How to Use Snapchat Like a Pro
How to Use Snapchat Like a Pro
Snapchat has evolved from being an app with a handful of evident crazy uses to a social media platform where you can both broadcast your life and see content from a broad range of sources. The messaging app’s capability to let you control the privacy of the pictures and movies you send was integral to its popularity.
Updates to the app permit users to edit their voices, exchange faces, share locations as well as place voice and movie calls. You can also eventually place web links within Snaps.
Snapchat has become so popular so rapid that there are more than one hundred sixty six million active users watching ten billion movies per day. Brands like BuzzFeed, ESPN, National Geographic and People magazine have made their way to Snapchat, providing fans an inwards look at what’s going on behind the scenes. The service is so popular that NBC will be producing a daily news display to airs exclusively on Snapchat. Here’s how to sign up, get commenced snapping out photos and movies and become a Snapchat experienced.
How to get embarked with Snapchat
1. Install the Snapchat app. Fire up the App Store or Google Play and install it. Kick your feet up while the app transfers over.
Since you can’t just use an existing Facebook/Google/Your Beloved Social Network account to log your way into the service, you’ll need fresh credentials. Tap Sign Up. You’ll be asked for your email address, password and your bday. Tap Sign Up.
Three. Pick a username. Select a “unique identifier” for your account that cannot be switched once it’s set. Your friends can use this to find you on the service, and the username will emerge underneath your real name in their Snapchat contact list.
Snapchat will ask you if it can tap into your phone’s contacts list. Unless you have a searing desire to add friends by hand, we recommend you grant Snapchat this permission so you can commence friend-adding. iOS users will also be asked to inject in their mobile numbers for lighter searching; fret not, Android fans, for you can add this information later — so long as the text-based verification goes sleekly for you.
Once Snapchat comes back with a list of your contacts that it has identified as users of the service, you can add them as friends by clicking the large person-with-a-plus button to the right of their names. If you want to liquidate contacts (or block them) later, just long-press on their names until the secondary menu pops up on your screen.’
How to send pictures or movie in Snapchat
1. Tap to shoot, hold to record movie.
Once you’re on Snapchat’s main screen, taking a picture is pretty effortless for those who have ever used their phones’ cameras before. If not, here’s a quick guide: Tap an area of the picture you want your phone to concentrate on. Tap the big round circle to take a picture. Hold the big round circle to take a movie.
Two. Save your own shots. The icon to the right of the timer, a downward-facing arrow, permits you to dump the shot you just took into your phone’s traditional gallery. It’s useful if you want to save your shot for future purposes, as there’s no other way to do so once you’ve sent the picture out.
Tap on the stopwatchlike icon in the lower left and you can set the specific time that you want your picture to be available for a friend to view. You can go all the way from a blink-and-you’ll-miss-it one 2nd to a maximum duration of ten seconds.
Four. Add a caption. Tap in the middle of the picture, and you can add text on top of your photo or movie. Tap on the T icon to switch the caption from a line to text to a larger brick of text. After you’ve written a caption for your snaps, you can stir, pinch and zoom that text to place it just where you want. Before you can pinch and zoom your caption, you’ll need to have set the text to the larger font, by tapping on the T icon.
If you’re feeling a little nostalgia for "Draw Something," you can also tap on the icon in the upper-right corner of the screen to draw directly onto your picture with varying colors of a virtual pen.
Click on the arrow icon in the lower right to get your shot ready to send. Up pops your friends list; select everyone that you want to receive your picture, take one final breath of confidence and click on the now-displayed arrow in the lower right-hand corner.
How to record without holding the shutter
iPhone owners don’t need to keep finger on the shutter button in order to record movies in Snapchat, as long as they know this secret trick. Open the Settings App, and select General. Then tap Accessibility, and select AssistiveTouch, which will make a white dot emerge on your screen.
Then, toggle the switch next to AssistiveTouch to the On position and then tap Create Fresh Gesture. Then, tap and hold on the center of the screen in a very taut circular pattern until the recording bar is total. Tap Save at the top right corner, name this gesture with a memorable tag such as SnapVideo and then tap Save. Now, in the Snapchat recording screen, tap on AssistiveTouch bubble. Select Custom-made and then select SnapVideo (or whatever you called it).
You’ll see a fresh circular icon. When you’re ready to record, haul and drop it onto the capture button, and you’re recording without arms. Since you’re drawing that pattern yourself, this process may require repeated effort, but it’s worth for lighter movie recording. There doesn’t seem to be a method for Android yet, but leave a comment below if you know of one.
Detect Movies on Snapchat
Tap on the icon in the lower right corner to budge to the stories screen. At the top of the screen, Snapchat has a row of photos that preview flows of photos and movies from brands including ESPN, Comedy Central and CNN. You can swipe to the left to see more stories, and scroll down past your friends’ stories to see which brands are broadcasting live.
Swipe left to hop to the next snap, press and hold to send a snap to a friend and pull down to leave the stream. Tapping on the Globe icon in the upper right corner of the Stories screen permits you to check out more brands, such as Refinery29, Vice and Food Network.
How to view Snapchat messages
Credit: Jeremy Lips / Tom’s Guide
If you’ve received a Snapchat, or just want to check out the log of Snapchat pictures or movies you’ve sent out to your friends (just the log; not the media itself), tap the little cube icon on the lower-left of Snapchat’s main screen. If you have any to-be-viewed messages, the number will show up over the cube itself.
Once you’re on the messages screen, you’ll see any fresh pictures or movies that your friends have sent you listed with a filled-in square or arrow icon and a “tap to view” message underneath them. Don’t do that unless you’re indeed ready to view the photo or movie, because that starts the countdown timer for how long you’ll be able to view it. When the timer runs out, the message will transition over to a “double tap to reply” prompt — do just that to proceed your Snapchat “conversation.”
When you’re watching a story, you can tap to skip ahead, swipe left to advance to the next user you go after and pull down to exit.
How to send a text message in Snapchat
If you want to send texts without photos, tap on the voice bubble icon in the upper left corner in the Snapchat message log screen. Find a friend you’ve sent a photo to already, type your note and click Send. These messages will self destruct after they’ve been viewed, and if one of you takes a screenshot of the talk transcript, Snapchat will let the other person know.
How to save talk messages
If you’re using Snapchat for long (or significant) conversations, you might want to save messages to reread them. Fortunately, you can keep lines of your talks by holding your finger down on each individual message. A message is saved once it’s highlighted in grey and gets a SAVED! message to its left.
How to use Snapchat Groups
You can embark a group talk to snap with a select number of friends at the same time, by opening the Talk screen, tapping the fresh messages button in the top left corner, selecting numerous friends and tapping Talk. Groups work just like regular messages, as you can send snaps, texts, movie notes, audio notes and stickers. And of course, if a message isn’t opened in the twenty four hours after it’s sent, it will vanish from the group.
To talk privately with one person from a Group, tap their name in the row above the keyboard. Swipe right when you’re done to to come back to the Group.
How to send a movie note in Snapchat
You can record brief, looping GIF-like movies by holding down on the camera icon for up to ten seconds. Snapchat will record from your front camera, and the movie will be sent when you release your finger from the screen. If you don’t like the movie, you can haul your finger to the X in the middle of the screen. Your recipient can tap on the movie to hear the clip’s audio.
How to send an audio note in Snapchat
To record a brief audio message to send to a friend, hold down on the phone handset icon and speak. You can send the sound byte to your friend by removing your finger from the screen. If you don’t like the message you recorded, haul your finger to the X icon in the middle of the screen.
How to make a movie call in Snapchat
You can also have movie talks with your friends, and all you need to do is tap the Camera icon in the message screen. Snapchat will then attempt to set up a movie conference call inbetween you and your friend. Your friend will take up the majority of the screen, and you’ll be able to see yourself in a bubble on the bottom of your phone. If you need to switch to an audio-only call, tap the phone icon.
How to make an audio call in Snapchat
If you want to have a phone call with one of your Snapchat friends you’ve been exchanging messages with, tap the phone icon above the keyboard. If your friend has Snapchat notifications turned on, they will receive an alert that you’re attempting to call. This way you can call someone and stay inwards of the app, and you don’t need to give someone your phone number. To add movie to the call, tap the camera icon.
How to send photos in Snapchat
To send a photo from your camera roll, tap the picture icon above the keyboard and select pics. To annotate one of these pics, tap Edit to access Snapchat’s doodles, emoji stickers and text devices. You can share numerous photos by tapping on extra pictures before you click the arrow icon in the lower right corner to send. Photos can also be collective during audio or movie calls.
How to send stickers in Snapchat
Tap on the smiley icon above the keyboard to bring up a list of stickers that include doughnuts, gold starlets and a cat suggesting a rose. Select a sticker to send it.
How to edit Snapchat settings
Tap the ghost icon at the top of the screen, and then tap the gear icon in the window’s upper right corner. You can confirm your mobile number by tapping the associated field if you skipped this part when very first setting up Snapchat. You can also open up your Snapchat for messages from anyone on the service — not just your friends — by switching that setting (but make sure you want to do that).
The Android version of Snapchat also gives you the chance to lower the quality of the movies the app takes, as well as Snapchat’s default camera orientation. You’ll find both of these settings buried within the “Video Settings” section.
How to add a profile photo
Tap on the Ghost icon at the top of the main screen, and then tap on the Snapchat icon in the upper middle part of the screen. Press the shutter button at the bottom of the screen. Snapchat will take a series of photos of you using the front-facing camera on your device. Tap the activity button at the upper right corner of the screen to share this online so that your friends on Twitter, Facebook and other services can add you on Snapchat. If you want to take a fresh profile photo, click the retry button in the upper left corner.
How to add filters
After you’ve shot your snap, swipe to the left or right to add a visual filter that adjusts the photo quality — switching it to sepia or saturated — or one with a text overlay that shows the temperature in your area, the speed you’re moving at or the neighborhood you’re snapping from. You can add two filters by holding your finger down on the edge of the screen after you found the very first filter you want to use, and then swiping again with your free mitt.
With the On Request Geofilters feature, you can create your own location-specific filter and layer it on top of your snaps. Make sure your design meets Snapchat’s guidelines, upload it through the web portal, specify what location it’s meant for, wait for approval and voila! You can display off your Snapchat-approved artwork, and people who visit your location can also use it.
How to add an animated filter
When you’re snapping a selfie — tap the icon in the upper right corner to switch to front-facing mode if you haven’t already — tap on the part of the screen where your face is. After a wire-frame design emerges on your face, a series of Snapchat filter options will emerge.
Swipe inbetween the options to switch from a thirsty dog’d hipster, a moustachioed viking , an ice god and more. Go after the prompts — like ‘Raise Your Eyebrows.’ — that show up, and tap the capture button to take a Snap, or press and hold on the capture button to record a movie.
How to exchange faces
If you want to create a portrait that will both shock and confuse others, Snapchat’s Face-Swap feature puts another person’s face on your head. Tap the icon in the upper right corner to switch to front-facing mode, and then press and hold on the part of the screen where your face is. After the wire-frame design emerges on your face, slide the series of lenses to the left until you see the yellow and purple face interchange options.
If the person you want to exchange faces with is there with you, select the yellow icon. If you want to interchange faces with someone whose photo you’ve previously taken, select the purple icon and tap a face from the pop-up menu. Once Snapchat previews this bizarre switch, tap the capture button to take a photo, or press and hold on the capture button to record a movie.
How to post to your public Story
If you want to share a photo or movie you’ve shot with all of your followers, tap on the Square and Plus button on the lower left corner after shooting a snap. Tapping on the arrow in the bottom right corner will make your snap visible to all of your Snapchat friends for twenty four hours. You can also select your area’s Local Story to share your moment with your community. You can view the Story rivulets that your friends have published by tapping on the icon in the bottom right corner of the main screen.
How to make infinite snaps
Snaps typically vanish after their 10-second timer expires, but a fresh infinite option lets recipients look at a photo until they tap to advance. Just tap the timer icon and scroll down to the no limit option, and then send.
How to loop movie snaps
Once Instagram’s GIF-like Boomerang clips took off, it was only a matter of time before Snapchat added a similar feature. Just tap the repeat icon on the right after shooting a movie, and then your friends will get a movie they need to tap to pass, rather than one that simply completes.
How to snap better at night
When you’re taking photos in dark areas, a moon icon will emerge in the upper left corner, next to the flash icon. Tap on this icon for brighter photos and movies, so it will be lighter for your audience to see what’s going on.
How to add emojis and stickers to your snaps
Click on the sticker icon at the top of your photo or movie when you’re editing it to bring up the emoji sticker sheet. You can add as many emoji as you and, as well as pinch and zoom them to your heart’s content.
How to delete stickers from your snaps
So now that you’ve place some stickers, you might have realized one doesn’t work and you want to eliminate it. Rather than embark over from square one, tap and hold on the sticker and haul it up to the trash can icon. Once the trash can gets slightly larger, release your finger to delete the sticker.
How to share your location and use the Snap Map
Snapchat can be your portal to the world, and its fresh Snap Map view lets you share your location and see what’s happening in specific regions. From the camera view pinch the screen to expose a See The World screen.
Then, tap Next and select your privacy setting: Only Me (Ghost Mode), My Friends or Select Friends. After tapping Finish, you’ll see a map view of your city, which you can pinch and pull to zoom out and in from. This way you can see what people are doing in the next town over, or get a peek at your next vacation destination. You might want to use Ghost Mode, tho’, if you don’t want Snapchat to be permanently sharing your location.
How to add voice filters
Very first introduced as a part of animated face filters, Snapchat’s voice filters can now be added on their own. This way you can modify the way you and your friends sound in movies. Current options include chipmunk (our beloved), robot, alien and bear (which sounds super creepy). Just record a movie snap and tap the speaker icon to preview your options.
How to use Snapchat’s backdrops
If you don’t have wallpaper that you like, Snapchat has you covered with its fresh backdrops. Just take a snap, tap the scissors icon, tap the diagonal lines icon, select a background by tapping on the vertical list and then haul your finger over yourself to erase the design so it doesn’t cover your face. Tap the scissors icon again and you’re done!
How to switch colors with Tint Brush
The wacky, wild and often altered world of Snapchat permits you to switch everything from your voice to your face, so it’s only natural that they’d add a color adjustment option. After you shoot a photo in the app, tap on the scissors icon and select a color by dragging your finger up and down the slider. Then, trace around the object you want to adjust and, voila, you’ve switched only the object you want to.
How to add links to your snaps
One of the largest problems with the more playful social networks, such as Instagram and Snapchat, is the lack of clickable links in posts. Snapchat immobilized that with a latest update that permits you to add links, which users swipe up to open.
To use this feature, tap the paperclip icon after taking a snap, type in a URL, hit come in and tap fasten at the bottom of the screen. Also, add a text note to your snap to let friends know that there’s a linked page.
How to use Snapchat Spectacles
Once you’ve mastered the basics of Snapchat, you’re ready for Spectacles, the sunglasses from Snap that feature a camera in the frames. You’ll need to charge the wearable very first before you pair them with your smartphone over Bluetooth (make sure it’s enabled on your phone). Next, open Snapchat, slide down the home screen to the SnapCode screen, tap the SnapCode and tap the button above the left hinge of the Spectacles. For more, read our stories on how to find Spectacles and our tutorial on how to use Spectacles.
Contraptions For Parents of Snapchat Users
Photo: Monkey Business Pics / Shutterstock
If you’re still confused by Snapchat, this fresh app that your kids all of a sudden can’t get enough of, we’ve got tips and tricks just for you. Tap the gear in the top right corner to open the settings menu, where you can set the privacy setting for Stories to Friends Only so strangers can’t stalk them. You can even restrict access to the app by using the Parental Controls menu found in settings. We’ve got more handy advice in our Snapchat Guide for Parents. Also, check out our instructions for how to report bullying and manhandle on Snapchat so you know what to do if other kids are using the app to target target your child.
How to Use Snapchat Like a Pro
How to Use Snapchat Like a Pro
Snapchat has evolved from being an app with a handful of visible horny uses to a social media platform where you can both broadcast your life and observe content from a broad range of sources. The messaging app’s capability to let you control the privacy of the pictures and movies you send was integral to its popularity.
Updates to the app permit users to edit their voices, exchange faces, share locations as well as place voice and movie calls. You can also ultimately place web links within Snaps.
Snapchat has become so popular so swift that there are more than one hundred sixty six million active users watching ten billion movies per day. Brands like BuzzFeed, ESPN, National Geographic and People magazine have made their way to Snapchat, providing fans an inwards look at what’s going on behind the scenes. The service is so popular that NBC will be producing a daily news showcase to airs exclusively on Snapchat. Here’s how to sign up, get embarked snapping out photos and movies and become a Snapchat accomplished.
How to get commenced with Snapchat
1. Install the Snapchat app. Fire up the App Store or Google Play and install it. Kick your feet up while the app transfers over.
Since you can’t just use an existing Facebook/Google/Your Beloved Social Network account to log your way into the service, you’ll need fresh credentials. Tap Sign Up. You’ll be asked for your email address, password and your bday. Tap Sign Up.
Three. Pick a username. Select a “unique identifier” for your account that cannot be switched once it’s set. Your friends can use this to find you on the service, and the username will show up underneath your real name in their Snapchat contact list.
Snapchat will ask you if it can tap into your phone’s contacts list. Unless you have a searing desire to add friends by hand, we recommend you grant Snapchat this permission so you can commence friend-adding. iOS users will also be asked to come in in their mobile numbers for lighter searching; fret not, Android fans, for you can add this information later — so long as the text-based verification goes sleekly for you.
Once Snapchat comes back with a list of your contacts that it has identified as users of the service, you can add them as friends by clicking the large person-with-a-plus button to the right of their names. If you want to eliminate contacts (or block them) later, just long-press on their names until the secondary menu pops up on your screen.’
How to send pictures or movie in Snapchat
1. Tap to shoot, hold to record movie.
Once you’re on Snapchat’s main screen, taking a picture is pretty effortless for those who have ever used their phones’ cameras before. If not, here’s a quick guide: Tap an area of the picture you want your phone to concentrate on. Tap the big round circle to take a picture. Hold the big round circle to take a movie.
Two. Save your own shots. The icon to the right of the timer, a downward-facing arrow, permits you to dump the shot you just took into your phone’s traditional gallery. It’s useful if you want to save your shot for future purposes, as there’s no other way to do so once you’ve sent the picture out.
Tap on the stopwatchlike icon in the lower left and you can set the specific time that you want your picture to be available for a friend to view. You can go all the way from a blink-and-you’ll-miss-it one 2nd to a maximum duration of ten seconds.
Four. Add a caption. Tap in the middle of the picture, and you can add text on top of your photo or movie. Tap on the T icon to switch the caption from a line to text to a larger brick of text. After you’ve written a caption for your snaps, you can stir, pinch and zoom that text to place it just where you want. Before you can pinch and zoom your caption, you’ll need to have set the text to the larger font, by tapping on the T icon.
If you’re feeling a little nostalgia for "Draw Something," you can also tap on the icon in the upper-right corner of the screen to draw directly onto your pic with varying colors of a virtual pen.
Click on the arrow icon in the lower right to get your shot ready to send. Up pops your friends list; select everyone that you want to receive your picture, take one final breath of confidence and click on the now-displayed arrow in the lower right-hand corner.
How to record without holding the shutter
iPhone owners don’t need to keep finger on the shutter button in order to record movies in Snapchat, as long as they know this secret trick. Open the Settings App, and select General. Then tap Accessibility, and select AssistiveTouch, which will make a white dot show up on your screen.
Then, toggle the switch next to AssistiveTouch to the On position and then tap Create Fresh Gesture. Then, tap and hold on the center of the screen in a very taut circular pattern until the recording bar is utter. Tap Save at the top right corner, name this gesture with a memorable tag such as SnapVideo and then tap Save. Now, in the Snapchat recording screen, tap on AssistiveTouch bubble. Select Custom-built and then select SnapVideo (or whatever you called it).
You’ll see a fresh circular icon. When you’re ready to record, haul and drop it onto the capture button, and you’re recording without palms. Since you’re drawing that pattern yourself, this process may require repeated effort, but it’s worth for lighter movie recording. There doesn’t seem to be a method for Android yet, but leave a comment below if you know of one.
Detect Movies on Snapchat
Tap on the icon in the lower right corner to budge to the stories screen. At the top of the screen, Snapchat has a row of photos that preview flows of photos and movies from brands including ESPN, Comedy Central and CNN. You can swipe to the left to see more stories, and scroll down past your friends’ stories to see which brands are broadcasting live.
Swipe left to hop to the next snap, press and hold to send a snap to a friend and pull down to leave the stream. Tapping on the Globe icon in the upper right corner of the Stories screen permits you to check out more brands, such as Refinery29, Vice and Food Network.
How to view Snapchat messages
Credit: Jeremy Lips / Tom’s Guide
If you’ve received a Snapchat, or just want to check out the log of Snapchat pictures or movies you’ve sent out to your friends (just the log; not the media itself), tap the little cube icon on the lower-left of Snapchat’s main screen. If you have any to-be-viewed messages, the number will emerge over the cube itself.
Once you’re on the messages screen, you’ll see any fresh pictures or movies that your friends have sent you listed with a filled-in square or arrow icon and a “tap to view” message underneath them. Don’t do that unless you’re indeed ready to view the pic or movie, because that starts the countdown timer for how long you’ll be able to view it. When the timer runs out, the message will transition over to a “double tap to reply” prompt — do just that to proceed your Snapchat “conversation.”
When you’re watching a story, you can tap to skip ahead, swipe left to advance to the next user you go after and pull down to exit.
How to send a text message in Snapchat
If you want to send texts without photos, tap on the voice bubble icon in the upper left corner in the Snapchat message log screen. Find a friend you’ve sent a photo to already, type your note and click Send. These messages will self destruct after they’ve been viewed, and if one of you takes a screenshot of the talk transcript, Snapchat will let the other person know.
How to save talk messages
If you’re using Snapchat for long (or significant) conversations, you might want to save messages to reread them. Fortunately, you can keep lines of your talks by holding your finger down on each individual message. A message is saved once it’s highlighted in grey and gets a SAVED! message to its left.
How to use Snapchat Groups
You can commence a group talk to snap with a select number of friends at the same time, by opening the Talk screen, tapping the fresh messages button in the top left corner, selecting numerous friends and tapping Talk. Groups work just like regular messages, as you can send snaps, texts, movie notes, audio notes and stickers. And of course, if a message isn’t opened in the twenty four hours after it’s sent, it will vanish from the group.
To talk privately with one person from a Group, tap their name in the row above the keyboard. Swipe right when you’re done to to comeback to the Group.
How to send a movie note in Snapchat
You can record brief, looping GIF-like movies by holding down on the camera icon for up to ten seconds. Snapchat will record from your front camera, and the movie will be sent when you release your finger from the screen. If you don’t like the movie, you can haul your finger to the X in the middle of the screen. Your recipient can tap on the movie to hear the clip’s audio.
How to send an audio note in Snapchat
To record a brief audio message to send to a friend, hold down on the phone handset icon and speak. You can send the sound byte to your friend by removing your finger from the screen. If you don’t like the message you recorded, haul your finger to the X icon in the middle of the screen.
How to make a movie call in Snapchat
You can also have movie talks with your friends, and all you need to do is tap the Camera icon in the message screen. Snapchat will then attempt to set up a movie conference call inbetween you and your friend. Your friend will take up the majority of the screen, and you’ll be able to see yourself in a bubble on the bottom of your phone. If you need to switch to an audio-only call, tap the phone icon.
