is or was the longest streak you’ve continued? How many streaks can you juggle at once? Let us know in the comments section below.