How to make an audio call in Snapchat
If you want to have a phone call with one of your Snapchat friends you’ve been exchanging messages with, tap the phone icon above the keyboard. If your friend has Snapchat notifications turned on, they will receive an alert that you’re attempting to call. This way you can call someone and stay inwards of the app, and you don’t need to give someone your phone number. To add movie to the call, tap the camera icon.
How to send photos in Snapchat
To send a photo from your camera roll, tap the picture icon above the keyboard and select pictures. To annotate one of these photos, tap Edit to access Snapchat’s doodles, emoji stickers and text devices. You can share numerous photos by tapping on extra pictures before you click the arrow icon in the lower right corner to send. Photos can also be collective during audio or movie calls.
How to send stickers in Snapchat
Tap on the smiley icon above the keyboard to bring up a list of stickers that include doughnuts, gold starlets and a cat suggesting a rose. Select a sticker to send it.
How to edit Snapchat settings
Tap the ghost icon at the top of the screen, and then tap the gear icon in the window’s upper right corner. You can confirm your mobile number by tapping the associated field if you skipped this part when very first setting up Snapchat. You can also open up your Snapchat for messages from anyone on the service — not just your friends — by switching that setting (but make sure you want to do that).
The Android version of Snapchat also gives you the chance to lower the quality of the movies the app takes, as well as Snapchat’s default camera orientation. You’ll find both of these settings buried within the “Video Settings” section.
How to add a profile photo
Tap on the Ghost icon at the top of the main screen, and then tap on the Snapchat icon in the upper middle part of the screen. Press the shutter button at the bottom of the screen. Snapchat will take a series of photos of you using the front-facing camera on your device. Tap the activity button at the upper right corner of the screen to share this online so that your friends on Twitter, Facebook and other services can add you on Snapchat. If you want to take a fresh profile photo, click the retry button in the upper left corner.
How to add filters
After you’ve shot your snap, swipe to the left or right to add a visual filter that adjusts the photo quality — switching it to sepia or saturated — or one with a text overlay that shows the temperature in your area, the speed you’re moving at or the neighborhood you’re snapping from. You can add two filters by holding your finger down on the edge of the screen after you found the very first filter you want to use, and then swiping again with your free mitt.
With the On Request Geofilters feature, you can create your own location-specific filter and layer it on top of your snaps. Make sure your design meets Snapchat’s guidelines, upload it through the web portal, specify what location it’s meant for, wait for approval and voila! You can display off your Snapchat-approved artwork, and people who visit your location can also use it.
How to add an animated filter
When you’re snapping a selfie — tap the icon in the upper right corner to switch to front-facing mode if you haven’t already — tap on the part of the screen where your face is. After a wire-frame design emerges on your face, a series of Snapchat filter options will emerge.
Swipe inbetween the options to switch from a thirsty dog’d hipster, a moustachioed viking , an ice god and more. Go after the prompts — like ‘Raise Your Eyebrows.’ — that emerge, and tap the capture button to take a Snap, or press and hold on the capture button to record a movie.
How to exchange faces
If you want to create a portrait that will both shock and confuse others, Snapchat’s Face-Swap feature puts another person’s face on your head. Tap the icon in the upper right corner to switch to front-facing mode, and then press and hold on the part of the screen where your face is. After the wire-frame design emerges on your face, slide the series of lenses to the left until you see the yellow and purple face exchange options.
If the person you want to interchange faces with is there with you, select the yellow icon. If you want to interchange faces with someone whose photo you’ve previously taken, select the purple icon and tap a face from the pop-up menu. Once Snapchat previews this bizarre switch, tap the capture button to take a photo, or press and hold on the capture button to record a movie.
How to post to your public Story
If you want to share a photo or movie you’ve shot with all of your followers, tap on the Square and Plus button on the lower left corner after shooting a snap. Tapping on the arrow in the bottom right corner will make your snap visible to all of your Snapchat friends for twenty four hours. You can also select your area’s Local Story to share your moment with your community. You can view the Story rivulets that your friends have published by tapping on the icon in the bottom right corner of the main screen.
How to make infinite snaps
Snaps typically vanish after their 10-second timer expires, but a fresh infinite option lets recipients look at a photo until they tap to advance. Just tap the timer icon and scroll down to the no limit option, and then send.
How to loop movie snaps
Once Instagram’s GIF-like Boomerang clips took off, it was only a matter of time before Snapchat added a similar feature. Just tap the repeat icon on the right after shooting a movie, and then your friends will get a movie they need to tap to pass, rather than one that simply completes.
How to snap better at night
When you’re taking photos in dark areas, a moon icon will show up in the upper left corner, next to the flash icon. Tap on this icon for brighter photos and movies, so it will be lighter for your audience to see what’s going on.
How to add emojis and stickers to your snaps
Click on the sticker icon at the top of your photo or movie when you’re editing it to bring up the emoji sticker sheet. You can add as many emoji as you and, as well as pinch and zoom them to your heart’s content.
How to delete stickers from your snaps
So now that you’ve place some stickers, you might have realized one doesn’t work and you want to liquidate it. Rather than begin over from square one, tap and hold on the sticker and haul it up to the trash can icon. Once the trash can gets slightly larger, release your finger to delete the sticker.
How to share your location and use the Snap Map
Snapchat can be your portal to the world, and its fresh Snap Map view lets you share your location and see what’s happening in specific regions. From the camera view pinch the screen to expose a See The World screen.
Then, tap Next and select your privacy setting: Only Me (Ghost Mode), My Friends or Select Friends. After tapping Finish, you’ll see a map view of your city, which you can pinch and pull to zoom out and in from. This way you can see what people are doing in the next town over, or get a peek at your next vacation destination. You might want to use Ghost Mode, tho’, if you don’t want Snapchat to be permanently sharing your location.
How to add voice filters
Very first introduced as a part of animated face filters, Snapchat’s voice filters can now be added on their own. This way you can modify the way you and your friends sound in movies. Current options include chipmunk (our dearest), robot, alien and bear (which sounds super creepy). Just record a movie snap and tap the speaker icon to preview your options.
How to use Snapchat’s backdrops
If you don’t have wallpaper that you like, Snapchat has you covered with its fresh backdrops. Just take a snap, tap the scissors icon, tap the diagonal lines icon, select a background by tapping on the vertical list and then haul your finger over yourself to erase the design so it doesn’t cover your face. Tap the scissors icon again and you’re done!
How to switch colors with Tint Brush
The wacky, wild and often altered world of Snapchat permits you to switch everything from your voice to your face, so it’s only natural that they’d add a color adjustment option. After you shoot a photo in the app, tap on the scissors icon and select a color by dragging your finger up and down the slider. Then, trace around the object you want to adjust and, voila, you’ve switched only the object you want to.
How to add links to your snaps
One of the largest problems with the more playful social networks, such as Instagram and Snapchat, is the lack of clickable links in posts. Snapchat immovable that with a latest update that permits you to add links, which users swipe up to open.
To use this feature, tap the paperclip icon after taking a snap, type in a URL, hit come in and tap fasten at the bottom of the screen. Also, add a text note to your snap to let friends know that there’s a linked page.
How to use Snapchat Spectacles
Once you’ve mastered the basics of Snapchat, you’re ready for Spectacles, the sunglasses from Snap that feature a camera in the frames. You’ll need to charge the wearable very first before you pair them with your smartphone over Bluetooth (make sure it’s enabled on your phone). Next, open Snapchat, slide down the home screen to the SnapCode screen, tap the SnapCode and tap the button above the left hinge of the Spectacles. For more, read our stories on how to find Spectacles and our tutorial on how to use Spectacles.
Devices For Parents of Snapchat Users
Picture: Monkey Business Pics / Shutterstock
If you’re still confused by Snapchat, this fresh app that your kids abruptly can’t get enough of, we’ve got tips and tricks just for you. Tap the gear in the top right corner to open the settings menu, where you can set the privacy setting for Stories to Friends Only so strangers can’t stalk them. You can even restrict access to the app by using the Parental Controls menu found in settings. We’ve got more handy advice in our Snapchat Guide for Parents. Also, check out our instructions for how to report bullying and manhandle on Snapchat so you know what to do if other kids are using the app to target target your child.
How to Use Snapchat Like a Pro
How to Use Snapchat Like a Pro
Snapchat has evolved from being an app with a handful of visible crazy uses to a social media platform where you can both broadcast your life and witness content from a broad range of sources. The messaging app’s capability to let you control the privacy of the pictures and movies you send was integral to its popularity.
Updates to the app permit users to edit their voices, interchange faces, share locations as well as place voice and movie calls. You can also ultimately place web links within Snaps.
Snapchat has become so popular so quick that there are more than one hundred sixty six million active users watching ten billion movies per day. Brands like BuzzFeed, ESPN, National Geographic and People magazine have made their way to Snapchat, providing fans an inwards look at what’s going on behind the scenes. The service is so popular that NBC will be producing a daily news demonstrate to airs exclusively on Snapchat. Here’s how to sign up, get began snapping out photos and movies and become a Snapchat accomplished.
How to get commenced with Snapchat
1. Install the Snapchat app. Fire up the App Store or Google Play and install it. Kick your feet up while the app transfers over.
Since you can’t just use an existing Facebook/Google/Your Beloved Social Network account to log your way into the service, you’ll need fresh credentials. Tap Sign Up. You’ll be asked for your email address, password and your bday. Tap Sign Up.
Trio. Pick a username. Select a “unique identifier” for your account that cannot be switched once it’s set. Your friends can use this to find you on the service, and the username will emerge underneath your real name in their Snapchat contact list.
Snapchat will ask you if it can tap into your phone’s contacts list. Unless you have a searing desire to add friends by hand, we recommend you grant Snapchat this permission so you can commence friend-adding. iOS users will also be asked to inject in their mobile numbers for lighter searching; fret not, Android fans, for you can add this information later — so long as the text-based verification goes slickly for you.
Once Snapchat comes back with a list of your contacts that it has identified as users of the service, you can add them as friends by clicking the large person-with-a-plus button to the right of their names. If you want to liquidate contacts (or block them) later, just long-press on their names until the secondary menu pops up on your screen.’
How to send pictures or movie in Snapchat
1. Tap to shoot, hold to record movie.
Once you’re on Snapchat’s main screen, taking a picture is pretty effortless for those who have ever used their phones’ cameras before. If not, here’s a quick guide: Tap an area of the picture you want your phone to concentrate on. Tap the big round circle to take a picture. Hold the big round circle to take a movie.
Two. Save your own shots. The icon to the right of the timer, a downward-facing arrow, permits you to dump the shot you just took into your phone’s traditional gallery. It’s useful if you want to save your shot for future purposes, as there’s no other way to do so once you’ve sent the picture out.
Tap on the stopwatchlike icon in the lower left and you can set the specific time that you want your picture to be available for a friend to view. You can go all the way from a blink-and-you’ll-miss-it one 2nd to a maximum duration of ten seconds.
Four. Add a caption. Tap in the middle of the picture, and you can add text on top of your photo or movie. Tap on the T icon to switch the caption from a line to text to a larger brick of text. After you’ve written a caption for your snaps, you can budge, pinch and zoom that text to place it just where you want. Before you can pinch and zoom your caption, you’ll need to have set the text to the larger font, by tapping on the T icon.
If you’re feeling a little nostalgia for "Draw Something," you can also tap on the icon in the upper-right corner of the screen to draw directly onto your pic with varying colors of a virtual pen.
Click on the arrow icon in the lower right to get your shot ready to send. Up pops your friends list; select everyone that you want to receive your picture, take one final breath of confidence and click on the now-displayed arrow in the lower right-hand corner.
How to record without holding the shutter
iPhone owners don’t need to keep finger on the shutter button in order to record movies in Snapchat, as long as they know this secret trick. Open the Settings App, and select General. Then tap Accessibility, and select AssistiveTouch, which will make a white dot show up on your screen.
Then, toggle the switch next to AssistiveTouch to the On position and then tap Create Fresh Gesture. Then, tap and hold on the center of the screen in a very taut circular pattern until the recording bar is utter. Tap Save at the top right corner, name this gesture with a memorable tag such as SnapVideo and then tap Save. Now, in the Snapchat recording screen, tap on AssistiveTouch bubble. Select Custom-built and then select SnapVideo (or whatever you called it).
You’ll see a fresh circular icon. When you’re ready to record, haul and drop it onto the capture button, and you’re recording without mitts. Since you’re drawing that pattern yourself, this process may require repeated effort, but it’s worth for lighter movie recording. There doesn’t seem to be a method for Android yet, but leave a comment below if you know of one.
Detect Movies on Snapchat
Tap on the icon in the lower right corner to budge to the stories screen. At the top of the screen, Snapchat has a row of pictures that preview flows of photos and movies from brands including ESPN, Comedy Central and CNN. You can swipe to the left to see more stories, and scroll down past your friends’ stories to see which brands are broadcasting live.
Swipe left to hop to the next snap, press and hold to send a snap to a friend and pull down to leave the stream. Tapping on the Globe icon in the upper right corner of the Stories screen permits you to check out more brands, such as Refinery29, Vice and Food Network.
How to view Snapchat messages
Credit: Jeremy Lips / Tom’s Guide
If you’ve received a Snapchat, or just want to check out the log of Snapchat pictures or movies you’ve sent out to your friends (just the log; not the media itself), tap the little cube icon on the lower-left of Snapchat’s main screen. If you have any to-be-viewed messages, the number will show up over the cube itself.
Once you’re on the messages screen, you’ll see any fresh pictures or movies that your friends have sent you listed with a filled-in square or arrow icon and a “tap to view” message underneath them. Don’t do that unless you’re truly ready to view the photo or movie, because that starts the countdown timer for how long you’ll be able to view it. When the timer runs out, the message will transition over to a “double tap to reply” prompt — do just that to proceed your Snapchat “conversation.”
When you’re watching a story, you can tap to skip ahead, swipe left to advance to the next user you go after and pull down to exit.
How to send a text message in Snapchat
If you want to send texts without photos, tap on the voice bubble icon in the upper left corner in the Snapchat message log screen. Find a friend you’ve sent a photo to already, type your note and click Send. These messages will self destruct after they’ve been viewed, and if one of you takes a screenshot of the talk transcript, Snapchat will let the other person know.
How to save talk messages
If you’re using Snapchat for long (or significant) conversations, you might want to save messages to reread them. Fortunately, you can keep lines of your talks by holding your finger down on each individual message. A message is saved once it’s highlighted in grey and gets a SAVED! message to its left.
How to use Snapchat Groups
You can begin a group talk to snap with a select number of friends at the same time, by opening the Talk screen, tapping the fresh messages button in the top left corner, selecting numerous friends and tapping Talk. Groups work just like regular messages, as you can send snaps, texts, movie notes, audio notes and stickers. And of course, if a message isn’t opened in the twenty four hours after it’s sent, it will vanish from the group.
To talk privately with one person from a Group, tap their name in the row above the keyboard. Swipe right when you’re done to to come back to the Group.
How to send a movie note in Snapchat
You can record brief, looping GIF-like movies by holding down on the camera icon for up to ten seconds. Snapchat will record from your front camera, and the movie will be sent when you release your finger from the screen. If you don’t like the movie, you can haul your finger to the X in the middle of the screen. Your recipient can tap on the movie to hear the clip’s audio.
How to send an audio note in Snapchat
To record a brief audio message to send to a friend, hold down on the phone handset icon and speak. You can send the sound byte to your friend by removing your finger from the screen. If you don’t like the message you recorded, haul your finger to the X icon in the middle of the screen.
How to make a movie call in Snapchat
You can also have movie talks with your friends, and all you need to do is tap the Camera icon in the message screen. Snapchat will then attempt to set up a movie conference call inbetween you and your friend. Your friend will take up the majority of the screen, and you’ll be able to see yourself in a bubble on the bottom of your phone. If you need to switch to an audio-only call, tap the phone icon.
How to make an audio call in Snapchat
If you want to have a phone call with one of your Snapchat friends you’ve been exchanging messages with, tap the phone icon above the keyboard. If your friend has Snapchat notifications turned on, they will receive an alert that you’re attempting to call. This way you can call someone and stay inwards of the app, and you don’t need to give someone your phone number. To add movie to the call, tap the camera icon.
How to send photos in Snapchat
To send a photo from your camera roll, tap the picture icon above the keyboard and select photos. To annotate one of these pictures, tap Edit to access Snapchat’s doodles, emoji stickers and text implements. You can share numerous photos by tapping on extra pictures before you click the arrow icon in the lower right corner to send. Photos can also be collective during audio or movie calls.
How to send stickers in Snapchat
Tap on the smiley icon above the keyboard to bring up a list of stickers that include doughnuts, gold starlets and a cat suggesting a rose. Select a sticker to send it.
How to edit Snapchat settings
Tap the ghost icon at the top of the screen, and then tap the gear icon in the window’s upper right corner. You can confirm your mobile number by tapping the associated field if you skipped this part when very first setting up Snapchat. You can also open up your Snapchat for messages from anyone on the service — not just your friends — by switching that setting (but make sure you want to do that).
The Android version of Snapchat also gives you the chance to lower the quality of the movies the app takes, as well as Snapchat’s default camera orientation. You’ll find both of these settings buried within the “Video Settings” section.
How to add a profile photo
Tap on the Ghost icon at the top of the main screen, and then tap on the Snapchat icon in the upper middle part of the screen. Press the shutter button at the bottom of the screen. Snapchat will take a series of photos of you using the front-facing camera on your device. Tap the activity button at the upper right corner of the screen to share this online so that your friends on Twitter, Facebook and other services can add you on Snapchat. If you want to take a fresh profile photo, click the retry button in the upper left corner.
How to add filters
After you’ve shot your snap, swipe to the left or right to add a visual filter that adjusts the photo quality — switching it to sepia or saturated — or one with a text overlay that shows the temperature in your area, the speed you’re moving at or the neighborhood you’re snapping from. You can add two filters by holding your finger down on the edge of the screen after you found the very first filter you want to use, and then swiping again with your free forearm.
With the On Request Geofilters feature, you can create your own location-specific filter and layer it on top of your snaps. Make sure your design meets Snapchat’s guidelines, upload it through the web portal, specify what location it’s meant for, wait for approval and voila! You can demonstrate off your Snapchat-approved artwork, and people who visit your location can also use it.
How to add an animated filter
When you’re snapping a selfie — tap the icon in the upper right corner to switch to front-facing mode if you haven’t already — tap on the part of the screen where your face is. After a wire-frame design emerges on your face, a series of Snapchat filter options will show up.
Swipe inbetween the options to switch from a thirsty dog’d hipster, a moustachioed viking , an ice god and more. Go after the prompts — like ‘Raise Your Eyebrows.’ — that show up, and tap the capture button to take a Snap, or press and hold on the capture button to record a movie.
How to exchange faces
If you want to create a portrait that will both shock and confuse others, Snapchat’s Face-Swap feature puts another person’s face on your head. Tap the icon in the upper right corner to switch to front-facing mode, and then press and hold on the part of the screen where your face is. After the wire-frame design shows up on your face, slide the series of lenses to the left until you see the yellow and purple face exchange options.
If the person you want to interchange faces with is there with you, select the yellow icon. If you want to exchange faces with someone whose photo you’ve previously taken, select the purple icon and tap a face from the pop-up menu. Once Snapchat previews this bizarre switch, tap the capture button to take a photo, or press and hold on the capture button to record a movie.
How to post to your public Story
If you want to share a photo or movie you’ve shot with all of your followers, tap on the Square and Plus button on the lower left corner after shooting a snap. Tapping on the arrow in the bottom right corner will make your snap visible to all of your Snapchat friends for twenty four hours. You can also select your area’s Local Story to share your moment with your community. You can view the Story flows that your friends have published by tapping on the icon in the bottom right corner of the main screen.
How to make infinite snaps
Snaps typically vanish after their 10-second timer expires, but a fresh infinite option lets recipients look at a photo until they tap to advance. Just tap the timer icon and scroll down to the no limit option, and then send.
How to loop movie snaps
Once Instagram’s GIF-like Boomerang clips took off, it was only a matter of time before Snapchat added a similar feature. Just tap the repeat icon on the right after shooting a movie, and then your friends will get a movie they need to tap to pass, rather than one that simply finishes.
How to snap better at night
When you’re taking photos in dark areas, a moon icon will emerge in the upper left corner, next to the flash icon. Tap on this icon for brighter photos and movies, so it will be lighter for your audience to see what’s going on.
How to add emojis and stickers to your snaps
Click on the sticker icon at the top of your photo or movie when you’re editing it to bring up the emoji sticker sheet. You can add as many emoji as you and, as well as pinch and zoom them to your heart’s content.
How to delete stickers from your snaps
So now that you’ve place some stickers, you might have realized one doesn’t work and you want to liquidate it. Rather than begin over from square one, tap and hold on the sticker and haul it up to the trash can icon. Once the trash can gets slightly larger, release your finger to delete the sticker.
How to share your location and use the Snap Map
Snapchat can be your portal to the world, and its fresh Snap Map view lets you share your location and see what’s happening in specific regions. From the camera view pinch the screen to expose a See The World screen.
Then, tap Next and select your privacy setting: Only Me (Ghost Mode), My Friends or Select Friends. After tapping Finish, you’ll see a map view of your city, which you can pinch and pull to zoom out and in from. This way you can see what people are doing in the next town over, or get a peek at your next vacation destination. You might want to use Ghost Mode, however, if you don’t want Snapchat to be permanently sharing your location.
How to add voice filters
Very first introduced as a part of animated face filters, Snapchat’s voice filters can now be added on their own. This way you can modify the way you and your friends sound in movies. Current options include chipmunk (our dearest), robot, alien and bear (which sounds super creepy). Just record a movie snap and tap the speaker icon to preview your options.
How to use Snapchat’s backdrops
If you don’t have wallpaper that you like, Snapchat has you covered with its fresh backdrops. Just take a snap, tap the scissors icon, tap the diagonal lines icon, select a background by tapping on the vertical list and then haul your finger over yourself to erase the design so it doesn’t cover your face. Tap the scissors icon again and you’re done!
How to switch colors with Tint Brush
The wacky, wild and often altered world of Snapchat permits you to switch everything from your voice to your face, so it’s only natural that they’d add a color adjustment option. After you shoot a photo in the app, tap on the scissors icon and select a color by dragging your finger up and down the slider. Then, trace around the object you want to adjust and, voila, you’ve switched only the object you want to.
How to add links to your snaps
One of the fattest problems with the more playful social networks, such as Instagram and Snapchat, is the lack of clickable links in posts. Snapchat immobile that with a latest update that permits you to add links, which users swipe up to open.
To use this feature, tap the paperclip icon after taking a snap, type in a URL, hit inject and tap fasten at the bottom of the screen. Also, add a text note to your snap to let friends know that there’s a linked page.
How to use Snapchat Spectacles
Once you’ve mastered the basics of Snapchat, you’re ready for Spectacles, the sunglasses from Snap that feature a camera in the frames. You’ll need to charge the wearable very first before you pair them with your smartphone over Bluetooth (make sure it’s enabled on your phone). Next, open Snapchat, slide down the home screen to the SnapCode screen, tap the SnapCode and tap the button above the left hinge of the Spectacles. For more, read our stories on how to find Spectacles and our tutorial on how to use Spectacles.
Contraptions For Parents of Snapchat Users
Pic: Monkey Business Pics / Shutterstock
If you’re still confused by Snapchat, this fresh app that your kids all of a sudden can’t get enough of, we’ve got tips and tricks just for you. Tap the gear in the top right corner to open the settings menu, where you can set the privacy setting for Stories to Friends Only so strangers can’t stalk them. You can even restrict access to the app by using the Parental Controls menu found in settings. We’ve got more handy advice in our Snapchat Guide for Parents. Also, check out our instructions for how to report bullying and manhandle on Snapchat so you know what to do if other kids are using the app to target target your child.
How to Use Snapchat Like a Pro
How to Use Snapchat Like a Pro
Snapchat has evolved from being an app with a handful of evident insane uses to a social media platform where you can both broadcast your life and witness content from a broad range of sources. The messaging app’s capability to let you control the privacy of the pictures and movies you send was integral to its popularity.
Updates to the app permit users to edit their voices, exchange faces, share locations as well as place voice and movie calls. You can also ultimately place web links within Snaps.
Snapchat has become so popular so swift that there are more than one hundred sixty six million active users watching ten billion movies per day. Brands like BuzzFeed, ESPN, National Geographic and People magazine have made their way to Snapchat, providing fans an inwards look at what’s going on behind the scenes. The service is so popular that NBC will be producing a daily news display to airs exclusively on Snapchat. Here’s how to sign up, get commenced snapping out photos and movies and become a Snapchat pro.
How to get embarked with Snapchat
1. Install the Snapchat app. Fire up the App Store or Google Play and install it. Kick your feet up while the app transfers over.
Since you can’t just use an existing Facebook/Google/Your Beloved Social Network account to log your way into the service, you’ll need fresh credentials. Tap Sign Up. You’ll be asked for your email address, password and your bday. Tap Sign Up.
Three. Pick a username. Select a “unique identifier” for your account that cannot be switched once it’s set. Your friends can use this to find you on the service, and the username will show up underneath your real name in their Snapchat contact list.
Snapchat will ask you if it can tap into your phone’s contacts list. Unless you have a searing desire to add friends by hand, we recommend you grant Snapchat this permission so you can commence friend-adding. iOS users will also be asked to inject in their mobile numbers for lighter searching; fret not, Android fans, for you can add this information later — so long as the text-based verification goes sleekly for you.
Once Snapchat comes back with a list of your contacts that it has identified as users of the service, you can add them as friends by clicking the large person-with-a-plus button to the right of their names. If you want to eliminate contacts (or block them) later, just long-press on their names until the secondary menu pops up on your screen.’
How to send pictures or movie in Snapchat
1. Tap to shoot, hold to record movie.
Once you’re on Snapchat’s main screen, taking a picture is pretty effortless for those who have ever used their phones’ cameras before. If not, here’s a quick guide: Tap an area of the picture you want your phone to concentrate on. Tap the big round circle to take a picture. Hold the big round circle to take a movie.
Two. Save your own shots. The icon to the right of the timer, a downward-facing arrow, permits you to dump the shot you just took into your phone’s traditional gallery. It’s useful if you want to save your shot for future purposes, as there’s no other way to do so once you’ve sent the picture out.
Tap on the stopwatchlike icon in the lower left and you can set the specific time that you want your picture to be available for a friend to view. You can go all the way from a blink-and-you’ll-miss-it one 2nd to a maximum duration of ten seconds.
Four. Add a caption. Tap in the middle of the picture, and you can add text on top of your photo or movie. Tap on the T icon to switch the caption from a line to text to a larger brick of text. After you’ve written a caption for your snaps, you can stir, pinch and zoom that text to place it just where you want. Before you can pinch and zoom your caption, you’ll need to have set the text to the larger font, by tapping on the T icon.
If you’re feeling a little nostalgia for "Draw Something," you can also tap on the icon in the upper-right corner of the screen to draw directly onto your pic with varying colors of a virtual pen.
Click on the arrow icon in the lower right to get your shot ready to send. Up pops your friends list; select everyone that you want to receive your pic, take one final breath of confidence and click on the now-displayed arrow in the lower right-hand corner.
How to record without holding the shutter
iPhone owners don’t need to keep finger on the shutter button in order to record movies in Snapchat, as long as they know this secret trick. Open the Settings App, and select General. Then tap Accessibility, and select AssistiveTouch, which will make a white dot emerge on your screen.
Then, toggle the switch next to AssistiveTouch to the On position and then tap Create Fresh Gesture. Then, tap and hold on the center of the screen in a very taut circular pattern until the recording bar is total. Tap Save at the top right corner, name this gesture with a memorable tag such as SnapVideo and then tap Save. Now, in the Snapchat recording screen, tap on AssistiveTouch bubble. Select Custom-made and then select SnapVideo (or whatever you called it).
You’ll see a fresh circular icon. When you’re ready to record, haul and drop it onto the capture button, and you’re recording without palms. Since you’re drawing that pattern yourself, this process may require repeated effort, but it’s worth for lighter movie recording. There doesn’t seem to be a method for Android yet, but leave a comment below if you know of one.
Detect Movies on Snapchat
Tap on the icon in the lower right corner to stir to the stories screen. At the top of the screen, Snapchat has a row of photos that preview rivulets of photos and movies from brands including ESPN, Comedy Central and CNN. You can swipe to the left to see more stories, and scroll down past your friends’ stories to see which brands are broadcasting live.
Swipe left to hop to the next snap, press and hold to send a snap to a friend and pull down to leave the stream. Tapping on the Globe icon in the upper right corner of the Stories screen permits you to check out more brands, such as Refinery29, Vice and Food Network.
How to view Snapchat messages
Credit: Jeremy Lips / Tom’s Guide
If you’ve received a Snapchat, or just want to check out the log of Snapchat pictures or movies you’ve sent out to your friends (just the log; not the media itself), tap the little cube icon on the lower-left of Snapchat’s main screen. If you have any to-be-viewed messages, the number will emerge over the cube itself.
Once you’re on the messages screen, you’ll see any fresh pictures or movies that your friends have sent you listed with a filled-in square or arrow icon and a “tap to view” message underneath them. Don’t do that unless you’re indeed ready to view the photo or movie, because that starts the countdown timer for how long you’ll be able to view it. When the timer runs out, the message will transition over to a “double tap to reply” prompt — do just that to proceed your Snapchat “conversation.”
When you’re watching a story, you can tap to skip ahead, swipe left to advance to the next user you go after and pull down to exit.
How to send a text message in Snapchat
If you want to send texts without photos, tap on the voice bubble icon in the upper left corner in the Snapchat message log screen. Find a friend you’ve sent a photo to already, type your note and click Send. These messages will self destruct after they’ve been viewed, and if one of you takes a screenshot of the talk transcript, Snapchat will let the other person know.
How to save talk messages
If you’re using Snapchat for long (or significant) conversations, you might want to save messages to reread them. Fortunately, you can keep lines of your talks by holding your finger down on each individual message. A message is saved once it’s highlighted in grey and gets a SAVED! message to its left.
How to use Snapchat Groups
You can embark a group talk to snap with a select number of friends at the same time, by opening the Talk screen, tapping the fresh messages button in the top left corner, selecting numerous friends and tapping Talk. Groups work just like regular messages, as you can send snaps, texts, movie notes, audio notes and stickers. And of course, if a message isn’t opened in the twenty four hours after it’s sent, it will vanish from the group.
To talk privately with one person from a Group, tap their name in the row above the keyboard. Swipe right when you’re done to to comeback to the Group.
How to send a movie note in Snapchat
You can record brief, looping GIF-like movies by holding down on the camera icon for up to ten seconds. Snapchat will record from your front camera, and the movie will be sent when you release your finger from the screen. If you don’t like the movie, you can haul your finger to the X in the middle of the screen. Your recipient can tap on the movie to hear the clip’s audio.
How to send an audio note in Snapchat
To record a brief audio message to send to a friend, hold down on the phone handset icon and speak. You can send the sound byte to your friend by removing your finger from the screen. If you don’t like the message you recorded, haul your finger to the X icon in the middle of the screen.
How to make a movie call in Snapchat
You can also have movie talks with your friends, and all you need to do is tap the Camera icon in the message screen. Snapchat will then attempt to set up a movie conference call inbetween you and your friend. Your friend will take up the majority of the screen, and you’ll be able to see yourself in a bubble on the bottom of your phone. If you need to switch to an audio-only call, tap the phone icon.
How to make an audio call in Snapchat
If you want to have a phone call with one of your Snapchat friends you’ve been exchanging messages with, tap the phone icon above the keyboard. If your friend has Snapchat notifications turned on, they will receive an alert that you’re attempting to call. This way you can call someone and stay inwards of the app, and you don’t need to give someone your phone number. To add movie to the call, tap the camera icon.
How to send photos in Snapchat
To send a photo from your camera roll, tap the picture icon above the keyboard and select pics. To annotate one of these pics, tap Edit to access Snapchat’s doodles, emoji stickers and text implements. You can share numerous photos by tapping on extra pics before you click the arrow icon in the lower right corner to send. Photos can also be collective during audio or movie calls.
How to send stickers in Snapchat
Tap on the smiley icon above the keyboard to bring up a list of stickers that include doughnuts, gold starlets and a cat suggesting a rose. Select a sticker to send it.
How to edit Snapchat settings
Tap the ghost icon at the top of the screen, and then tap the gear icon in the window’s upper right corner. You can confirm your mobile number by tapping the associated field if you skipped this part when very first setting up Snapchat. You can also open up your Snapchat for messages from anyone on the service — not just your friends — by switching that setting (but make sure you want to do that).
The Android version of Snapchat also gives you the chance to lower the quality of the movies the app takes, as well as Snapchat’s default camera orientation. You’ll find both of these settings buried within the “Video Settings” section.
How to add a profile photo
Tap on the Ghost icon at the top of the main screen, and then tap on the Snapchat icon in the upper middle part of the screen. Press the shutter button at the bottom of the screen. Snapchat will take a series of photos of you using the front-facing camera on your device. Tap the activity button at the upper right corner of the screen to share this online so that your friends on Twitter, Facebook and other services can add you on Snapchat. If you want to take a fresh profile photo, click the retry button in the upper left corner.
How to add filters
After you’ve shot your snap, swipe to the left or right to add a visual filter that adjusts the photo quality — switching it to sepia or saturated — or one with a text overlay that shows the temperature in your area, the speed you’re moving at or the neighborhood you’re snapping from. You can add two filters by holding your finger down on the edge of the screen after you found the very first filter you want to use, and then swiping again with your free mitt.
With the On Request Geofilters feature, you can create your own location-specific filter and layer it on top of your snaps. Make sure your design meets Snapchat’s guidelines, upload it through the web portal, specify what location it’s meant for, wait for approval and voila! You can demonstrate off your Snapchat-approved artwork, and people who visit your location can also use it.
How to add an animated filter
When you’re snapping a selfie — tap the icon in the upper right corner to switch to front-facing mode if you haven’t already — tap on the part of the screen where your face is. After a wire-frame design shows up on your face, a series of Snapchat filter options will show up.
Swipe inbetween the options to switch from a thirsty dog’d hipster, a moustachioed viking , an ice god and more. Go after the prompts — like ‘Raise Your Eyebrows.’ — that show up, and tap the capture button to take a Snap, or press and hold on the capture button to record a movie.
How to exchange faces
If you want to create a portrait that will both shock and confuse others, Snapchat’s Face-Swap feature puts another person’s face on your head. Tap the icon in the upper right corner to switch to front-facing mode, and then press and hold on the part of the screen where your face is. After the wire-frame design emerges on your face, slide the series of lenses to the left until you see the yellow and purple face interchange options.
If the person you want to interchange faces with is there with you, select the yellow icon. If you want to interchange faces with someone whose photo you’ve previously taken, select the purple icon and tap a face from the pop-up menu. Once Snapchat previews this bizarre switch, tap the capture button to take a photo, or press and hold on the capture button to record a movie.
How to post to your public Story
If you want to share a photo or movie you’ve shot with all of your followers, tap on the Square and Plus button on the lower left corner after shooting a snap. Tapping on the arrow in the bottom right corner will make your snap visible to all of your Snapchat friends for twenty four hours. You can also select your area’s Local Story to share your moment with your community. You can view the Story rivulets that your friends have published by tapping on the icon in the bottom right corner of the main screen.
How to make infinite snaps
Snaps typically vanish after their 10-second timer expires, but a fresh infinite option lets recipients look at a photo until they tap to advance. Just tap the timer icon and scroll down to the no limit option, and then send.
How to loop movie snaps
Once Instagram’s GIF-like Boomerang clips took off, it was only a matter of time before Snapchat added a similar feature. Just tap the repeat icon on the right after shooting a movie, and then your friends will get a movie they need to tap to pass, rather than one that simply finishes.
How to snap better at night
When you’re taking photos in dark areas, a moon icon will show up in the upper left corner, next to the flash icon. Tap on this icon for brighter photos and movies, so it will be lighter for your audience to see what’s going on.
How to add emojis and stickers to your snaps
Click on the sticker icon at the top of your photo or movie when you’re editing it to bring up the emoji sticker sheet. You can add as many emoji as you and, as well as pinch and zoom them to your heart’s content.
How to delete stickers from your snaps
So now that you’ve place some stickers, you might have realized one doesn’t work and you want to liquidate it. Rather than embark over from square one, tap and hold on the sticker and haul it up to the trash can icon. Once the trash can gets slightly larger, release your finger to delete the sticker.
How to share your location and use the Snap Map
Snapchat can be your portal to the world, and its fresh Snap Map view lets you share your location and see what’s happening in specific regions. From the camera view pinch the screen to expose a See The World screen.
Then, tap Next and select your privacy setting: Only Me (Ghost Mode), My Friends or Select Friends. After tapping Finish, you’ll see a map view of your city, which you can pinch and pull to zoom out and in from. This way you can see what people are doing in the next town over, or get a peek at your next vacation destination. You might want to use Ghost Mode, tho’, if you don’t want Snapchat to be permanently sharing your location.
How to add voice filters
Very first introduced as a part of animated face filters, Snapchat’s voice filters can now be added on their own. This way you can modify the way you and your friends sound in movies. Current options include chipmunk (our beloved), robot, alien and bear (which sounds super creepy). Just record a movie snap and tap the speaker icon to preview your options.
How to use Snapchat’s backdrops
If you don’t have wallpaper that you like, Snapchat has you covered with its fresh backdrops. Just take a snap, tap the scissors icon, tap the diagonal lines icon, select a background by tapping on the vertical list and then haul your finger over yourself to erase the design so it doesn’t cover your face. Tap the scissors icon again and you’re done!
How to switch colors with Tint Brush
The wacky, wild and often altered world of Snapchat permits you to switch everything from your voice to your face, so it’s only natural that they’d add a color adjustment option. After you shoot a photo in the app, tap on the scissors icon and select a color by dragging your finger up and down the slider. Then, trace around the object you want to adjust and, voila, you’ve switched only the object you want to.
How to add links to your snaps
One of the thickest problems with the more playful social networks, such as Instagram and Snapchat, is the lack of clickable links in posts. Snapchat stationary that with a latest update that permits you to add links, which users swipe up to open.
To use this feature, tap the paperclip icon after taking a snap, type in a URL, hit come in and tap fasten at the bottom of the screen. Also, add a text note to your snap to let friends know that there’s a linked page.
How to use Snapchat Spectacles
Once you’ve mastered the basics of Snapchat, you’re ready for Spectacles, the sunglasses from Snap that feature a camera in the frames. You’ll need to charge the wearable very first before you pair them with your smartphone over Bluetooth (make sure it’s enabled on your phone). Next, open Snapchat, slide down the home screen to the SnapCode screen, tap the SnapCode and tap the button above the left hinge of the Spectacles. For more, read our stories on how to find Spectacles and our tutorial on how to use Spectacles.
Contraptions For Parents of Snapchat Users
Pic: Monkey Business Photos / Shutterstock
If you’re still confused by Snapchat, this fresh app that your kids abruptly can’t get enough of, we’ve got tips and tricks just for you. Tap the gear in the top right corner to open the settings menu, where you can set the privacy setting for Stories to Friends Only so strangers can’t stalk them. You can even restrict access to the app by using the Parental Controls menu found in settings. We’ve got more handy advice in our Snapchat Guide for Parents. Also, check out our instructions for how to report bullying and manhandle on Snapchat so you know what to do if other kids are using the app to target target your child.
How to Use Snapchat Like a Pro
How to Use Snapchat Like a Pro
Snapchat has evolved from being an app with a handful of visible kinky uses to a social media platform where you can both broadcast your life and see content from a broad range of sources. The messaging app’s capability to let you control the privacy of the pictures and movies you send was integral to its popularity.
Updates to the app permit users to edit their voices, interchange faces, share locations as well as place voice and movie calls. You can also eventually place web links within Snaps.
Snapchat has become so popular so quick that there are more than one hundred sixty six million active users watching ten billion movies per day. Brands like BuzzFeed, ESPN, National Geographic and People magazine have made their way to Snapchat, providing fans an inwards look at what’s going on behind the scenes. The service is so popular that NBC will be producing a daily news demonstrate to airs exclusively on Snapchat. Here’s how to sign up, get embarked snapping out photos and movies and become a Snapchat pro.
How to get embarked with Snapchat
1. Install the Snapchat app. Fire up the App Store or Google Play and install it. Kick your feet up while the app transfers over.
Since you can’t just use an existing Facebook/Google/Your Dearest Social Network account to log your way into the service, you’ll need fresh credentials. Tap Sign Up. You’ll be asked for your email address, password and your bday. Tap Sign Up.
Three. Pick a username. Select a “unique identifier” for your account that cannot be switched once it’s set. Your friends can use this to find you on the service, and the username will show up underneath your real name in their Snapchat contact list.
Snapchat will ask you if it can tap into your phone’s contacts list. Unless you have a searing desire to add friends by hand, we recommend you grant Snapchat this permission so you can commence friend-adding. iOS users will also be asked to come in in their mobile numbers for lighter searching; fret not, Android fans, for you can add this information later — so long as the text-based verification goes slickly for you.
Once Snapchat comes back with a list of your contacts that it has identified as users of the service, you can add them as friends by clicking the large person-with-a-plus button to the right of their names. If you want to liquidate contacts (or block them) later, just long-press on their names until the secondary menu pops up on your screen.’
How to send pictures or movie in Snapchat
1. Tap to shoot, hold to record movie.
Once you’re on Snapchat’s main screen, taking a picture is pretty effortless for those who have ever used their phones’ cameras before. If not, here’s a quick guide: Tap an area of the picture you want your phone to concentrate on. Tap the big round circle to take a picture. Hold the big round circle to take a movie.
Two. Save your own shots. The icon to the right of the timer, a downward-facing arrow, permits you to dump the shot you just took into your phone’s traditional gallery. It’s useful if you want to save your shot for future purposes, as there’s no other way to do so once you’ve sent the picture out.
Tap on the stopwatchlike icon in the lower left and you can set the specific time that you want your picture to be available for a friend to view. You can go all the way from a blink-and-you’ll-miss-it one 2nd to a maximum duration of ten seconds.
Four. Add a caption. Tap in the middle of the picture, and you can add text on top of your photo or movie. Tap on the T icon to switch the caption from a line to text to a larger brick of text. After you’ve written a caption for your snaps, you can stir, pinch and zoom that text to place it just where you want. Before you can pinch and zoom your caption, you’ll need to have set the text to the larger font, by tapping on the T icon.
If you’re feeling a little nostalgia for "Draw Something," you can also tap on the icon in the upper-right corner of the screen to draw directly onto your photo with varying colors of a virtual pen.
Click on the arrow icon in the lower right to get your shot ready to send. Up pops your friends list; select everyone that you want to receive your pic, take one final breath of confidence and click on the now-displayed arrow in the lower right-hand corner.
How to record without holding the shutter
iPhone owners don’t need to keep finger on the shutter button in order to record movies in Snapchat, as long as they know this secret trick. Open the Settings App, and select General. Then tap Accessibility, and select AssistiveTouch, which will make a white dot emerge on your screen.
Then, toggle the switch next to AssistiveTouch to the On position and then tap Create Fresh Gesture. Then, tap and hold on the center of the screen in a very taut circular pattern until the recording bar is total. Tap Save at the top right corner, name this gesture with a memorable tag such as SnapVideo and then tap Save. Now, in the Snapchat recording screen, tap on AssistiveTouch bubble. Select Custom-built and then select SnapVideo (or whatever you called it).
You’ll see a fresh circular icon. When you’re ready to record, haul and drop it onto the capture button, and you’re recording without mitts. Since you’re drawing that pattern yourself, this process may require repeated effort, but it’s worth for lighter movie recording. There doesn’t seem to be a method for Android yet, but leave a comment below if you know of one.
Detect Movies on Snapchat
Tap on the icon in the lower right corner to budge to the stories screen. At the top of the screen, Snapchat has a row of pictures that preview rivulets of photos and movies from brands including ESPN, Comedy Central and CNN. You can swipe to the left to see more stories, and scroll down past your friends’ stories to see which brands are broadcasting live.
Swipe left to hop to the next snap, press and hold to send a snap to a friend and pull down to leave the stream. Tapping on the Globe icon in the upper right corner of the Stories screen permits you to check out more brands, such as Refinery29, Vice and Food Network.
How to view Snapchat messages
Credit: Jeremy Lips / Tom’s Guide
If you’ve received a Snapchat, or just want to check out the log of Snapchat pictures or movies you’ve sent out to your friends (just the log; not the media itself), tap the little cube icon on the lower-left of Snapchat’s main screen. If you have any to-be-viewed messages, the number will show up over the cube itself.
Once you’re on the messages screen, you’ll see any fresh pictures or movies that your friends have sent you listed with a filled-in square or arrow icon and a “tap to view” message underneath them. Don’t do that unless you’re indeed ready to view the picture or movie, because that starts the countdown timer for how long you’ll be able to view it. When the timer runs out, the message will transition over to a “double tap to reply” prompt — do just that to proceed your Snapchat “conversation.”
When you’re watching a story, you can tap to skip ahead, swipe left to advance to the next user you go after and pull down to exit.
How to send a text message in Snapchat
If you want to send texts without photos, tap on the voice bubble icon in the upper left corner in the Snapchat message log screen. Find a friend you’ve sent a photo to already, type your note and click Send. These messages will self destruct after they’ve been viewed, and if one of you takes a screenshot of the talk transcript, Snapchat will let the other person know.
How to save talk messages
If you’re using Snapchat for long (or significant) conversations, you might want to save messages to reread them. Fortunately, you can keep lines of your talks by holding your finger down on each individual message. A message is saved once it’s highlighted in grey and gets a SAVED! message to its left.
How to use Snapchat Groups
You can embark a group talk to snap with a select number of friends at the same time, by opening the Talk screen, tapping the fresh messages button in the top left corner, selecting numerous friends and tapping Talk. Groups work just like regular messages, as you can send snaps, texts, movie notes, audio notes and stickers. And of course, if a message isn’t opened in the twenty four hours after it’s sent, it will vanish from the group.
To talk privately with one person from a Group, tap their name in the row above the keyboard. Swipe right when you’re done to to comeback to the Group.
How to send a movie note in Snapchat
You can record brief, looping GIF-like movies by holding down on the camera icon for up to ten seconds. Snapchat will record from your front camera, and the movie will be sent when you release your finger from the screen. If you don’t like the movie, you can haul your finger to the X in the middle of the screen. Your recipient can tap on the movie to hear the clip’s audio.
How to send an audio note in Snapchat
To record a brief audio message to send to a friend, hold down on the phone handset icon and speak. You can send the sound byte to your friend by removing your finger from the screen. If you don’t like the message you recorded, haul your finger to the X icon in the middle of the screen.
How to make a movie call in Snapchat
You can also have movie talks with your friends, and all you need to do is tap the Camera icon in the message screen. Snapchat will then attempt to set up a movie conference call inbetween you and your friend. Your friend will take up the majority of the screen, and you’ll be able to see yourself in a bubble on the bottom of your phone. If you need to switch to an audio-only call, tap the phone icon.
How to make an audio call in Snapchat
If you want to have a phone call with one of your Snapchat friends you’ve been exchanging messages with, tap the phone icon above the keyboard. If your friend has Snapchat notifications turned on, they will receive an alert that you’re attempting to call. This way you can call someone and stay inwards of the app, and you don’t need to give someone your phone number. To add movie to the call, tap the camera icon.
How to send photos in Snapchat
To send a photo from your camera roll, tap the picture icon above the keyboard and select photos. To annotate one of these pics, tap Edit to access Snapchat’s doodles, emoji stickers and text instruments. You can share numerous photos by tapping on extra pictures before you click the arrow icon in the lower right corner to send. Photos can also be collective during audio or movie calls.
How to send stickers in Snapchat
Tap on the smiley icon above the keyboard to bring up a list of stickers that include doughnuts, gold starlets and a cat suggesting a rose. Select a sticker to send it.
How to edit Snapchat settings
Tap the ghost icon at the top of the screen, and then tap the gear icon in the window’s upper right corner. You can confirm your mobile number by tapping the associated field if you skipped this part when very first setting up Snapchat. You can also open up your Snapchat for messages from anyone on the service — not just your friends — by switching that setting (but make sure you want to do that).
The Android version of Snapchat also gives you the chance to lower the quality of the movies the app takes, as well as Snapchat’s default camera orientation. You’ll find both of these settings buried within the “Video Settings” section.
How to add a profile photo
Tap on the Ghost icon at the top of the main screen, and then tap on the Snapchat icon in the upper middle part of the screen. Press the shutter button at the bottom of the screen. Snapchat will take a series of photos of you using the front-facing camera on your device. Tap the activity button at the upper right corner of the screen to share this online so that your friends on Twitter, Facebook and other services can add you on Snapchat. If you want to take a fresh profile photo, click the retry button in the upper left corner.
How to add filters
After you’ve shot your snap, swipe to the left or right to add a visual filter that adjusts the photo quality — switching it to sepia or saturated — or one with a text overlay that shows the temperature in your area, the speed you’re moving at or the neighborhood you’re snapping from. You can add two filters by holding your finger down on the edge of the screen after you found the very first filter you want to use, and then swiping again with your free palm.
With the On Request Geofilters feature, you can create your own location-specific filter and layer it on top of your snaps. Make sure your design meets Snapchat’s guidelines, upload it through the web portal, specify what location it’s meant for, wait for approval and voila! You can showcase off your Snapchat-approved artwork, and people who visit your location can also use it.
How to add an animated filter
When you’re snapping a selfie — tap the icon in the upper right corner to switch to front-facing mode if you haven’t already — tap on the part of the screen where your face is. After a wire-frame design shows up on your face, a series of Snapchat filter options will emerge.
Swipe inbetween the options to switch from a thirsty dog’d hipster, a moustachioed viking , an ice god and more. Go after the prompts — like ‘Raise Your Eyebrows.’ — that emerge, and tap the capture button to take a Snap, or press and hold on the capture button to record a movie.
How to exchange faces
If you want to create a portrait that will both shock and confuse others, Snapchat’s Face-Swap feature puts another person’s face on your head. Tap the icon in the upper right corner to switch to front-facing mode, and then press and hold on the part of the screen where your face is. After the wire-frame design emerges on your face, slide the series of lenses to the left until you see the yellow and purple face interchange options.
If the person you want to exchange faces with is there with you, select the yellow icon. If you want to exchange faces with someone whose photo you’ve previously taken, select the purple icon and tap a face from the pop-up menu. Once Snapchat previews this bizarre switch, tap the capture button to take a photo, or press and hold on the capture button to record a movie.
How to post to your public Story
If you want to share a photo or movie you’ve shot with all of your followers, tap on the Square and Plus button on the lower left corner after shooting a snap. Tapping on the arrow in the bottom right corner will make your snap visible to all of your Snapchat friends for twenty four hours. You can also select your area’s Local Story to share your moment with your community. You can view the Story rivulets that your friends have published by tapping on the icon in the bottom right corner of the main screen.
How to make infinite snaps
Snaps typically vanish after their 10-second timer expires, but a fresh infinite option lets recipients look at a photo until they tap to advance. Just tap the timer icon and scroll down to the no limit option, and then send.
How to loop movie snaps
Once Instagram’s GIF-like Boomerang clips took off, it was only a matter of time before Snapchat added a similar feature. Just tap the repeat icon on the right after shooting a movie, and then your friends will get a movie they need to tap to pass, rather than one that simply finishes.
How to snap better at night
When you’re taking photos in dark areas, a moon icon will emerge in the upper left corner, next to the flash icon. Tap on this icon for brighter photos and movies, so it will be lighter for your audience to see what’s going on.
How to add emojis and stickers to your snaps
Click on the sticker icon at the top of your photo or movie when you’re editing it to bring up the emoji sticker sheet. You can add as many emoji as you and, as well as pinch and zoom them to your heart’s content.
How to delete stickers from your snaps
So now that you’ve place some stickers, you might have realized one doesn’t work and you want to eliminate it. Rather than begin over from square one, tap and hold on the sticker and haul it up to the trash can icon. Once the trash can gets slightly larger, release your finger to delete the sticker.
How to share your location and use the Snap Map
Snapchat can be your portal to the world, and its fresh Snap Map view lets you share your location and see what’s happening in specific regions. From the camera view pinch the screen to expose a See The World screen.
Then, tap Next and select your privacy setting: Only Me (Ghost Mode), My Friends or Select Friends. After tapping Finish, you’ll see a map view of your city, which you can pinch and pull to zoom out and in from. This way you can see what people are doing in the next town over, or get a peek at your next vacation destination. You might want to use Ghost Mode, tho’, if you don’t want Snapchat to be permanently sharing your location.
How to add voice filters
Very first introduced as a part of animated face filters, Snapchat’s voice filters can now be added on their own. This way you can modify the way you and your friends sound in movies. Current options include chipmunk (our beloved), robot, alien and bear (which sounds super creepy). Just record a movie snap and tap the speaker icon to preview your options.
How to use Snapchat’s backdrops
If you don’t have wallpaper that you like, Snapchat has you covered with its fresh backdrops. Just take a snap, tap the scissors icon, tap the diagonal lines icon, select a background by tapping on the vertical list and then haul your finger over yourself to erase the design so it doesn’t cover your face. Tap the scissors icon again and you’re done!
How to switch colors with Tint Brush
The wacky, wild and often altered world of Snapchat permits you to switch everything from your voice to your face, so it’s only natural that they’d add a color adjustment option. After you shoot a photo in the app, tap on the scissors icon and select a color by dragging your finger up and down the slider. Then, trace around the object you want to adjust and, voila, you’ve switched only the object you want to.
How to add links to your snaps
One of the thickest problems with the more playful social networks, such as Instagram and Snapchat, is the lack of clickable links in posts. Snapchat immovable that with a latest update that permits you to add links, which users swipe up to open.
To use this feature, tap the paperclip icon after taking a snap, type in a URL, hit inject and tap link at the bottom of the screen. Also, add a text note to your snap to let friends know that there’s a linked page.
How to use Snapchat Spectacles
Once you’ve mastered the basics of Snapchat, you’re ready for Spectacles, the sunglasses from Snap that feature a camera in the frames. You’ll need to charge the wearable very first before you pair them with your smartphone over Bluetooth (make sure it’s enabled on your phone). Next, open Snapchat, slide down the home screen to the SnapCode screen, tap the SnapCode and tap the button above the left hinge of the Spectacles. For more, read our stories on how to find Spectacles and our tutorial on how to use Spectacles.
Instruments For Parents of Snapchat Users
Photo: Monkey Business Pics / Shutterstock
If you’re still confused by Snapchat, this fresh app that your kids all of a sudden can’t get enough of, we’ve got tips and tricks just for you. Tap the gear in the top right corner to open the settings menu, where you can set the privacy setting for Stories to Friends Only so strangers can’t stalk them. You can even restrict access to the app by using the Parental Controls menu found in settings. We’ve got more handy advice in our Snapchat Guide for Parents. Also, check out our instructions for how to report bullying and manhandle on Snapchat so you know what to do if other kids are using the app to target target your child.
How to Use Snapchat Like a Pro
How to Use Snapchat Like a Pro
Snapchat has evolved from being an app with a handful of evident insatiable uses to a social media platform where you can both broadcast your life and witness content from a broad range of sources. The messaging app’s capability to let you control the privacy of the pictures and movies you send was integral to its popularity.
Updates to the app permit users to edit their voices, exchange faces, share locations as well as place voice and movie calls. You can also eventually place web links within Snaps.
Snapchat has become so popular so swift that there are more than one hundred sixty six million active users watching ten billion movies per day. Brands like BuzzFeed, ESPN, National Geographic and People magazine have made their way to Snapchat, providing fans an inwards look at what’s going on behind the scenes. The service is so popular that NBC will be producing a daily news showcase to airs exclusively on Snapchat. Here’s how to sign up, get began snapping out photos and movies and become a Snapchat experienced.
How to get embarked with Snapchat
1. Install the Snapchat app. Fire up the App Store or Google Play and install it. Kick your feet up while the app transfers over.
Since you can’t just use an existing Facebook/Google/Your Dearest Social Network account to log your way into the service, you’ll need fresh credentials. Tap Sign Up. You’ll be asked for your email address, password and your bday. Tap Sign Up.
Trio. Pick a username. Select a “unique identifier” for your account that cannot be switched once it’s set. Your friends can use this to find you on the service, and the username will show up underneath your real name in their Snapchat contact list.
Snapchat will ask you if it can tap into your phone’s contacts list. Unless you have a searing desire to add friends by hand, we recommend you grant Snapchat this permission so you can commence friend-adding. iOS users will also be asked to come in in their mobile numbers for lighter searching; fret not, Android fans, for you can add this information later — so long as the text-based verification goes slickly for you.
Once Snapchat comes back with a list of your contacts that it has identified as users of the service, you can add them as friends by clicking the large person-with-a-plus button to the right of their names. If you want to eliminate contacts (or block them) later, just long-press on their names until the secondary menu pops up on your screen.’
How to send pictures or movie in Snapchat
1. Tap to shoot, hold to record movie.
Once you’re on Snapchat’s main screen, taking a picture is pretty effortless for those who have ever used their phones’ cameras before. If not, here’s a quick guide: Tap an area of the picture you want your phone to concentrate on. Tap the big round circle to take a picture. Hold the big round circle to take a movie.
Two. Save your own shots. The icon to the right of the timer, a downward-facing arrow, permits you to dump the shot you just took into your phone’s traditional gallery. It’s useful if you want to save your shot for future purposes, as there’s no other way to do so once you’ve sent the picture out.
Tap on the stopwatchlike icon in the lower left and you can set the specific time that you want your picture to be available for a friend to view. You can go all the way from a blink-and-you’ll-miss-it one 2nd to a maximum duration of ten seconds.
Four. Add a caption. Tap in the middle of the picture, and you can add text on top of your photo or movie. Tap on the T icon to switch the caption from a line to text to a larger brick of text. After you’ve written a caption for your snaps, you can budge, pinch and zoom that text to place it just where you want. Before you can pinch and zoom your caption, you’ll need to have set the text to the larger font, by tapping on the T icon.
If you’re feeling a little nostalgia for "Draw Something," you can also tap on the icon in the upper-right corner of the screen to draw directly onto your photo with varying colors of a virtual pen.
Click on the arrow icon in the lower right to get your shot ready to send. Up pops your friends list; select everyone that you want to receive your picture, take one final breath of confidence and click on the now-displayed arrow in the lower right-hand corner.
How to record without holding the shutter
iPhone owners don’t need to keep finger on the shutter button in order to record movies in Snapchat, as long as they know this secret trick. Open the Settings App, and select General. Then tap Accessibility, and select AssistiveTouch, which will make a white dot show up on your screen.
Then, toggle the switch next to AssistiveTouch to the On position and then tap Create Fresh Gesture. Then, tap and hold on the center of the screen in a very taut circular pattern until the recording bar is total. Tap Save at the top right corner, name this gesture with a memorable tag such as SnapVideo and then tap Save. Now, in the Snapchat recording screen, tap on AssistiveTouch bubble. Select Custom-made and then select SnapVideo (or whatever you called it).
You’ll see a fresh circular icon. When you’re ready to record, haul and drop it onto the capture button, and you’re recording without forearms. Since you’re drawing that pattern yourself, this process may require repeated effort, but it’s worth for lighter movie recording. There doesn’t seem to be a method for Android yet, but leave a comment below if you know of one.
Detect Movies on Snapchat
Tap on the icon in the lower right corner to budge to the stories screen. At the top of the screen, Snapchat has a row of pictures that preview rivulets of photos and movies from brands including ESPN, Comedy Central and CNN. You can swipe to the left to see more stories, and scroll down past your friends’ stories to see which brands are broadcasting live.
Swipe left to hop to the next snap, press and hold to send a snap to a friend and pull down to leave the stream. Tapping on the Globe icon in the upper right corner of the Stories screen permits you to check out more brands, such as Refinery29, Vice and Food Network.
How to view Snapchat messages
Credit: Jeremy Lips / Tom’s Guide
If you’ve received a Snapchat, or just want to check out the log of Snapchat pictures or movies you’ve sent out to your friends (just the log; not the media itself), tap the little cube icon on the lower-left of Snapchat’s main screen. If you have any to-be-viewed messages, the number will emerge over the cube itself.
Once you’re on the messages screen, you’ll see any fresh pictures or movies that your friends have sent you listed with a filled-in square or arrow icon and a “tap to view” message underneath them. Don’t do that unless you’re truly ready to view the photo or movie, because that starts the countdown timer for how long you’ll be able to view it. When the timer runs out, the message will transition over to a “double tap to reply” prompt — do just that to proceed your Snapchat “conversation.”
When you’re watching a story, you can tap to skip ahead, swipe left to advance to the next user you go after and pull down to exit.
How to send a text message in Snapchat
If you want to send texts without photos, tap on the voice bubble icon in the upper left corner in the Snapchat message log screen. Find a friend you’ve sent a photo to already, type your note and click Send. These messages will self destruct after they’ve been viewed, and if one of you takes a screenshot of the talk transcript, Snapchat will let the other person know.
How to save talk messages
If you’re using Snapchat for long (or significant) conversations, you might want to save messages to reread them. Fortunately, you can keep lines of your talks by holding your finger down on each individual message. A message is saved once it’s highlighted in grey and gets a SAVED! message to its left.
How to use Snapchat Groups
You can embark a group talk to snap with a select number of friends at the same time, by opening the Talk screen, tapping the fresh messages button in the top left corner, selecting numerous friends and tapping Talk. Groups work just like regular messages, as you can send snaps, texts, movie notes, audio notes and stickers. And of course, if a message isn’t opened in the twenty four hours after it’s sent, it will vanish from the group.
To talk privately with one person from a Group, tap their name in the row above the keyboard. Swipe right when you’re done to to come back to the Group.
How to send a movie note in Snapchat
You can record brief, looping GIF-like movies by holding down on the camera icon for up to ten seconds. Snapchat will record from your front camera, and the movie will be sent when you release your finger from the screen. If you don’t like the movie, you can haul your finger to the X in the middle of the screen. Your recipient can tap on the movie to hear the clip’s audio.
How to send an audio note in Snapchat
To record a brief audio message to send to a friend, hold down on the phone handset icon and speak. You can send the sound byte to your friend by removing your finger from the screen. If you don’t like the message you recorded, haul your finger to the X icon in the middle of the screen.
How to make a movie call in Snapchat
You can also have movie talks with your friends, and all you need to do is tap the Camera icon in the message screen. Snapchat will then attempt to set up a movie conference call inbetween you and your friend. Your friend will take up the majority of the screen, and you’ll be able to see yourself in a bubble on the bottom of your phone. If you need to switch to an audio-only call, tap the phone icon.
How to make an audio call in Snapchat
If you want to have a phone call with one of your Snapchat friends you’ve been exchanging messages with, tap the phone icon above the keyboard. If your friend has Snapchat notifications turned on, they will receive an alert that you’re attempting to call. This way you can call someone and stay inwards of the app, and you don’t need to give someone your phone number. To add movie to the call, tap the camera icon.
How to send photos in Snapchat
To send a photo from your camera roll, tap the picture icon above the keyboard and select photos. To annotate one of these pics, tap Edit to access Snapchat’s doodles, emoji stickers and text devices. You can share numerous photos by tapping on extra pictures before you click the arrow icon in the lower right corner to send. Photos can also be collective during audio or movie calls.
How to send stickers in Snapchat
Tap on the smiley icon above the keyboard to bring up a list of stickers that include doughnuts, gold starlets and a cat suggesting a rose. Select a sticker to send it.
How to edit Snapchat settings
Tap the ghost icon at the top of the screen, and then tap the gear icon in the window’s upper right corner. You can confirm your mobile number by tapping the associated field if you skipped this part when very first setting up Snapchat. You can also open up your Snapchat for messages from anyone on the service — not just your friends — by switching that setting (but make sure you want to do that).
The Android version of Snapchat also gives you the chance to lower the quality of the movies the app takes, as well as Snapchat’s default camera orientation. You’ll find both of these settings buried within the “Video Settings” section.
How to add a profile photo
Tap on the Ghost icon at the top of the main screen, and then tap on the Snapchat icon in the upper middle part of the screen. Press the shutter button at the bottom of the screen. Snapchat will take a series of photos of you using the front-facing camera on your device. Tap the activity button at the upper right corner of the screen to share this online so that your friends on Twitter, Facebook and other services can add you on Snapchat. If you want to take a fresh profile photo, click the retry button in the upper left corner.
How to add filters
After you’ve shot your snap, swipe to the left or right to add a visual filter that adjusts the photo quality — switching it to sepia or saturated — or one with a text overlay that shows the temperature in your area, the speed you’re moving at or the neighborhood you’re snapping from. You can add two filters by holding your finger down on the edge of the screen after you found the very first filter you want to use, and then swiping again with your free mitt.
With the On Request Geofilters feature, you can create your own location-specific filter and layer it on top of your snaps. Make sure your design meets Snapchat’s guidelines, upload it through the web portal, specify what location it’s meant for, wait for approval and voila! You can display off your Snapchat-approved artwork, and people who visit your location can also use it.
How to add an animated filter
When you’re snapping a selfie — tap the icon in the upper right corner to switch to front-facing mode if you haven’t already — tap on the part of the screen where your face is. After a wire-frame design emerges on your face, a series of Snapchat filter options will show up.
Swipe inbetween the options to switch from a thirsty dog’d hipster, a moustachioed viking , an ice god and more. Go after the prompts — like ‘Raise Your Eyebrows.’ — that emerge, and tap the capture button to take a Snap, or press and hold on the capture button to record a movie.
How to interchange faces
If you want to create a portrait that will both shock and confuse others, Snapchat’s Face-Swap feature puts another person’s face on your head. Tap the icon in the upper right corner to switch to front-facing mode, and then press and hold on the part of the screen where your face is. After the wire-frame design shows up on your face, slide the series of lenses to the left until you see the yellow and purple face interchange options.
If the person you want to interchange faces with is there with you, select the yellow icon. If you want to interchange faces with someone whose photo you’ve previously taken, select the purple icon and tap a face from the pop-up menu. Once Snapchat previews this bizarre switch, tap the capture button to take a photo, or press and hold on the capture button to record a movie.
How to post to your public Story
If you want to share a photo or movie you’ve shot with all of your followers, tap on the Square and Plus button on the lower left corner after shooting a snap. Tapping on the arrow in the bottom right corner will make your snap visible to all of your Snapchat friends for twenty four hours. You can also select your area’s Local Story to share your moment with your community. You can view the Story flows that your friends have published by tapping on the icon in the bottom right corner of the main screen.
How to make infinite snaps
Snaps typically vanish after their 10-second timer expires, but a fresh infinite option lets recipients look at a photo until they tap to advance. Just tap the timer icon and scroll down to the no limit option, and then send.
How to loop movie snaps
Once Instagram’s GIF-like Boomerang clips took off, it was only a matter of time before Snapchat added a similar feature. Just tap the repeat icon on the right after shooting a movie, and then your friends will get a movie they need to tap to pass, rather than one that simply finishes.
How to snap better at night
When you’re taking photos in dark areas, a moon icon will emerge in the upper left corner, next to the flash icon. Tap on this icon for brighter photos and movies, so it will be lighter for your audience to see what’s going on.
How to add emojis and stickers to your snaps
Click on the sticker icon at the top of your photo or movie when you’re editing it to bring up the emoji sticker sheet. You can add as many emoji as you and, as well as pinch and zoom them to your heart’s content.
How to delete stickers from your snaps
So now that you’ve place some stickers, you might have realized one doesn’t work and you want to liquidate it. Rather than commence over from square one, tap and hold on the sticker and haul it up to the trash can icon. Once the trash can gets slightly larger, release your finger to delete the sticker.
How to share your location and use the Snap Map
Snapchat can be your portal to the world, and its fresh Snap Map view lets you share your location and see what’s happening in specific regions. From the camera view pinch the screen to expose a See The World screen.
Then, tap Next and select your privacy setting: Only Me (Ghost Mode), My Friends or Select Friends. After tapping Finish, you’ll see a map view of your city, which you can pinch and pull to zoom out and in from. This way you can see what people are doing in the next town over, or get a peek at your next vacation destination. You might want to use Ghost Mode, tho’, if you don’t want Snapchat to be permanently sharing your location.
How to add voice filters
Very first introduced as a part of animated face filters, Snapchat’s voice filters can now be added on their own. This way you can modify the way you and your friends sound in movies. Current options include chipmunk (our beloved), robot, alien and bear (which sounds super creepy). Just record a movie snap and tap the speaker icon to preview your options.
How to use Snapchat’s backdrops
If you don’t have wallpaper that you like, Snapchat has you covered with its fresh backdrops. Just take a snap, tap the scissors icon, tap the diagonal lines icon, select a background by tapping on the vertical list and then haul your finger over yourself to erase the design so it doesn’t cover your face. Tap the scissors icon again and you’re done!
How to switch colors with Tint Brush
The wacky, wild and often altered world of Snapchat permits you to switch everything from your voice to your face, so it’s only natural that they’d add a color adjustment option. After you shoot a photo in the app, tap on the scissors icon and select a color by dragging your finger up and down the slider. Then, trace around the object you want to adjust and, voila, you’ve switched only the object you want to.
How to add links to your snaps
One of the thickest problems with the more playful social networks, such as Instagram and Snapchat, is the lack of clickable links in posts. Snapchat immobilized that with a latest update that permits you to add links, which users swipe up to open.
To use this feature, tap the paperclip icon after taking a snap, type in a URL, hit come in and tap link at the bottom of the screen. Also, add a text note to your snap to let friends know that there’s a linked page.
How to use Snapchat Spectacles
Once you’ve mastered the basics of Snapchat, you’re ready for Spectacles, the sunglasses from Snap that feature a camera in the frames. You’ll need to charge the wearable very first before you pair them with your smartphone over Bluetooth (make sure it’s enabled on your phone). Next, open Snapchat, slide down the home screen to the SnapCode screen, tap the SnapCode and tap the button above the left hinge of the Spectacles. For more, read our stories on how to find Spectacles and our tutorial on how to use Spectacles.
Instruments For Parents of Snapchat Users
Photo: Monkey Business Photos / Shutterstock
If you’re still confused by Snapchat, this fresh app that your kids all of a sudden can’t get enough of, we’ve got tips and tricks just for you. Tap the gear in the top right corner to open the settings menu, where you can set the privacy setting for Stories to Friends Only so strangers can’t stalk them. You can even restrict access to the app by using the Parental Controls menu found in settings. We’ve got more handy advice in our Snapchat Guide for Parents. Also, check out our instructions for how to report bullying and manhandle on Snapchat so you know what to do if other kids are using the app to target target your child.
How to Use Snapchat Like a Pro
How to Use Snapchat Like a Pro
Snapchat has evolved from being an app with a handful of demonstrable nasty uses to a social media platform where you can both broadcast your life and see content from a broad range of sources. The messaging app’s capability to let you control the privacy of the pictures and movies you send was integral to its popularity.
Updates to the app permit users to edit their voices, exchange faces, share locations as well as place voice and movie calls. You can also eventually place web links within Snaps.
Snapchat has become so popular so rapid that there are more than one hundred sixty six million active users watching ten billion movies per day. Brands like BuzzFeed, ESPN, National Geographic and People magazine have made their way to Snapchat, providing fans an inwards look at what’s going on behind the scenes. The service is so popular that NBC will be producing a daily news demonstrate to airs exclusively on Snapchat. Here’s how to sign up, get began snapping out photos and movies and become a Snapchat pro.
How to get began with Snapchat
1. Install the Snapchat app. Fire up the App Store or Google Play and install it. Kick your feet up while the app transfers over.
Since you can’t just use an existing Facebook/Google/Your Dearest Social Network account to log your way into the service, you’ll need fresh credentials. Tap Sign Up. You’ll be asked for your email address, password and your bday. Tap Sign Up.
Three. Pick a username. Select a “unique identifier” for your account that cannot be switched once it’s set. Your friends can use this to find you on the service, and the username will emerge underneath your real name in their Snapchat contact list.
Snapchat will ask you if it can tap into your phone’s contacts list. Unless you have a searing desire to add friends by hand, we recommend you grant Snapchat this permission so you can commence friend-adding. iOS users will also be asked to come in in their mobile numbers for lighter searching; fret not, Android fans, for you can add this information later — so long as the text-based verification goes sleekly for you.
Once Snapchat comes back with a list of your contacts that it has identified as users of the service, you can add them as friends by clicking the large person-with-a-plus button to the right of their names. If you want to liquidate contacts (or block them) later, just long-press on their names until the secondary menu pops up on your screen.’
How to send pictures or movie in Snapchat
1. Tap to shoot, hold to record movie.
Once you’re on Snapchat’s main screen, taking a picture is pretty effortless for those who have ever used their phones’ cameras before. If not, here’s a quick guide: Tap an area of the picture you want your phone to concentrate on. Tap the big round circle to take a picture. Hold the big round circle to take a movie.
Two. Save your own shots. The icon to the right of the timer, a downward-facing arrow, permits you to dump the shot you just took into your phone’s traditional gallery. It’s useful if you want to save your shot for future purposes, as there’s no other way to do so once you’ve sent the picture out.
Tap on the stopwatchlike icon in the lower left and you can set the specific time that you want your picture to be available for a friend to view. You can go all the way from a blink-and-you’ll-miss-it one 2nd to a maximum duration of ten seconds.
Four. Add a caption. Tap in the middle of the picture, and you can add text on top of your photo or movie. Tap on the T icon to switch the caption from a line to text to a larger brick of text. After you’ve written a caption for your snaps, you can budge, pinch and zoom that text to place it just where you want. Before you can pinch and zoom your caption, you’ll need to have set the text to the larger font, by tapping on the T icon.
If you’re feeling a little nostalgia for "Draw Something," you can also tap on the icon in the upper-right corner of the screen to draw directly onto your pic with varying colors of a virtual pen.
Click on the arrow icon in the lower right to get your shot ready to send. Up pops your friends list; select everyone that you want to receive your photo, take one final breath of confidence and click on the now-displayed arrow in the lower right-hand corner.
How to record without holding the shutter
iPhone owners don’t need to keep finger on the shutter button in order to record movies in Snapchat, as long as they know this secret trick. Open the Settings App, and select General. Then tap Accessibility, and select AssistiveTouch, which will make a white dot emerge on your screen.
Then, toggle the switch next to AssistiveTouch to the On position and then tap Create Fresh Gesture. Then, tap and hold on the center of the screen in a very taut circular pattern until the recording bar is total. Tap Save at the top right corner, name this gesture with a memorable tag such as SnapVideo and then tap Save. Now, in the Snapchat recording screen, tap on AssistiveTouch bubble. Select Custom-made and then select SnapVideo (or whatever you called it).
You’ll see a fresh circular icon. When you’re ready to record, haul and drop it onto the capture button, and you’re recording without arms. Since you’re drawing that pattern yourself, this process may require repeated effort, but it’s worth for lighter movie recording. There doesn’t seem to be a method for Android yet, but leave a comment below if you know of one.
Detect Movies on Snapchat
Tap on the icon in the lower right corner to stir to the stories screen. At the top of the screen, Snapchat has a row of pictures that preview rivulets of photos and movies from brands including ESPN, Comedy Central and CNN. You can swipe to the left to see more stories, and scroll down past your friends’ stories to see which brands are broadcasting live.
Swipe left to leap to the next snap, press and hold to send a snap to a friend and pull down to leave the stream. Tapping on the Globe icon in the upper right corner of the Stories screen permits you to check out more brands, such as Refinery29, Vice and Food Network.
How to view Snapchat messages
Credit: Jeremy Lips / Tom’s Guide
If you’ve received a Snapchat, or just want to check out the log of Snapchat pictures or movies you’ve sent out to your friends (just the log; not the media itself), tap the little cube icon on the lower-left of Snapchat’s main screen. If you have any to-be-viewed messages, the number will emerge over the cube itself.
Once you’re on the messages screen, you’ll see any fresh pictures or movies that your friends have sent you listed with a filled-in square or arrow icon and a “tap to view” message underneath them. Don’t do that unless you’re indeed ready to view the picture or movie, because that starts the countdown timer for how long you’ll be able to view it. When the timer runs out, the message will transition over to a “double tap to reply” prompt — do just that to proceed your Snapchat “conversation.”
When you’re watching a story, you can tap to skip ahead, swipe left to advance to the next user you go after and pull down to exit.
How to send a text message in Snapchat
If you want to send texts without photos, tap on the voice bubble icon in the upper left corner in the Snapchat message log screen. Find a friend you’ve sent a photo to already, type your note and click Send. These messages will self destruct after they’ve been viewed, and if one of you takes a screenshot of the talk transcript, Snapchat will let the other person know.
How to save talk messages
If you’re using Snapchat for long (or significant) conversations, you might want to save messages to reread them. Fortunately, you can keep lines of your talks by holding your finger down on each individual message. A message is saved once it’s highlighted in grey and gets a SAVED! message to its left.
How to use Snapchat Groups
You can commence a group talk to snap with a select number of friends at the same time, by opening the Talk screen, tapping the fresh messages button in the top left corner, selecting numerous friends and tapping Talk. Groups work just like regular messages, as you can send snaps, texts, movie notes, audio notes and stickers. And of course, if a message isn’t opened in the twenty four hours after it’s sent, it will vanish from the group.
To talk privately with one person from a Group, tap their name in the row above the keyboard. Swipe right when you’re done to to come back to the Group.
How to send a movie note in Snapchat
You can record brief, looping GIF-like movies by holding down on the camera icon for up to ten seconds. Snapchat will record from your front camera, and the movie will be sent when you release your finger from the screen. If you don’t like the movie, you can haul your finger to the X in the middle of the screen. Your recipient can tap on the movie to hear the clip’s audio.
How to send an audio note in Snapchat
To record a brief audio message to send to a friend, hold down on the phone handset icon and speak. You can send the sound byte to your friend by removing your finger from the screen. If you don’t like the message you recorded, haul your finger to the X icon in the middle of the screen.
How to make a movie call in Snapchat
You can also have movie talks with your friends, and all you need to do is tap the Camera icon in the message screen. Snapchat will then attempt to set up a movie conference call inbetween you and your friend. Your friend will take up the majority of the screen, and you’ll be able to see yourself in a bubble on the bottom of your phone. If you need to switch to an audio-only call, tap the phone icon.
How to make an audio call in Snapchat
If you want to have a phone call with one of your Snapchat friends you’ve been exchanging messages with, tap the phone icon above the keyboard. If your friend has Snapchat notifications turned on, they will receive an alert that you’re attempting to call. This way you can call someone and stay inwards of the app, and you don’t need to give someone your phone number. To add movie to the call, tap the camera icon.
How to send photos in Snapchat
To send a photo from your camera roll, tap the picture icon above the keyboard and select photos. To annotate one of these photos, tap Edit to access Snapchat’s doodles, emoji stickers and text instruments. You can share numerous photos by tapping on extra pictures before you click the arrow icon in the lower right corner to send. Photos can also be collective during audio or movie calls.
How to send stickers in Snapchat
Tap on the smiley icon above the keyboard to bring up a list of stickers that include doughnuts, gold starlets and a cat suggesting a rose. Select a sticker to send it.
How to edit Snapchat settings
Tap the ghost icon at the top of the screen, and then tap the gear icon in the window’s upper right corner. You can confirm your mobile number by tapping the associated field if you skipped this part when very first setting up Snapchat. You can also open up your Snapchat for messages from anyone on the service — not just your friends — by switching that setting (but make sure you want to do that).
The Android version of Snapchat also gives you the chance to lower the quality of the movies the app takes, as well as Snapchat’s default camera orientation. You’ll find both of these settings buried within the “Video Settings” section.
How to add a profile photo
Tap on the Ghost icon at the top of the main screen, and then tap on the Snapchat icon in the upper middle part of the screen. Press the shutter button at the bottom of the screen. Snapchat will take a series of photos of you using the front-facing camera on your device. Tap the activity button at the upper right corner of the screen to share this online so that your friends on Twitter, Facebook and other services can add you on Snapchat. If you want to take a fresh profile photo, click the retry button in the upper left corner.
How to add filters
After you’ve shot your snap, swipe to the left or right to add a visual filter that adjusts the photo quality — switching it to sepia or saturated — or one with a text overlay that shows the temperature in your area, the speed you’re moving at or the neighborhood you’re snapping from. You can add two filters by holding your finger down on the edge of the screen after you found the very first filter you want to use, and then swiping again with your free mitt.
With the On Request Geofilters feature, you can create your own location-specific filter and layer it on top of your snaps. Make sure your design meets Snapchat’s guidelines, upload it through the web portal, specify what location it’s meant for, wait for approval and voila! You can display off your Snapchat-approved artwork, and people who visit your location can also use it.
How to add an animated filter
When you’re snapping a selfie — tap the icon in the upper right corner to switch to front-facing mode if you haven’t already — tap on the part of the screen where your face is. After a wire-frame design emerges on your face, a series of Snapchat filter options will emerge.
Swipe inbetween the options to switch from a thirsty dog’d hipster, a moustachioed viking , an ice god and more. Go after the prompts — like ‘Raise Your Eyebrows.’ — that show up, and tap the capture button to take a Snap, or press and hold on the capture button to record a movie.
How to interchange faces
If you want to create a portrait that will both shock and confuse others, Snapchat’s Face-Swap feature puts another person’s face on your head. Tap the icon in the upper right corner to switch to front-facing mode, and then press and hold on the part of the screen where your face is. After the wire-frame design shows up on your face, slide the series of lenses to the left until you see the yellow and purple face interchange options.
If the person you want to exchange faces with is there with you, select the yellow icon. If you want to exchange faces with someone whose photo you’ve previously taken, select the purple icon and tap a face from the pop-up menu. Once Snapchat previews this bizarre switch, tap the capture button to take a photo, or press and hold on the capture button to record a movie.
How to post to your public Story
If you want to share a photo or movie you’ve shot with all of your followers, tap on the Square and Plus button on the lower left corner after shooting a snap. Tapping on the arrow in the bottom right corner will make your snap visible to all of your Snapchat friends for twenty four hours. You can also select your area’s Local Story to share your moment with your community. You can view the Story flows that your friends have published by tapping on the icon in the bottom right corner of the main screen.
How to make infinite snaps
Snaps typically vanish after their 10-second timer expires, but a fresh infinite option lets recipients look at a photo until they tap to advance. Just tap the timer icon and scroll down to the no limit option, and then send.
How to loop movie snaps
Once Instagram’s GIF-like Boomerang clips took off, it was only a matter of time before Snapchat added a similar feature. Just tap the repeat icon on the right after shooting a movie, and then your friends will get a movie they need to tap to pass, rather than one that simply finishes.
How to snap better at night
When you’re taking photos in dark areas, a moon icon will emerge in the upper left corner, next to the flash icon. Tap on this icon for brighter photos and movies, so it will be lighter for your audience to see what’s going on.
How to add emojis and stickers to your snaps
Click on the sticker icon at the top of your photo or movie when you’re editing it to bring up the emoji sticker sheet. You can add as many emoji as you and, as well as pinch and zoom them to your heart’s content.
How to delete stickers from your snaps
So now that you’ve place some stickers, you might have realized one doesn’t work and you want to eliminate it. Rather than begin over from square one, tap and hold on the sticker and haul it up to the trash can icon. Once the trash can gets slightly larger, release your finger to delete the sticker.
How to share your location and use the Snap Map
Snapchat can be your portal to the world, and its fresh Snap Map view lets you share your location and see what’s happening in specific regions. From the camera view pinch the screen to expose a See The World screen.
Then, tap Next and select your privacy setting: Only Me (Ghost Mode), My Friends or Select Friends. After tapping Finish, you’ll see a map view of your city, which you can pinch and pull to zoom out and in from. This way you can see what people are doing in the next town over, or get a peek at your next vacation destination. You might want to use Ghost Mode, tho’, if you don’t want Snapchat to be permanently sharing your location.
How to add voice filters
Very first introduced as a part of animated face filters, Snapchat’s voice filters can now be added on their own. This way you can modify the way you and your friends sound in movies. Current options include chipmunk (our dearest), robot, alien and bear (which sounds super creepy). Just record a movie snap and tap the speaker icon to preview your options.
How to use Snapchat’s backdrops
If you don’t have wallpaper that you like, Snapchat has you covered with its fresh backdrops. Just take a snap, tap the scissors icon, tap the diagonal lines icon, select a background by tapping on the vertical list and then haul your finger over yourself to erase the design so it doesn’t cover your face. Tap the scissors icon again and you’re done!
How to switch colors with Tint Brush
The wacky, wild and often altered world of Snapchat permits you to switch everything from your voice to your face, so it’s only natural that they’d add a color adjustment option. After you shoot a photo in the app, tap on the scissors icon and select a color by dragging your finger up and down the slider. Then, trace around the object you want to adjust and, voila, you’ve switched only the object you want to.
How to add links to your snaps
One of the fattest problems with the more playful social networks, such as Instagram and Snapchat, is the lack of clickable links in posts. Snapchat immobilized that with a latest update that permits you to add links, which users swipe up to open.
To use this feature, tap the paperclip icon after taking a snap, type in a URL, hit inject and tap link at the bottom of the screen. Also, add a text note to your snap to let friends know that there’s a linked page.
How to use Snapchat Spectacles
Once you’ve mastered the basics of Snapchat, you’re ready for Spectacles, the sunglasses from Snap that feature a camera in the frames. You’ll need to charge the wearable very first before you pair them with your smartphone over Bluetooth (make sure it’s enabled on your phone). Next, open Snapchat, slide down the home screen to the SnapCode screen, tap the SnapCode and tap the button above the left hinge of the Spectacles. For more, read our stories on how to find Spectacles and our tutorial on how to use Spectacles.
Devices For Parents of Snapchat Users
Pic: Monkey Business Pics / Shutterstock
If you’re still confused by Snapchat, this fresh app that your kids abruptly can’t get enough of, we’ve got tips and tricks just for you. Tap the gear in the top right corner to open the settings menu, where you can set the privacy setting for Stories to Friends Only so strangers can’t stalk them. You can even restrict access to the app by using the Parental Controls menu found in settings. We’ve got more handy advice in our Snapchat Guide for Parents. Also, check out our instructions for how to report bullying and manhandle on Snapchat so you know what to do if other kids are using the app to target target your child.
How to Use Snapchat Like a Pro
How to Use Snapchat Like a Pro
Snapchat has evolved from being an app with a handful of demonstrable kinky uses to a social media platform where you can both broadcast your life and see content from a broad range of sources. The messaging app’s capability to let you control the privacy of the pictures and movies you send was integral to its popularity.
Updates to the app permit users to edit their voices, exchange faces, share locations as well as place voice and movie calls. You can also eventually place web links within Snaps.
Snapchat has become so popular so rapid that there are more than one hundred sixty six million active users watching ten billion movies per day. Brands like BuzzFeed, ESPN, National Geographic and People magazine have made their way to Snapchat, providing fans an inwards look at what’s going on behind the scenes. The service is so popular that NBC will be producing a daily news demonstrate to airs exclusively on Snapchat. Here’s how to sign up, get embarked snapping out photos and movies and become a Snapchat accomplished.
How to get embarked with Snapchat
1. Install the Snapchat app. Fire up the App Store or Google Play and install it. Kick your feet up while the app transfers over.
Since you can’t just use an existing Facebook/Google/Your Beloved Social Network account to log your way into the service, you’ll need fresh credentials. Tap Sign Up. You’ll be asked for your email address, password and your bday. Tap Sign Up.
Three. Pick a username. Select a “unique identifier” for your account that cannot be switched once it’s set. Your friends can use this to find you on the service, and the username will emerge underneath your real name in their Snapchat contact list.
Snapchat will ask you if it can tap into your phone’s contacts list. Unless you have a searing desire to add friends by hand, we recommend you grant Snapchat this permission so you can commence friend-adding. iOS users will also be asked to inject in their mobile numbers for lighter searching; fret not, Android fans, for you can add this information later — so long as the text-based verification goes slickly for you.
Once Snapchat comes back with a list of your contacts that it has identified as users of the service, you can add them as friends by clicking the large person-with-a-plus button to the right of their names. If you want to eliminate contacts (or block them) later, just long-press on their names until the secondary menu pops up on your screen.’
How to send pictures or movie in Snapchat
1. Tap to shoot, hold to record movie.
Once you’re on Snapchat’s main screen, taking a picture is pretty effortless for those who have ever used their phones’ cameras before. If not, here’s a quick guide: Tap an area of the picture you want your phone to concentrate on. Tap the big round circle to take a picture. Hold the big round circle to take a movie.
Two. Save your own shots. The icon to the right of the timer, a downward-facing arrow, permits you to dump the shot you just took into your phone’s traditional gallery. It’s useful if you want to save your shot for future purposes, as there’s no other way to do so once you’ve sent the picture out.
Tap on the stopwatchlike icon in the lower left and you can set the specific time that you want your picture to be available for a friend to view. You can go all the way from a blink-and-you’ll-miss-it one 2nd to a maximum duration of ten seconds.
Four. Add a caption. Tap in the middle of the picture, and you can add text on top of your photo or movie. Tap on the T icon to switch the caption from a line to text to a larger brick of text. After you’ve written a caption for your snaps, you can stir, pinch and zoom that text to place it just where you want. Before you can pinch and zoom your caption, you’ll need to have set the text to the larger font, by tapping on the T icon.
If you’re feeling a little nostalgia for "Draw Something," you can also tap on the icon in the upper-right corner of the screen to draw directly onto your pic with varying colors of a virtual pen.
Click on the arrow icon in the lower right to get your shot ready to send. Up pops your friends list; select everyone that you want to receive your photo, take one final breath of confidence and click on the now-displayed arrow in the lower right-hand corner.
How to record without holding the shutter
iPhone owners don’t need to keep finger on the shutter button in order to record movies in Snapchat, as long as they know this secret trick. Open the Settings App, and select General. Then tap Accessibility, and select AssistiveTouch, which will make a white dot show up on your screen.
Then, toggle the switch next to AssistiveTouch to the On position and then tap Create Fresh Gesture. Then, tap and hold on the center of the screen in a very taut circular pattern until the recording bar is utter. Tap Save at the top right corner, name this gesture with a memorable tag such as SnapVideo and then tap Save. Now, in the Snapchat recording screen, tap on AssistiveTouch bubble. Select Custom-made and then select SnapVideo (or whatever you called it).
You’ll see a fresh circular icon. When you’re ready to record, haul and drop it onto the capture button, and you’re recording without arms. Since you’re drawing that pattern yourself, this process may require repeated effort, but it’s worth for lighter movie recording. There doesn’t seem to be a method for Android yet, but leave a comment below if you know of one.
Detect Movies on Snapchat
Tap on the icon in the lower right corner to budge to the stories screen. At the top of the screen, Snapchat has a row of pictures that preview rivulets of photos and movies from brands including ESPN, Comedy Central and CNN. You can swipe to the left to see more stories, and scroll down past your friends’ stories to see which brands are broadcasting live.
Swipe left to hop to the next snap, press and hold to send a snap to a friend and pull down to leave the stream. Tapping on the Globe icon in the upper right corner of the Stories screen permits you to check out more brands, such as Refinery29, Vice and Food Network.
How to view Snapchat messages
Credit: Jeremy Lips / Tom’s Guide
If you’ve received a Snapchat, or just want to check out the log of Snapchat pictures or movies you’ve sent out to your friends (just the log; not the media itself), tap the little cube icon on the lower-left of Snapchat’s main screen. If you have any to-be-viewed messages, the number will show up over the cube itself.
Once you’re on the messages screen, you’ll see any fresh pictures or movies that your friends have sent you listed with a filled-in square or arrow icon and a “tap to view” message underneath them. Don’t do that unless you’re indeed ready to view the photo or movie, because that starts the countdown timer for how long you’ll be able to view it. When the timer runs out, the message will transition over to a “double tap to reply” prompt — do just that to proceed your Snapchat “conversation.”
When you’re watching a story, you can tap to skip ahead, swipe left to advance to the next user you go after and pull down to exit.
How to send a text message in Snapchat
If you want to send texts without photos, tap on the voice bubble icon in the upper left corner in the Snapchat message log screen. Find a friend you’ve sent a photo to already, type your note and click Send. These messages will self destruct after they’ve been viewed, and if one of you takes a screenshot of the talk transcript, Snapchat will let the other person know.
How to save talk messages
If you’re using Snapchat for long (or significant) conversations, you might want to save messages to reread them. Fortunately, you can keep lines of your talks by holding your finger down on each individual message. A message is saved once it’s highlighted in grey and gets a SAVED! message to its left.
How to use Snapchat Groups
You can commence a group talk to snap with a select number of friends at the same time, by opening the Talk screen, tapping the fresh messages button in the top left corner, selecting numerous friends and tapping Talk. Groups work just like regular messages, as you can send snaps, texts, movie notes, audio notes and stickers. And of course, if a message isn’t opened in the twenty four hours after it’s sent, it will vanish from the group.
To talk privately with one person from a Group, tap their name in the row above the keyboard. Swipe right when you’re done to to comeback to the Group.
How to send a movie note in Snapchat
You can record brief, looping GIF-like movies by holding down on the camera icon for up to ten seconds. Snapchat will record from your front camera, and the movie will be sent when you release your finger from the screen. If you don’t like the movie, you can haul your finger to the X in the middle of the screen. Your recipient can tap on the movie to hear the clip’s audio.
How to send an audio note in Snapchat
To record a brief audio message to send to a friend, hold down on the phone handset icon and speak. You can send the sound byte to your friend by removing your finger from the screen. If you don’t like the message you recorded, haul your finger to the X icon in the middle of the screen.
How to make a movie call in Snapchat
You can also have movie talks with your friends, and all you need to do is tap the Camera icon in the message screen. Snapchat will then attempt to set up a movie conference call inbetween you and your friend. Your friend will take up the majority of the screen, and you’ll be able to see yourself in a bubble on the bottom of your phone. If you need to switch to an audio-only call, tap the phone icon.
How to make an audio call in Snapchat
If you want to have a phone call with one of your Snapchat friends you’ve been exchanging messages with, tap the phone icon above the keyboard. If your friend has Snapchat notifications turned on, they will receive an alert that you’re attempting to call. This way you can call someone and stay inwards of the app, and you don’t need to give someone your phone number. To add movie to the call, tap the camera icon.
How to send photos in Snapchat
To send a photo from your camera roll, tap the picture icon above the keyboard and select pictures. To annotate one of these pictures, tap Edit to access Snapchat’s doodles, emoji stickers and text devices. You can share numerous photos by tapping on extra pictures before you click the arrow icon in the lower right corner to send. Photos can also be collective during audio or movie calls.
How to send stickers in Snapchat
Tap on the smiley icon above the keyboard to bring up a list of stickers that include doughnuts, gold starlets and a cat suggesting a rose. Select a sticker to send it.
How to edit Snapchat settings
Tap the ghost icon at the top of the screen, and then tap the gear icon in the window’s upper right corner. You can confirm your mobile number by tapping the associated field if you skipped this part when very first setting up Snapchat. You can also open up your Snapchat for messages from anyone on the service — not just your friends — by switching that setting (but make sure you want to do that).
The Android version of Snapchat also gives you the chance to lower the quality of the movies the app takes, as well as Snapchat’s default camera orientation. You’ll find both of these settings buried within the “Video Settings” section.
How to add a profile photo
Tap on the Ghost icon at the top of the main screen, and then tap on the Snapchat icon in the upper middle part of the screen. Press the shutter button at the bottom of the screen. Snapchat will take a series of photos of you using the front-facing camera on your device. Tap the activity button at the upper right corner of the screen to share this online so that your friends on Twitter, Facebook and other services can add you on Snapchat. If you want to take a fresh profile photo, click the retry button in the upper left corner.
How to add filters
After you’ve shot your snap, swipe to the left or right to add a visual filter that adjusts the photo quality — switching it to sepia or saturated — or one with a text overlay that shows the temperature in your area, the speed you’re moving at or the neighborhood you’re snapping from. You can add two filters by holding your finger down on the edge of the screen after you found the very first filter you want to use, and then swiping again with your free mitt.
With the On Request Geofilters feature, you can create your own location-specific filter and layer it on top of your snaps. Make sure your design meets Snapchat’s guidelines, upload it through the web portal, specify what location it’s meant for, wait for approval and voila! You can demonstrate off your Snapchat-approved artwork, and people who visit your location can also use it.
How to add an animated filter
When you’re snapping a selfie — tap the icon in the upper right corner to switch to front-facing mode if you haven’t already — tap on the part of the screen where your face is. After a wire-frame design shows up on your face, a series of Snapchat filter options will show up.
Swipe inbetween the options to switch from a thirsty dog’d hipster, a moustachioed viking , an ice god and more. Go after the prompts — like ‘Raise Your Eyebrows.’ — that emerge, and tap the capture button to take a Snap, or press and hold on the capture button to record a movie.
How to interchange faces
If you want to create a portrait that will both shock and confuse others, Snapchat’s Face-Swap feature puts another person’s face on your head. Tap the icon in the upper right corner to switch to front-facing mode, and then press and hold on the part of the screen where your face is. After the wire-frame design emerges on your face, slide the series of lenses to the left until you see the yellow and purple face interchange options.
If the person you want to interchange faces with is there with you, select the yellow icon. If you want to interchange faces with someone whose photo you’ve previously taken, select the purple icon and tap a face from the pop-up menu. Once Snapchat previews this bizarre switch, tap the capture button to take a photo, or press and hold on the capture button to record a movie.
How to post to your public Story
If you want to share a photo or movie you’ve shot with all of your followers, tap on the Square and Plus button on the lower left corner after shooting a snap. Tapping on the arrow in the bottom right corner will make your snap visible to all of your Snapchat friends for twenty four hours. You can also select your area’s Local Story to share your moment with your community. You can view the Story flows that your friends have published by tapping on the icon in the bottom right corner of the main screen.
How to make infinite snaps
Snaps typically vanish after their 10-second timer expires, but a fresh infinite option lets recipients look at a photo until they tap to advance. Just tap the timer icon and scroll down to the no limit option, and then send.
How to loop movie snaps
Once Instagram’s GIF-like Boomerang clips took off, it was only a matter of time before Snapchat added a similar feature. Just tap the repeat icon on the right after shooting a movie, and then your friends will get a movie they need to tap to pass, rather than one that simply finishes.
How to snap better at night
When you’re taking photos in dark areas, a moon icon will show up in the upper left corner, next to the flash icon. Tap on this icon for brighter photos and movies, so it will be lighter for your audience to see what’s going on.
How to add emojis and stickers to your snaps
Click on the sticker icon at the top of your photo or movie when you’re editing it to bring up the emoji sticker sheet. You can add as many emoji as you and, as well as pinch and zoom them to your heart’s content.
How to delete stickers from your snaps
So now that you’ve place some stickers, you might have realized one doesn’t work and you want to liquidate it. Rather than embark over from square one, tap and hold on the sticker and haul it up to the trash can icon. Once the trash can gets slightly larger, release your finger to delete the sticker.
How to share your location and use the Snap Map
Snapchat can be your portal to the world, and its fresh Snap Map view lets you share your location and see what’s happening in specific regions. From the camera view pinch the screen to expose a See The World screen.
Then, tap Next and select your privacy setting: Only Me (Ghost Mode), My Friends or Select Friends. After tapping Finish, you’ll see a map view of your city, which you can pinch and pull to zoom out and in from. This way you can see what people are doing in the next town over, or get a peek at your next vacation destination. You might want to use Ghost Mode, tho’, if you don’t want Snapchat to be permanently sharing your location.
How to add voice filters
Very first introduced as a part of animated face filters, Snapchat’s voice filters can now be added on their own. This way you can modify the way you and your friends sound in movies. Current options include chipmunk (our dearest), robot, alien and bear (which sounds super creepy). Just record a movie snap and tap the speaker icon to preview your options.
How to use Snapchat’s backdrops
If you don’t have wallpaper that you like, Snapchat has you covered with its fresh backdrops. Just take a snap, tap the scissors icon, tap the diagonal lines icon, select a background by tapping on the vertical list and then haul your finger over yourself to erase the design so it doesn’t cover your face. Tap the scissors icon again and you’re done!
How to switch colors with Tint Brush
The wacky, wild and often altered world of Snapchat permits you to switch everything from your voice to your face, so it’s only natural that they’d add a color adjustment option. After you shoot a photo in the app, tap on the scissors icon and select a color by dragging your finger up and down the slider. Then, trace around the object you want to adjust and, voila, you’ve switched only the object you want to.
How to add links to your snaps
One of the fattest problems with the more playful social networks, such as Instagram and Snapchat, is the lack of clickable links in posts. Snapchat motionless that with a latest update that permits you to add links, which users swipe up to open.
To use this feature, tap the paperclip icon after taking a snap, type in a URL, hit inject and tap fasten at the bottom of the screen. Also, add a text note to your snap to let friends know that there’s a linked page.
How to use Snapchat Spectacles
Once you’ve mastered the basics of Snapchat, you’re ready for Spectacles, the sunglasses from Snap that feature a camera in the frames. You’ll need to charge the wearable very first before you pair them with your smartphone over Bluetooth (make sure it’s enabled on your phone). Next, open Snapchat, slide down the home screen to the SnapCode screen, tap the SnapCode and tap the button above the left hinge of the Spectacles. For more, read our stories on how to find Spectacles and our tutorial on how to use Spectacles.
Instruments For Parents of Snapchat Users
Picture: Monkey Business Pics / Shutterstock
If you’re still confused by Snapchat, this fresh app that your kids abruptly can’t get enough of, we’ve got tips and tricks just for you. Tap the gear in the top right corner to open the settings menu, where you can set the privacy setting for Stories to Friends Only so strangers can’t stalk them. You can even restrict access to the app by using the Parental Controls menu found in settings. We’ve got more handy advice in our Snapchat Guide for Parents. Also, check out our instructions for how to report bullying and manhandle on Snapchat so you know what to do if other kids are using the app to target target your child.
How to Use Snapchat Like a Pro
How to Use Snapchat Like a Pro
Snapchat has evolved from being an app with a handful of visible crazy uses to a social media platform where you can both broadcast your life and observe content from a broad range of sources. The messaging app’s capability to let you control the privacy of the pictures and movies you send was integral to its popularity.
Updates to the app permit users to edit their voices, interchange faces, share locations as well as place voice and movie calls. You can also eventually place web links within Snaps.
Snapchat has become so popular so swift that there are more than one hundred sixty six million active users watching ten billion movies per day. Brands like BuzzFeed, ESPN, National Geographic and People magazine have made their way to Snapchat, providing fans an inwards look at what’s going on behind the scenes. The service is so popular that NBC will be producing a daily news display to airs exclusively on Snapchat. Here’s how to sign up, get embarked snapping out photos and movies and become a Snapchat pro.
How to get embarked with Snapchat
1. Install the Snapchat app. Fire up the App Store or Google Play and install it. Kick your feet up while the app transfers over.
Since you can’t just use an existing Facebook/Google/Your Beloved Social Network account to log your way into the service, you’ll need fresh credentials. Tap Sign Up. You’ll be asked for your email address, password and your bday. Tap Sign Up.
Three. Pick a username. Select a “unique identifier” for your account that cannot be switched once it’s set. Your friends can use this to find you on the service, and the username will emerge underneath your real name in their Snapchat contact list.
Snapchat will ask you if it can tap into your phone’s contacts list. Unless you have a searing desire to add friends by hand, we recommend you grant Snapchat this permission so you can commence friend-adding. iOS users will also be asked to come in in their mobile numbers for lighter searching; fret not, Android fans, for you can add this information later — so long as the text-based verification goes sleekly for you.
Once Snapchat comes back with a list of your contacts that it has identified as users of the service, you can add them as friends by clicking the large person-with-a-plus button to the right of their names. If you want to eliminate contacts (or block them) later, just long-press on their names until the secondary menu pops up on your screen.’
How to send pictures or movie in Snapchat
1. Tap to shoot, hold to record movie.
Once you’re on Snapchat’s main screen, taking a picture is pretty effortless for those who have ever used their phones’ cameras before. If not, here’s a quick guide: Tap an area of the picture you want your phone to concentrate on. Tap the big round circle to take a picture. Hold the big round circle to take a movie.
Two. Save your own shots. The icon to the right of the timer, a downward-facing arrow, permits you to dump the shot you just took into your phone’s traditional gallery. It’s useful if you want to save your shot for future purposes, as there’s no other way to do so once you’ve sent the picture out.
Tap on the stopwatchlike icon in the lower left and you can set the specific time that you want your picture to be available for a friend to view. You can go all the way from a blink-and-you’ll-miss-it one 2nd to a maximum duration of ten seconds.
Four. Add a caption. Tap in the middle of the picture, and you can add text on top of your photo or movie. Tap on the T icon to switch the caption from a line to text to a larger brick of text. After you’ve written a caption for your snaps, you can stir, pinch and zoom that text to place it just where you want. Before you can pinch and zoom your caption, you’ll need to have set the text to the larger font, by tapping on the T icon.
If you’re feeling a little nostalgia for "Draw Something," you can also tap on the icon in the upper-right corner of the screen to draw directly onto your picture with varying colors of a virtual pen.
Click on the arrow icon in the lower right to get your shot ready to send. Up pops your friends list; select everyone that you want to receive your picture, take one final breath of confidence and click on the now-displayed arrow in the lower right-hand corner.
How to record without holding the shutter
iPhone owners don’t need to keep finger on the shutter button in order to record movies in Snapchat, as long as they know this secret trick. Open the Settings App, and select General. Then tap Accessibility, and select AssistiveTouch, which will make a white dot show up on your screen.
Then, toggle the switch next to AssistiveTouch to the On position and then tap Create Fresh Gesture. Then, tap and hold on the center of the screen in a very taut circular pattern until the recording bar is total. Tap Save at the top right corner, name this gesture with a memorable tag such as SnapVideo and then tap Save. Now, in the Snapchat recording screen, tap on AssistiveTouch bubble. Select Custom-built and then select SnapVideo (or whatever you called it).
You’ll see a fresh circular icon. When you’re ready to record, haul and drop it onto the capture button, and you’re recording without mitts. Since you’re drawing that pattern yourself, this process may require repeated effort, but it’s worth for lighter movie recording. There doesn’t seem to be a method for Android yet, but leave a comment below if you know of one.
Detect Movies on Snapchat
Tap on the icon in the lower right corner to stir to the stories screen. At the top of the screen, Snapchat has a row of pictures that preview rivulets of photos and movies from brands including ESPN, Comedy Central and CNN. You can swipe to the left to see more stories, and scroll down past your friends’ stories to see which brands are broadcasting live.
Swipe left to hop to the next snap, press and hold to send a snap to a friend and pull down to leave the stream. Tapping on the Globe icon in the upper right corner of the Stories screen permits you to check out more brands, such as Refinery29, Vice and Food Network.
How to view Snapchat messages
Credit: Jeremy Lips / Tom’s Guide
If you’ve received a Snapchat, or just want to check out the log of Snapchat pictures or movies you’ve sent out to your friends (just the log; not the media itself), tap the little cube icon on the lower-left of Snapchat’s main screen. If you have any to-be-viewed messages, the number will emerge over the cube itself.
Once you’re on the messages screen, you’ll see any fresh pictures or movies that your friends have sent you listed with a filled-in square or arrow icon and a “tap to view” message underneath them. Don’t do that unless you’re indeed ready to view the pic or movie, because that starts the countdown timer for how long you’ll be able to view it. When the timer runs out, the message will transition over to a “double tap to reply” prompt — do just that to proceed your Snapchat “conversation.”
When you’re watching a story, you can tap to skip ahead, swipe left to advance to the next user you go after and pull down to exit.
How to send a text message in Snapchat
If you want to send texts without photos, tap on the voice bubble icon in the upper left corner in the Snapchat message log screen. Find a friend you’ve sent a photo to already, type your note and click Send. These messages will self destruct after they’ve been viewed, and if one of you takes a screenshot of the talk transcript, Snapchat will let the other person know.
How to save talk messages
If you’re using Snapchat for long (or significant) conversations, you might want to save messages to reread them. Fortunately, you can keep lines of your talks by holding your finger down on each individual message. A message is saved once it’s highlighted in grey and gets a SAVED! message to its left.
How to use Snapchat Groups
You can begin a group talk to snap with a select number of friends at the same time, by opening the Talk screen, tapping the fresh messages button in the top left corner, selecting numerous friends and tapping Talk. Groups work just like regular messages, as you can send snaps, texts, movie notes, audio notes and stickers. And of course, if a message isn’t opened in the twenty four hours after it’s sent, it will vanish from the group.
To talk privately with one person from a Group, tap their name in the row above the keyboard. Swipe right when you’re done to to come back to the Group.
How to send a movie note in Snapchat
You can record brief, looping GIF-like movies by holding down on the camera icon for up to ten seconds. Snapchat will record from your front camera, and the movie will be sent when you release your finger from the screen. If you don’t like the movie, you can haul your finger to the X in the middle of the screen. Your recipient can tap on the movie to hear the clip’s audio.
How to send an audio note in Snapchat
To record a brief audio message to send to a friend, hold down on the phone handset icon and speak. You can send the sound byte to your friend by removing your finger from the screen. If you don’t like the message you recorded, haul your finger to the X icon in the middle of the screen.
How to make a movie call in Snapchat
You can also have movie talks with your friends, and all you need to do is tap the Camera icon in the message screen. Snapchat will then attempt to set up a movie conference call inbetween you and your friend. Your friend will take up the majority of the screen, and you’ll be able to see yourself in a bubble on the bottom of your phone. If you need to switch to an audio-only call, tap the phone icon.
How to make an audio call in Snapchat
If you want to have a phone call with one of your Snapchat friends you’ve been exchanging messages with, tap the phone icon above the keyboard. If your friend has Snapchat notifications turned on, they will receive an alert that you’re attempting to call. This way you can call someone and stay inwards of the app, and you don’t need to give someone your phone number. To add movie to the call, tap the camera icon.
How to send photos in Snapchat
To send a photo from your camera roll, tap the picture icon above the keyboard and select photos. To annotate one of these pics, tap Edit to access Snapchat’s doodles, emoji stickers and text devices. You can share numerous photos by tapping on extra photos before you click the arrow icon in the lower right corner to send. Photos can also be collective during audio or movie calls.
How to send stickers in Snapchat
Tap on the smiley icon above the keyboard to bring up a list of stickers that include doughnuts, gold starlets and a cat suggesting a rose. Select a sticker to send it.
How to edit Snapchat settings
Tap the ghost icon at the top of the screen, and then tap the gear icon in the window’s upper right corner. You can confirm your mobile number by tapping the associated field if you skipped this part when very first setting up Snapchat. You can also open up your Snapchat for messages from anyone on the service — not just your friends — by switching that setting (but make sure you want to do that).
The Android version of Snapchat also gives you the chance to lower the quality of the movies the app takes, as well as Snapchat’s default camera orientation. You’ll find both of these settings buried within the “Video Settings” section.
How to add a profile photo
Tap on the Ghost icon at the top of the main screen, and then tap on the Snapchat icon in the upper middle part of the screen. Press the shutter button at the bottom of the screen. Snapchat will take a series of photos of you using the front-facing camera on your device. Tap the act button at the upper right corner of the screen to share this online so that your friends on Twitter, Facebook and other services can add you on Snapchat. If you want to take a fresh profile photo, click the retry button in the upper left corner.
How to add filters
After you’ve shot your snap, swipe to the left or right to add a visual filter that adjusts the photo quality — switching it to sepia or saturated — or one with a text overlay that shows the temperature in your area, the speed you’re moving at or the neighborhood you’re snapping from. You can add two filters by holding your finger down on the edge of the screen after you found the very first filter you want to use, and then swiping again with your free forearm.
With the On Request Geofilters feature, you can create your own location-specific filter and layer it on top of your snaps. Make sure your design meets Snapchat’s guidelines, upload it through the web portal, specify what location it’s meant for, wait for approval and voila! You can display off your Snapchat-approved artwork, and people who visit your location can also use it.
How to add an animated filter
When you’re snapping a selfie — tap the icon in the upper right corner to switch to front-facing mode if you haven’t already — tap on the part of the screen where your face is. After a wire-frame design shows up on your face, a series of Snapchat filter options will show up.
Swipe inbetween the options to switch from a thirsty dog’d hipster, a moustachioed viking , an ice god and more. Go after the prompts — like ‘Raise Your Eyebrows.’ — that emerge, and tap the capture button to take a Snap, or press and hold on the capture button to record a movie.
How to exchange faces
If you want to create a portrait that will both shock and confuse others, Snapchat’s Face-Swap feature puts another person’s face on your head. Tap the icon in the upper right corner to switch to front-facing mode, and then press and hold on the part of the screen where your face is. After the wire-frame design shows up on your face, slide the series of lenses to the left until you see the yellow and purple face interchange options.
If the person you want to interchange faces with is there with you, select the yellow icon. If you want to interchange faces with someone whose photo you’ve previously taken, select the purple icon and tap a face from the pop-up menu. Once Snapchat previews this bizarre switch, tap the capture button to take a photo, or press and hold on the capture button to record a movie.
How to post to your public Story
If you want to share a photo or movie you’ve shot with all of your followers, tap on the Square and Plus button on the lower left corner after shooting a snap. Tapping on the arrow in the bottom right corner will make your snap visible to all of your Snapchat friends for twenty four hours. You can also select your area’s Local Story to share your moment with your community. You can view the Story rivulets that your friends have published by tapping on the icon in the bottom right corner of the main screen.
How to make infinite snaps
Snaps typically vanish after their 10-second timer expires, but a fresh infinite option lets recipients look at a photo until they tap to advance. Just tap the timer icon and scroll down to the no limit option, and then send.
How to loop movie snaps
Once Instagram’s GIF-like Boomerang clips took off, it was only a matter of time before Snapchat added a similar feature. Just tap the repeat icon on the right after shooting a movie, and then your friends will get a movie they need to tap to pass, rather than one that simply completes.
How to snap better at night
When you’re taking photos in dark areas, a moon icon will show up in the upper left corner, next to the flash icon. Tap on this icon for brighter photos and movies, so it will be lighter for your audience to see what’s going on.
How to add emojis and stickers to your snaps
Click on the sticker icon at the top of your photo or movie when you’re editing it to bring up the emoji sticker sheet. You can add as many emoji as you and, as well as pinch and zoom them to your heart’s content.
How to delete stickers from your snaps
So now that you’ve place some stickers, you might have realized one doesn’t work and you want to liquidate it. Rather than commence over from square one, tap and hold on the sticker and haul it up to the trash can icon. Once the trash can gets slightly larger, release your finger to delete the sticker.
How to share your location and use the Snap Map
Snapchat can be your portal to the world, and its fresh Snap Map view lets you share your location and see what’s happening in specific regions. From the camera view pinch the screen to expose a See The World screen.
Then, tap Next and select your privacy setting: Only Me (Ghost Mode), My Friends or Select Friends. After tapping Finish, you’ll see a map view of your city, which you can pinch and pull to zoom out and in from. This way you can see what people are doing in the next town over, or get a peek at your next vacation destination. You might want to use Ghost Mode, however, if you don’t want Snapchat to be permanently sharing your location.
How to add voice filters
Very first introduced as a part of animated face filters, Snapchat’s voice filters can now be added on their own. This way you can modify the way you and your friends sound in movies. Current options include chipmunk (our beloved), robot, alien and bear (which sounds super creepy). Just record a movie snap and tap the speaker icon to preview your options.
How to use Snapchat’s backdrops
If you don’t have wallpaper that you like, Snapchat has you covered with its fresh backdrops. Just take a snap, tap the scissors icon, tap the diagonal lines icon, select a background by tapping on the vertical list and then haul your finger over yourself to erase the design so it doesn’t cover your face. Tap the scissors icon again and you’re done!
How to switch colors with Tint Brush
The wacky, wild and often altered world of Snapchat permits you to switch everything from your voice to your face, so it’s only natural that they’d add a color adjustment option. After you shoot a photo in the app, tap on the scissors icon and select a color by dragging your finger up and down the slider. Then, trace around the object you want to adjust and, voila, you’ve switched only the object you want to.
How to add links to your snaps
One of the largest problems with the more playful social networks, such as Instagram and Snapchat, is the lack of clickable links in posts. Snapchat immovable that with a latest update that permits you to add links, which users swipe up to open.
To use this feature, tap the paperclip icon after taking a snap, type in a URL, hit come in and tap link at the bottom of the screen. Also, add a text note to your snap to let friends know that there’s a linked page.
How to use Snapchat Spectacles
Once you’ve mastered the basics of Snapchat, you’re ready for Spectacles, the sunglasses from Snap that feature a camera in the frames. You’ll need to charge the wearable very first before you pair them with your smartphone over Bluetooth (make sure it’s enabled on your phone). Next, open Snapchat, slide down the home screen to the SnapCode screen, tap the SnapCode and tap the button above the left hinge of the Spectacles. For more, read our stories on how to find Spectacles and our tutorial on how to use Spectacles.
Instruments For Parents of Snapchat Users
Pic: Monkey Business Photos / Shutterstock
If you’re still confused by Snapchat, this fresh app that your kids abruptly can’t get enough of, we’ve got tips and tricks just for you. Tap the gear in the top right corner to open the settings menu, where you can set the privacy setting for Stories to Friends Only so strangers can’t stalk them. You can even restrict access to the app by using the Parental Controls menu found in settings. We’ve got more handy advice in our Snapchat Guide for Parents. Also, check out our instructions for how to report bullying and manhandle on Snapchat so you know what to do if other kids are using the app to target target your child.
How to Use Snapchat Like a Pro
How to Use Snapchat Like a Pro
Snapchat has evolved from being an app with a handful of visible nasty uses to a social media platform where you can both broadcast your life and observe content from a broad range of sources. The messaging app’s capability to let you control the privacy of the pictures and movies you send was integral to its popularity.
Updates to the app permit users to edit their voices, exchange faces, share locations as well as place voice and movie calls. You can also eventually place web links within Snaps.
Snapchat has become so popular so rapid that there are more than one hundred sixty six million active users watching ten billion movies per day. Brands like BuzzFeed, ESPN, National Geographic and People magazine have made their way to Snapchat, providing fans an inwards look at what’s going on behind the scenes. The service is so popular that NBC will be producing a daily news display to airs exclusively on Snapchat. Here’s how to sign up, get embarked snapping out photos and movies and become a Snapchat accomplished.
How to get embarked with Snapchat
1. Install the Snapchat app. Fire up the App Store or Google Play and install it. Kick your feet up while the app transfers over.
Since you can’t just use an existing Facebook/Google/Your Dearest Social Network account to log your way into the service, you’ll need fresh credentials. Tap Sign Up. You’ll be asked for your email address, password and your bday. Tap Sign Up.
Trio. Pick a username. Select a “unique identifier” for your account that cannot be switched once it’s set. Your friends can use this to find you on the service, and the username will emerge underneath your real name in their Snapchat contact list.
Snapchat will ask you if it can tap into your phone’s contacts list. Unless you have a searing desire to add friends by hand, we recommend you grant Snapchat this permission so you can commence friend-adding. iOS users will also be asked to come in in their mobile numbers for lighter searching; fret not, Android fans, for you can add this information later — so long as the text-based verification goes sleekly for you.
Once Snapchat comes back with a list of your contacts that it has identified as users of the service, you can add them as friends by clicking the large person-with-a-plus button to the right of their names. If you want to liquidate contacts (or block them) later, just long-press on their names until the secondary menu pops up on your screen.’
How to send pictures or movie in Snapchat
1. Tap to shoot, hold to record movie.
Once you’re on Snapchat’s main screen, taking a picture is pretty effortless for those who have ever used their phones’ cameras before. If not, here’s a quick guide: Tap an area of the picture you want your phone to concentrate on. Tap the big round circle to take a picture. Hold the big round circle to take a movie.
Two. Save your own shots. The icon to the right of the timer, a downward-facing arrow, permits you to dump the shot you just took into your phone’s traditional gallery. It’s useful if you want to save your shot for future purposes, as there’s no other way to do so once you’ve sent the picture out.
Tap on the stopwatchlike icon in the lower left and you can set the specific time that you want your picture to be available for a friend to view. You can go all the way from a blink-and-you’ll-miss-it one 2nd to a maximum duration of ten seconds.
Four. Add a caption. Tap in the middle of the picture, and you can add text on top of your photo or movie. Tap on the T icon to switch the caption from a line to text to a larger brick of text. After you’ve written a caption for your snaps, you can stir, pinch and zoom that text to place it just where you want. Before you can pinch and zoom your caption, you’ll need to have set the text to the larger font, by tapping on the T icon.
If you’re feeling a little nostalgia for "Draw Something," you can also tap on the icon in the upper-right corner of the screen to draw directly onto your photo with varying colors of a virtual pen.
Click on the arrow icon in the lower right to get your shot ready to send. Up pops your friends list; select everyone that you want to receive your pic, take one final breath of confidence and click on the now-displayed arrow in the lower right-hand corner.
How to record without holding the shutter
iPhone owners don’t need to keep finger on the shutter button in order to record movies in Snapchat, as long as they know this secret trick. Open the Settings App, and select General. Then tap Accessibility, and select AssistiveTouch, which will make a white dot emerge on your screen.
Then, toggle the switch next to AssistiveTouch to the On position and then tap Create Fresh Gesture. Then, tap and hold on the center of the screen in a very taut circular pattern until the recording bar is utter. Tap Save at the top right corner, name this gesture with a memorable tag such as SnapVideo and then tap Save. Now, in the Snapchat recording screen, tap on AssistiveTouch bubble. Select Custom-built and then select SnapVideo (or whatever you called it).
You’ll see a fresh circular icon. When you’re ready to record, haul and drop it onto the capture button, and you’re recording without forearms. Since you’re drawing that pattern yourself, this process may require repeated effort, but it’s worth for lighter movie recording. There doesn’t seem to be a method for Android yet, but leave a comment below if you know of one.
Detect Movies on Snapchat
Tap on the icon in the lower right corner to stir to the stories screen. At the top of the screen, Snapchat has a row of pictures that preview rivulets of photos and movies from brands including ESPN, Comedy Central and CNN. You can swipe to the left to see more stories, and scroll down past your friends’ stories to see which brands are broadcasting live.
Swipe left to leap to the next snap, press and hold to send a snap to a friend and pull down to leave the stream. Tapping on the Globe icon in the upper right corner of the Stories screen permits you to check out more brands, such as Refinery29, Vice and Food Network.
How to view Snapchat messages
Credit: Jeremy Lips / Tom’s Guide
If you’ve received a Snapchat, or just want to check out the log of Snapchat pictures or movies you’ve sent out to your friends (just the log; not the media itself), tap the little cube icon on the lower-left of Snapchat’s main screen. If you have any to-be-viewed messages, the number will show up over the cube itself.
Once you’re on the messages screen, you’ll see any fresh pictures or movies that your friends have sent you listed with a filled-in square or arrow icon and a “tap to view” message underneath them. Don’t do that unless you’re indeed ready to view the photo or movie, because that starts the countdown timer for how long you’ll be able to view it. When the timer runs out, the message will transition over to a “double tap to reply” prompt — do just that to proceed your Snapchat “conversation.”
When you’re watching a story, you can tap to skip ahead, swipe left to advance to the next user you go after and pull down to exit.
How to send a text message in Snapchat
If you want to send texts without photos, tap on the voice bubble icon in the upper left corner in the Snapchat message log screen. Find a friend you’ve sent a photo to already, type your note and click Send. These messages will self destruct after they’ve been viewed, and if one of you takes a screenshot of the talk transcript, Snapchat will let the other person know.
How to save talk messages
If you’re using Snapchat for long (or significant) conversations, you might want to save messages to reread them. Fortunately, you can keep lines of your talks by holding your finger down on each individual message. A message is saved once it’s highlighted in grey and gets a SAVED! message to its left.
How to use Snapchat Groups
You can begin a group talk to snap with a select number of friends at the same time, by opening the Talk screen, tapping the fresh messages button in the top left corner, selecting numerous friends and tapping Talk. Groups work just like regular messages, as you can send snaps, texts, movie notes, audio notes and stickers. And of course, if a message isn’t opened in the twenty four hours after it’s sent, it will vanish from the group.
To talk privately with one person from a Group, tap their name in the row above the keyboard. Swipe right when you’re done to to comeback to the Group.
How to send a movie note in Snapchat
You can record brief, looping GIF-like movies by holding down on the camera icon for up to ten seconds. Snapchat will record from your front camera, and the movie will be sent when you release your finger from the screen. If you don’t like the movie, you can haul your finger to the X in the middle of the screen. Your recipient can tap on the movie to hear the clip’s audio.
How to send an audio note in Snapchat
To record a brief audio message to send to a friend, hold down on the phone handset icon and speak. You can send the sound byte to your friend by removing your finger from the screen. If you don’t like the message you recorded, haul your finger to the X icon in the middle of the screen.
How to make a movie call in Snapchat
You can also have movie talks with your friends, and all you need to do is tap the Camera icon in the message screen. Snapchat will then attempt to set up a movie conference call inbetween you and your friend. Your friend will take up the majority of the screen, and you’ll be able to see yourself in a bubble on the bottom of your phone. If you need to switch to an audio-only call, tap the phone icon.
How to make an audio call in Snapchat
If you want to have a phone call with one of your Snapchat friends you’ve been exchanging messages with, tap the phone icon above the keyboard. If your friend has Snapchat notifications turned on, they will receive an alert that you’re attempting to call. This way you can call someone and stay inwards of the app, and you don’t need to give someone your phone number. To add movie to the call, tap the camera icon.
How to send photos in Snapchat
To send a photo from your camera roll, tap the picture icon above the keyboard and select photos. To annotate one of these pics, tap Edit to access Snapchat’s doodles, emoji stickers and text implements. You can share numerous photos by tapping on extra pictures before you click the arrow icon in the lower right corner to send. Photos can also be collective during audio or movie calls.
How to send stickers in Snapchat
Tap on the smiley icon above the keyboard to bring up a list of stickers that include doughnuts, gold starlets and a cat suggesting a rose. Select a sticker to send it.
How to edit Snapchat settings
Tap the ghost icon at the top of the screen, and then tap the gear icon in the window’s upper right corner. You can confirm your mobile number by tapping the associated field if you skipped this part when very first setting up Snapchat. You can also open up your Snapchat for messages from anyone on the service — not just your friends — by switching that setting (but make sure you want to do that).
The Android version of Snapchat also gives you the chance to lower the quality of the movies the app takes, as well as Snapchat’s default camera orientation. You’ll find both of these settings buried within the “Video Settings” section.
How to add a profile photo
Tap on the Ghost icon at the top of the main screen, and then tap on the Snapchat icon in the upper middle part of the screen. Press the shutter button at the bottom of the screen. Snapchat will take a series of photos of you using the front-facing camera on your device. Tap the activity button at the upper right corner of the screen to share this online so that your friends on Twitter, Facebook and other services can add you on Snapchat. If you want to take a fresh profile photo, click the retry button in the upper left corner.
How to add filters
After you’ve shot your snap, swipe to the left or right to add a visual filter that adjusts the photo quality — switching it to sepia or saturated — or one with a text overlay that shows the temperature in your area, the speed you’re moving at or the neighborhood you’re snapping from. You can add two filters by holding your finger down on the edge of the screen after you found the very first filter you want to use, and then swiping again with your free palm.
With the On Request Geofilters feature, you can create your own location-specific filter and layer it on top of your snaps. Make sure your design meets Snapchat’s guidelines, upload it through the web portal, specify what location it’s meant for, wait for approval and voila! You can demonstrate off your Snapchat-approved artwork, and people who visit your location can also use it.
How to add an animated filter
When you’re snapping a selfie — tap the icon in the upper right corner to switch to front-facing mode if you haven’t already — tap on the part of the screen where your face is. After a wire-frame design emerges on your face, a series of Snapchat filter options will show up.
Swipe inbetween the options to switch from a thirsty dog’d hipster, a moustachioed viking , an ice god and more. Go after the prompts — like ‘Raise Your Eyebrows.’ — that emerge, and tap the capture button to take a Snap, or press and hold on the capture button to record a movie.
How to exchange faces
If you want to create a portrait that will both shock and confuse others, Snapchat’s Face-Swap feature puts another person’s face on your head. Tap the icon in the upper right corner to switch to front-facing mode, and then press and hold on the part of the screen where your face is. After the wire-frame design emerges on your face, slide the series of lenses to the left until you see the yellow and purple face exchange options.
If the person you want to interchange faces with is there with you, select the yellow icon. If you want to exchange faces with someone whose photo you’ve previously taken, select the purple icon and tap a face from the pop-up menu. Once Snapchat previews this bizarre switch, tap the capture button to take a photo, or press and hold on the capture button to record a movie.
How to post to your public Story
If you want to share a photo or movie you’ve shot with all of your followers, tap on the Square and Plus button on the lower left corner after shooting a snap. Tapping on the arrow in the bottom right corner will make your snap visible to all of your Snapchat friends for twenty four hours. You can also select your area’s Local Story to share your moment with your community. You can view the Story rivulets that your friends have published by tapping on the icon in the bottom right corner of the main screen.
How to make infinite snaps
Snaps typically vanish after their 10-second timer expires, but a fresh infinite option lets recipients look at a photo until they tap to advance. Just tap the timer icon and scroll down to the no limit option, and then send.
How to loop movie snaps
Once Instagram’s GIF-like Boomerang clips took off, it was only a matter of time before Snapchat added a similar feature. Just tap the repeat icon on the right after shooting a movie, and then your friends will get a movie they need to tap to pass, rather than one that simply finishes.
How to snap better at night
When you’re taking photos in dark areas, a moon icon will show up in the upper left corner, next to the flash icon. Tap on this icon for brighter photos and movies, so it will be lighter for your audience to see what’s going on.
How to add emojis and stickers to your snaps
Click on the sticker icon at the top of your photo or movie when you’re editing it to bring up the emoji sticker sheet. You can add as many emoji as you and, as well as pinch and zoom them to your heart’s content.
How to delete stickers from your snaps
So now that you’ve place some stickers, you might have realized one doesn’t work and you want to eliminate it. Rather than commence over from square one, tap and hold on the sticker and haul it up to the trash can icon. Once the trash can gets slightly larger, release your finger to delete the sticker.
How to share your location and use the Snap Map
Snapchat can be your portal to the world, and its fresh Snap Map view lets you share your location and see what’s happening in specific regions. From the camera view pinch the screen to expose a See The World screen.
Then, tap Next and select your privacy setting: Only Me (Ghost Mode), My Friends or Select Friends. After tapping Finish, you’ll see a map view of your city, which you can pinch and pull to zoom out and in from. This way you can see what people are doing in the next town over, or get a peek at your next vacation destination. You might want to use Ghost Mode, tho’, if you don’t want Snapchat to be permanently sharing your location.
How to add voice filters
Very first introduced as a part of animated face filters, Snapchat’s voice filters can now be added on their own. This way you can modify the way you and your friends sound in movies. Current options include chipmunk (our dearest), robot, alien and bear (which sounds super creepy). Just record a movie snap and tap the speaker icon to preview your options.
How to use Snapchat’s backdrops
If you don’t have wallpaper that you like, Snapchat has you covered with its fresh backdrops. Just take a snap, tap the scissors icon, tap the diagonal lines icon, select a background by tapping on the vertical list and then haul your finger over yourself to erase the design so it doesn’t cover your face. Tap the scissors icon again and you’re done!
How to switch colors with Tint Brush
The wacky, wild and often altered world of Snapchat permits you to switch everything from your voice to your face, so it’s only natural that they’d add a color adjustment option. After you shoot a photo in the app, tap on the scissors icon and select a color by dragging your finger up and down the slider. Then, trace around the object you want to adjust and, voila, you’ve switched only the object you want to.
How to add links to your snaps
One of the largest problems with the more playful social networks, such as Instagram and Snapchat, is the lack of clickable links in posts. Snapchat stationary that with a latest update that permits you to add links, which users swipe up to open.
To use this feature, tap the paperclip icon after taking a snap, type in a URL, hit come in and tap link at the bottom of the screen. Also, add a text note to your snap to let friends know that there’s a linked page.
How to use Snapchat Spectacles
Once you’ve mastered the basics of Snapchat, you’re ready for Spectacles, the sunglasses from Snap that feature a camera in the frames. You’ll need to charge the wearable very first before you pair them with your smartphone over Bluetooth (make sure it’s enabled on your phone). Next, open Snapchat, slide down the home screen to the SnapCode screen, tap the SnapCode and tap the button above the left hinge of the Spectacles. For more, read our stories on how to find Spectacles and our tutorial on how to use Spectacles.
Devices For Parents of Snapchat Users
Pic: Monkey Business Photos / Shutterstock
If you’re still confused by Snapchat, this fresh app that your kids abruptly can’t get enough of, we’ve got tips and tricks just for you. Tap the gear in the top right corner to open the settings menu, where you can set the privacy setting for Stories to Friends Only so strangers can’t stalk them. You can even restrict access to the app by using the Parental Controls menu found in settings. We’ve got more handy advice in our Snapchat Guide for Parents. Also, check out our instructions for how to report bullying and manhandle on Snapchat so you know what to do if other kids are using the app to target target your child.
How to Use Snapchat Like a Pro
How to Use Snapchat Like a Pro
Snapchat has evolved from being an app with a handful of visible crazy uses to a social media platform where you can both broadcast your life and witness content from a broad range of sources. The messaging app’s capability to let you control the privacy of the pictures and movies you send was integral to its popularity.
Updates to the app permit users to edit their voices, interchange faces, share locations as well as place voice and movie calls. You can also ultimately place web links within Snaps.
Snapchat has become so popular so quick that there are more than one hundred sixty six million active users watching ten billion movies per day. Brands like BuzzFeed, ESPN, National Geographic and People magazine have made their way to Snapchat, providing fans an inwards look at what’s going on behind the scenes. The service is so popular that NBC will be producing a daily news display to airs exclusively on Snapchat. Here’s how to sign up, get embarked snapping out photos and movies and become a Snapchat experienced.
How to get embarked with Snapchat
1. Install the Snapchat app. Fire up the App Store or Google Play and install it. Kick your feet up while the app transfers over.
Since you can’t just use an existing Facebook/Google/Your Dearest Social Network account to log your way into the service, you’ll need fresh credentials. Tap Sign Up. You’ll be asked for your email address, password and your bday. Tap Sign Up.
Trio. Pick a username. Select a “unique identifier” for your account that cannot be switched once it’s set. Your friends can use this to find you on the service, and the username will emerge underneath your real name in their Snapchat contact list.
Snapchat will ask you if it can tap into your phone’s contacts list. Unless you have a searing desire to add friends by hand, we recommend you grant Snapchat this permission so you can commence friend-adding. iOS users will also be asked to come in in their mobile numbers for lighter searching; fret not, Android fans, for you can add this information later — so long as the text-based verification goes sleekly for you.
Once Snapchat comes back with a list of your contacts that it has identified as users of the service, you can add them as friends by clicking the large person-with-a-plus button to the right of their names. If you want to liquidate contacts (or block them) later, just long-press on their names until the secondary menu pops up on your screen.’
How to send pictures or movie in Snapchat
1. Tap to shoot, hold to record movie.
Once you’re on Snapchat’s main screen, taking a picture is pretty effortless for those who have ever used their phones’ cameras before. If not, here’s a quick guide: Tap an area of the picture you want your phone to concentrate on. Tap the big round circle to take a picture. Hold the big round circle to take a movie.
Two. Save your own shots. The icon to the right of the timer, a downward-facing arrow, permits you to dump the shot you just took into your phone’s traditional gallery. It’s useful if you want to save your shot for future purposes, as there’s no other way to do so once you’ve sent the picture out.
Tap on the stopwatchlike icon in the lower left and you can set the specific time that you want your picture to be available for a friend to view. You can go all the way from a blink-and-you’ll-miss-it one 2nd to a maximum duration of ten seconds.
Four. Add a caption. Tap in the middle of the picture, and you can add text on top of your photo or movie. Tap on the T icon to switch the caption from a line to text to a larger brick of text. After you’ve written a caption for your snaps, you can stir, pinch and zoom that text to place it just where you want. Before you can pinch and zoom your caption, you’ll need to have set the text to the larger font, by tapping on the T icon.
If you’re feeling a little nostalgia for "Draw Something," you can also tap on the icon in the upper-right corner of the screen to draw directly onto your pic with varying colors of a virtual pen.
Click on the arrow icon in the lower right to get your shot ready to send. Up pops your friends list; select everyone that you want to receive your picture, take one final breath of confidence and click on the now-displayed arrow in the lower right-hand corner.
How to record without holding the shutter
iPhone owners don’t need to keep finger on the shutter button in order to record movies in Snapchat, as long as they know this secret trick. Open the Settings App, and select General. Then tap Accessibility, and select AssistiveTouch, which will make a white dot show up on your screen.
Then, toggle the switch next to AssistiveTouch to the On position and then tap Create Fresh Gesture. Then, tap and hold on the center of the screen in a very taut circular pattern until the recording bar is utter. Tap Save at the top right corner, name this gesture with a memorable tag such as SnapVideo and then tap Save. Now, in the Snapchat recording screen, tap on AssistiveTouch bubble. Select Custom-built and then select SnapVideo (or whatever you called it).
You’ll see a fresh circular icon. When you’re ready to record, haul and drop it onto the capture button, and you’re recording without forearms. Since you’re drawing that pattern yourself, this process may require repeated effort, but it’s worth for lighter movie recording. There doesn’t seem to be a method for Android yet, but leave a comment below if you know of one.
Detect Movies on Snapchat
Tap on the icon in the lower right corner to budge to the stories screen. At the top of the screen, Snapchat has a row of photos that preview flows of photos and movies from brands including ESPN, Comedy Central and CNN. You can swipe to the left to see more stories, and scroll down past your friends’ stories to see which brands are broadcasting live.
Swipe left to leap to the next snap, press and hold to send a snap to a friend and pull down to leave the stream. Tapping on the Globe icon in the upper right corner of the Stories screen permits you to check out more brands, such as Refinery29, Vice and Food Network.
How to view Snapchat messages
Credit: Jeremy Lips / Tom’s Guide
If you’ve received a Snapchat, or just want to check out the log of Snapchat pictures or movies you’ve sent out to your friends (just the log; not the media itself), tap the little cube icon on the lower-left of Snapchat’s main screen. If you have any to-be-viewed messages, the number will show up over the cube itself.
Once you’re on the messages screen, you’ll see any fresh pictures or movies that your friends have sent you listed with a filled-in square or arrow icon and a “tap to view” message underneath them. Don’t do that unless you’re truly ready to view the pic or movie, because that starts the countdown timer for how long you’ll be able to view it. When the timer runs out, the message will transition over to a “double tap to reply” prompt — do just that to proceed your Snapchat “conversation.”
When you’re watching a story, you can tap to skip ahead, swipe left to advance to the next user you go after and pull down to exit.
How to send a text message in Snapchat
If you want to send texts without photos, tap on the voice bubble icon in the upper left corner in the Snapchat message log screen. Find a friend you’ve sent a photo to already, type your note and click Send. These messages will self destruct after they’ve been viewed, and if one of you takes a screenshot of the talk transcript, Snapchat will let the other person know.
How to save talk messages
If you’re using Snapchat for long (or significant) conversations, you might want to save messages to reread them. Fortunately, you can keep lines of your talks by holding your finger down on each individual message. A message is saved once it’s highlighted in grey and gets a SAVED! message to its left.
How to use Snapchat Groups
You can commence a group talk to snap with a select number of friends at the same time, by opening the Talk screen, tapping the fresh messages button in the top left corner, selecting numerous friends and tapping Talk. Groups work just like regular messages, as you can send snaps, texts, movie notes, audio notes and stickers. And of course, if a message isn’t opened in the twenty four hours after it’s sent, it will vanish from the group.
To talk privately with one person from a Group, tap their name in the row above the keyboard. Swipe right when you’re done to to comeback to the Group.
How to send a movie note in Snapchat
You can record brief, looping GIF-like movies by holding down on the camera icon for up to ten seconds. Snapchat will record from your front camera, and the movie will be sent when you release your finger from the screen. If you don’t like the movie, you can haul your finger to the X in the middle of the screen. Your recipient can tap on the movie to hear the clip’s audio.
How to send an audio note in Snapchat
To record a brief audio message to send to a friend, hold down on the phone handset icon and speak. You can send the sound byte to your friend by removing your finger from the screen. If you don’t like the message you recorded, haul your finger to the X icon in the middle of the screen.
How to make a movie call in Snapchat
You can also have movie talks with your friends, and all you need to do is tap the Camera icon in the message screen. Snapchat will then attempt to set up a movie conference call inbetween you and your friend. Your friend will take up the majority of the screen, and you’ll be able to see yourself in a bubble on the bottom of your phone. If you need to switch to an audio-only call, tap the phone icon.
How to make an audio call in Snapchat
If you want to have a phone call with one of your Snapchat friends you’ve been exchanging messages with, tap the phone icon above the keyboard. If your friend has Snapchat notifications turned on, they will receive an alert that you’re attempting to call. This way you can call someone and stay inwards of the app, and you don’t need to give someone your phone number. To add movie to the call, tap the camera icon.
How to send photos in Snapchat
To send a photo from your camera roll, tap the picture icon above the keyboard and select pics. To annotate one of these pictures, tap Edit to access Snapchat’s doodles, emoji stickers and text contraptions. You can share numerous photos by tapping on extra pictures before you click the arrow icon in the lower right corner to send. Photos can also be collective during audio or movie calls.
How to send stickers in Snapchat
Tap on the smiley icon above the keyboard to bring up a list of stickers that include doughnuts, gold starlets and a cat suggesting a rose. Select a sticker to send it.
How to edit Snapchat settings
Tap the ghost icon at the top of the screen, and then tap the gear icon in the window’s upper right corner. You can confirm your mobile number by tapping the associated field if you skipped this part when very first setting up Snapchat. You can also open up your Snapchat for messages from anyone on the service — not just your friends — by switching that setting (but make sure you want to do that).
The Android version of Snapchat also gives you the chance to lower the quality of the movies the app takes, as well as Snapchat’s default camera orientation. You’ll find both of these settings buried within the “Video Settings” section.
How to add a profile photo
Tap on the Ghost icon at the top of the main screen, and then tap on the Snapchat icon in the upper middle part of the screen. Press the shutter button at the bottom of the screen. Snapchat will take a series of photos of you using the front-facing camera on your device. Tap the activity button at the upper right corner of the screen to share this online so that your friends on Twitter, Facebook and other services can add you on Snapchat. If you want to take a fresh profile photo, click the retry button in the upper left corner.
How to add filters
After you’ve shot your snap, swipe to the left or right to add a visual filter that adjusts the photo quality — switching it to sepia or saturated — or one with a text overlay that shows the temperature in your area, the speed you’re moving at or the neighborhood you’re snapping from. You can add two filters by holding your finger down on the edge of the screen after you found the very first filter you want to use, and then swiping again with your free forearm.
With the On Request Geofilters feature, you can create your own location-specific filter and layer it on top of your snaps. Make sure your design meets Snapchat’s guidelines, upload it through the web portal, specify what location it’s meant for, wait for approval and voila! You can demonstrate off your Snapchat-approved artwork, and people who visit your location can also use it.
How to add an animated filter
When you’re snapping a selfie — tap the icon in the upper right corner to switch to front-facing mode if you haven’t already — tap on the part of the screen where your face is. After a wire-frame design emerges on your face, a series of Snapchat filter options will show up.
Swipe inbetween the options to switch from a thirsty dog’d hipster, a moustachioed viking , an ice god and more. Go after the prompts — like ‘Raise Your Eyebrows.’ — that emerge, and tap the capture button to take a Snap, or press and hold on the capture button to record a movie.
How to interchange faces
If you want to create a portrait that will both shock and confuse others, Snapchat’s Face-Swap feature puts another person’s face on your head. Tap the icon in the upper right corner to switch to front-facing mode, and then press and hold on the part of the screen where your face is. After the wire-frame design emerges on your face, slide the series of lenses to the left until you see the yellow and purple face interchange options.
If the person you want to interchange faces with is there with you, select the yellow icon. If you want to exchange faces with someone whose photo you’ve previously taken, select the purple icon and tap a face from the pop-up menu. Once Snapchat previews this bizarre switch, tap the capture button to take a photo, or press and hold on the capture button to record a movie.
How to post to your public Story
If you want to share a photo or movie you’ve shot with all of your followers, tap on the Square and Plus button on the lower left corner after shooting a snap. Tapping on the arrow in the bottom right corner will make your snap visible to all of your Snapchat friends for twenty four hours. You can also select your area’s Local Story to share your moment with your community. You can view the Story rivulets that your friends have published by tapping on the icon in the bottom right corner of the main screen.
How to make infinite snaps
Snaps typically vanish after their 10-second timer expires, but a fresh infinite option lets recipients look at a photo until they tap to advance. Just tap the timer icon and scroll down to the no limit option, and then send.
How to loop movie snaps
Once Instagram’s GIF-like Boomerang clips took off, it was only a matter of time before Snapchat added a similar feature. Just tap the repeat icon on the right after shooting a movie, and then your friends will get a movie they need to tap to pass, rather than one that simply completes.
How to snap better at night
When you’re taking photos in dark areas, a moon icon will show up in the upper left corner, next to the flash icon. Tap on this icon for brighter photos and movies, so it will be lighter for your audience to see what’s going on.
How to add emojis and stickers to your snaps
Click on the sticker icon at the top of your photo or movie when you’re editing it to bring up the emoji sticker sheet. You can add as many emoji as you and, as well as pinch and zoom them to your heart’s content.
How to delete stickers from your snaps
So now that you’ve place some stickers, you might have realized one doesn’t work and you want to liquidate it. Rather than begin over from square one, tap and hold on the sticker and haul it up to the trash can icon. Once the trash can gets slightly larger, release your finger to delete the sticker.
How to share your location and use the Snap Map
Snapchat can be your portal to the world, and its fresh Snap Map view lets you share your location and see what’s happening in specific regions. From the camera view pinch the screen to expose a See The World screen.
Then, tap Next and select your privacy setting: Only Me (Ghost Mode), My Friends or Select Friends. After tapping Finish, you’ll see a map view of your city, which you can pinch and pull to zoom out and in from. This way you can see what people are doing in the next town over, or get a peek at your next vacation destination. You might want to use Ghost Mode, tho’, if you don’t want Snapchat to be permanently sharing your location.
How to add voice filters
Very first introduced as a part of animated face filters, Snapchat’s voice filters can now be added on their own. This way you can modify the way you and your friends sound in movies. Current options include chipmunk (our dearest), robot, alien and bear (which sounds super creepy). Just record a movie snap and tap the speaker icon to preview your options.
How to use Snapchat’s backdrops
If you don’t have wallpaper that you like, Snapchat has you covered with its fresh backdrops. Just take a snap, tap the scissors icon, tap the diagonal lines icon, select a background by tapping on the vertical list and then haul your finger over yourself to erase the design so it doesn’t cover your face. Tap the scissors icon again and you’re done!
How to switch colors with Tint Brush
The wacky, wild and often altered world of Snapchat permits you to switch everything from your voice to your face, so it’s only natural that they’d add a color adjustment option. After you shoot a photo in the app, tap on the scissors icon and select a color by dragging your finger up and down the slider. Then, trace around the object you want to adjust and, voila, you’ve switched only the object you want to.
How to add links to your snaps
One of the thickest problems with the more playful social networks, such as Instagram and Snapchat, is the lack of clickable links in posts. Snapchat immobilized that with a latest update that permits you to add links, which users swipe up to open.
To use this feature, tap the paperclip icon after taking a snap, type in a URL, hit come in and tap fasten at the bottom of the screen. Also, add a text note to your snap to let friends know that there’s a linked page.
How to use Snapchat Spectacles
Once you’ve mastered the basics of Snapchat, you’re ready for Spectacles, the sunglasses from Snap that feature a camera in the frames. You’ll need to charge the wearable very first before you pair them with your smartphone over Bluetooth (make sure it’s enabled on your phone). Next, open Snapchat, slide down the home screen to the SnapCode screen, tap the SnapCode and tap the button above the left hinge of the Spectacles. For more, read our stories on how to find Spectacles and our tutorial on how to use Spectacles.
Devices For Parents of Snapchat Users
Picture: Monkey Business Photos / Shutterstock
If you’re still confused by Snapchat, this fresh app that your kids all of a sudden can’t get enough of, we’ve got tips and tricks just for you. Tap the gear in the top right corner to open the settings menu, where you can set the privacy setting for Stories to Friends Only so strangers can’t stalk them. You can even restrict access to the app by using the Parental Controls menu found in settings. We’ve got more handy advice in our Snapchat Guide for Parents. Also, check out our instructions for how to report bullying and manhandle on Snapchat so you know what to do if other kids are using the app to target target your child.
How to Use Snapchat Like a Pro
How to Use Snapchat Like a Pro
Snapchat has evolved from being an app with a handful of evident kinky uses to a social media platform where you can both broadcast your life and witness content from a broad range of sources. The messaging app’s capability to let you control the privacy of the pictures and movies you send was integral to its popularity.
Updates to the app permit users to edit their voices, exchange faces, share locations as well as place voice and movie calls. You can also ultimately place web links within Snaps.
Snapchat has become so popular so swift that there are more than one hundred sixty six million active users watching ten billion movies per day. Brands like BuzzFeed, ESPN, National Geographic and People magazine have made their way to Snapchat, providing fans an inwards look at what’s going on behind the scenes. The service is so popular that NBC will be producing a daily news demonstrate to airs exclusively on Snapchat. Here’s how to sign up, get embarked snapping out photos and movies and become a Snapchat experienced.
How to get commenced with Snapchat
1. Install the Snapchat app. Fire up the App Store or Google Play and install it. Kick your feet up while the app transfers over.
Since you can’t just use an existing Facebook/Google/Your Beloved Social Network account to log your way into the service, you’ll need fresh credentials. Tap Sign Up. You’ll be asked for your email address, password and your bday. Tap Sign Up.
Trio. Pick a username. Select a “unique identifier” for your account that cannot be switched once it’s set. Your friends can use this to find you on the service, and the username will show up underneath your real name in their Snapchat contact list.
Snapchat will ask you if it can tap into your phone’s contacts list. Unless you have a searing desire to add friends by hand, we recommend you grant Snapchat this permission so you can commence friend-adding. iOS users will also be asked to inject in their mobile numbers for lighter searching; fret not, Android fans, for you can add this information later — so long as the text-based verification goes slickly for you.
Once Snapchat comes back with a list of your contacts that it has identified as users of the service, you can add them as friends by clicking the large person-with-a-plus button to the right of their names. If you want to eliminate contacts (or block them) later, just long-press on their names until the secondary menu pops up on your screen.’
How to send pictures or movie in Snapchat
1. Tap to shoot, hold to record movie.
Once you’re on Snapchat’s main screen, taking a picture is pretty effortless for those who have ever used their phones’ cameras before. If not, here’s a quick guide: Tap an area of the picture you want your phone to concentrate on. Tap the big round circle to take a picture. Hold the big round circle to take a movie.
Two. Save your own shots. The icon to the right of the timer, a downward-facing arrow, permits you to dump the shot you just took into your phone’s traditional gallery. It’s useful if you want to save your shot for future purposes, as there’s no other way to do so once you’ve sent the picture out.
Tap on the stopwatchlike icon in the lower left and you can set the specific time that you want your picture to be available for a friend to view. You can go all the way from a blink-and-you’ll-miss-it one 2nd to a maximum duration of ten seconds.
Four. Add a caption. Tap in the middle of the picture, and you can add text on top of your photo or movie. Tap on the T icon to switch the caption from a line to text to a larger brick of text. After you’ve written a caption for your snaps, you can budge, pinch and zoom that text to place it just where you want. Before you can pinch and zoom your caption, you’ll need to have set the text to the larger font, by tapping on the T icon.
If you’re feeling a little nostalgia for "Draw Something," you can also tap on the icon in the upper-right corner of the screen to draw directly onto your pic with varying colors of a virtual pen.
Click on the arrow icon in the lower right to get your shot ready to send. Up pops your friends list; select everyone that you want to receive your pic, take one final breath of confidence and click on the now-displayed arrow in the lower right-hand corner.
How to record without holding the shutter
iPhone owners don’t need to keep finger on the shutter button in order to record movies in Snapchat, as long as they know this secret trick. Open the Settings App, and select General. Then tap Accessibility, and select AssistiveTouch, which will make a white dot show up on your screen.
Then, toggle the switch next to AssistiveTouch to the On position and then tap Create Fresh Gesture. Then, tap and hold on the center of the screen in a very taut circular pattern until the recording bar is utter. Tap Save at the top right corner, name this gesture with a memorable tag such as SnapVideo and then tap Save. Now, in the Snapchat recording screen, tap on AssistiveTouch bubble. Select Custom-made and then select SnapVideo (or whatever you called it).
You’ll see a fresh circular icon. When you’re ready to record, haul and drop it onto the capture button, and you’re recording without mitts. Since you’re drawing that pattern yourself, this process may require repeated effort, but it’s worth for lighter movie recording. There doesn’t seem to be a method for Android yet, but leave a comment below if you know of one.
Detect Movies on Snapchat
Tap on the icon in the lower right corner to budge to the stories screen. At the top of the screen, Snapchat has a row of photos that preview rivulets of photos and movies from brands including ESPN, Comedy Central and CNN. You can swipe to the left to see more stories, and scroll down past your friends’ stories to see which brands are broadcasting live.
Swipe left to hop to the next snap, press and hold to send a snap to a friend and pull down to leave the stream. Tapping on the Globe icon in the upper right corner of the Stories screen permits you to check out more brands, such as Refinery29, Vice and Food Network.
How to view Snapchat messages
Credit: Jeremy Lips / Tom’s Guide
If you’ve received a Snapchat, or just want to check out the log of Snapchat pictures or movies you’ve sent out to your friends (just the log; not the media itself), tap the little cube icon on the lower-left of Snapchat’s main screen. If you have any to-be-viewed messages, the number will show up over the cube itself.
Once you’re on the messages screen, you’ll see any fresh pictures or movies that your friends have sent you listed with a filled-in square or arrow icon and a “tap to view” message underneath them. Don’t do that unless you’re truly ready to view the pic or movie, because that starts the countdown timer for how long you’ll be able to view it. When the timer runs out, the message will transition over to a “double tap to reply” prompt — do just that to proceed your Snapchat “conversation.”
When you’re watching a story, you can tap to skip ahead, swipe left to advance to the next user you go after and pull down to exit.
How to send a text message in Snapchat
If you want to send texts without photos, tap on the voice bubble icon in the upper left corner in the Snapchat message log screen. Find a friend you’ve sent a photo to already, type your note and click Send. These messages will self destruct after they’ve been viewed, and if one of you takes a screenshot of the talk transcript, Snapchat will let the other person know.
How to save talk messages
If you’re using Snapchat for long (or significant) conversations, you might want to save messages to reread them. Fortunately, you can keep lines of your talks by holding your finger down on each individual message. A message is saved once it’s highlighted in grey and gets a SAVED! message to its left.
How to use Snapchat Groups
You can begin a group talk to snap with a select number of friends at the same time, by opening the Talk screen, tapping the fresh messages button in the top left corner, selecting numerous friends and tapping Talk. Groups work just like regular messages, as you can send snaps, texts, movie notes, audio notes and stickers. And of course, if a message isn’t opened in the twenty four hours after it’s sent, it will vanish from the group.
To talk privately with one person from a Group, tap their name in the row above the keyboard. Swipe right when you’re done to to comeback to the Group.
How to send a movie note in Snapchat
You can record brief, looping GIF-like movies by holding down on the camera icon for up to ten seconds. Snapchat will record from your front camera, and the movie will be sent when you release your finger from the screen. If you don’t like the movie, you can haul your finger to the X in the middle of the screen. Your recipient can tap on the movie to hear the clip’s audio.
How to send an audio note in Snapchat
To record a brief audio message to send to a friend, hold down on the phone handset icon and speak. You can send the sound byte to your friend by removing your finger from the screen. If you don’t like the message you recorded, haul your finger to the X icon in the middle of the screen.
How to make a movie call in Snapchat
You can also have movie talks with your friends, and all you need to do is tap the Camera icon in the message screen. Snapchat will then attempt to set up a movie conference call inbetween you and your friend. Your friend will take up the majority of the screen, and you’ll be able to see yourself in a bubble on the bottom of your phone. If you need to switch to an audio-only call, tap the phone icon.
How to make an audio call in Snapchat
If you want to have a phone call with one of your Snapchat friends you’ve been exchanging messages with, tap the phone icon above the keyboard. If your friend has Snapchat notifications turned on, they will receive an alert that you’re attempting to call. This way you can call someone and stay inwards of the app, and you don’t need to give someone your phone number. To add movie to the call, tap the camera icon.
How to send photos in Snapchat
To send a photo from your camera roll, tap the picture icon above the keyboard and select pictures. To annotate one of these pictures, tap Edit to access Snapchat’s doodles, emoji stickers and text contraptions. You can share numerous photos by tapping on extra pics before you click the arrow icon in the lower right corner to send. Photos can also be collective during audio or movie calls.
How to send stickers in Snapchat
Tap on the smiley icon above the keyboard to bring up a list of stickers that include doughnuts, gold starlets and a cat suggesting a rose. Select a sticker to send it.
How to edit Snapchat settings
Tap the ghost icon at the top of the screen, and then tap the gear icon in the window’s upper right corner. You can confirm your mobile number by tapping the associated field if you skipped this part when very first setting up Snapchat. You can also open up your Snapchat for messages from anyone on the service — not just your friends — by switching that setting (but make sure you want to do that).
The Android version of Snapchat also gives you the chance to lower the quality of the movies the app takes, as well as Snapchat’s default camera orientation. You’ll find both of these settings buried within the “Video Settings” section.
How to add a profile photo
Tap on the Ghost icon at the top of the main screen, and then tap on the Snapchat icon in the upper middle part of the screen. Press the shutter button at the bottom of the screen. Snapchat will take a series of photos of you using the front-facing camera on your device. Tap the activity button at the upper right corner of the screen to share this online so that your friends on Twitter, Facebook and other services can add you on Snapchat. If you want to take a fresh profile photo, click the retry button in the upper left corner.
How to add filters
After you’ve shot your snap, swipe to the left or right to add a visual filter that adjusts the photo quality — switching it to sepia or saturated — or one with a text overlay that shows the temperature in your area, the speed you’re moving at or the neighborhood you’re snapping from. You can add two filters by holding your finger down on the edge of the screen after you found the very first filter you want to use, and then swiping again with your free mitt.
With the On Request Geofilters feature, you can create your own location-specific filter and layer it on top of your snaps. Make sure your design meets Snapchat’s guidelines, upload it through the web portal, specify what location it’s meant for, wait for approval and voila! You can demonstrate off your Snapchat-approved artwork, and people who visit your location can also use it.
How to add an animated filter
When you’re snapping a selfie — tap the icon in the upper right corner to switch to front-facing mode if you haven’t already — tap on the part of the screen where your face is. After a wire-frame design shows up on your face, a series of Snapchat filter options will emerge.
Swipe inbetween the options to switch from a thirsty dog’d hipster, a moustachioed viking , an ice god and more. Go after the prompts — like ‘Raise Your Eyebrows.’ — that emerge, and tap the capture button to take a Snap, or press and hold on the capture button to record a movie.
How to exchange faces
If you want to create a portrait that will both shock and confuse others, Snapchat’s Face-Swap feature puts another person’s face on your head. Tap the icon in the upper right corner to switch to front-facing mode, and then press and hold on the part of the screen where your face is. After the wire-frame design shows up on your face, slide the series of lenses to the left until you see the yellow and purple face interchange options.
If the person you want to interchange faces with is there with you, select the yellow icon. If you want to interchange faces with someone whose photo you’ve previously taken, select the purple icon and tap a face from the pop-up menu. Once Snapchat previews this bizarre switch, tap the capture button to take a photo, or press and hold on the capture button to record a movie.
How to post to your public Story
If you want to share a photo or movie you’ve shot with all of your followers, tap on the Square and Plus button on the lower left corner after shooting a snap. Tapping on the arrow in the bottom right corner will make your snap visible to all of your Snapchat friends for twenty four hours. You can also select your area’s Local Story to share your moment with your community. You can view the Story flows that your friends have published by tapping on the icon in the bottom right corner of the main screen.
How to make infinite snaps
Snaps typically vanish after their 10-second timer expires, but a fresh infinite option lets recipients look at a photo until they tap to advance. Just tap the timer icon and scroll down to the no limit option, and then send.
How to loop movie snaps
Once Instagram’s GIF-like Boomerang clips took off, it was only a matter of time before Snapchat added a similar feature. Just tap the repeat icon on the right after shooting a movie, and then your friends will get a movie they need to tap to pass, rather than one that simply completes.
How to snap better at night
When you’re taking photos in dark areas, a moon icon will emerge in the upper left corner, next to the flash icon. Tap on this icon for brighter photos and movies, so it will be lighter for your audience to see what’s going on.
How to add emojis and stickers to your snaps
Click on the sticker icon at the top of your photo or movie when you’re editing it to bring up the emoji sticker sheet. You can add as many emoji as you and, as well as pinch and zoom them to your heart’s content.
How to delete stickers from your snaps
So now that you’ve place some stickers, you might have realized one doesn’t work and you want to liquidate it. Rather than begin over from square one, tap and hold on the sticker and haul it up to the trash can icon. Once the trash can gets slightly larger, release your finger to delete the sticker.
How to share your location and use the Snap Map
Snapchat can be your portal to the world, and its fresh Snap Map view lets you share your location and see what’s happening in specific regions. From the camera view pinch the screen to expose a See The World screen.
Then, tap Next and select your privacy setting: Only Me (Ghost Mode), My Friends or Select Friends. After tapping Finish, you’ll see a map view of your city, which you can pinch and pull to zoom out and in from. This way you can see what people are doing in the next town over, or get a peek at your next vacation destination. You might want to use Ghost Mode, however, if you don’t want Snapchat to be permanently sharing your location.
How to add voice filters
Very first introduced as a part of animated face filters, Snapchat’s voice filters can now be added on their own. This way you can modify the way you and your friends sound in movies. Current options include chipmunk (our beloved), robot, alien and bear (which sounds super creepy). Just record a movie snap and tap the speaker icon to preview your options.
How to use Snapchat’s backdrops
If you don’t have wallpaper that you like, Snapchat has you covered with its fresh backdrops. Just take a snap, tap the scissors icon, tap the diagonal lines icon, select a background by tapping on the vertical list and then haul your finger over yourself to erase the design so it doesn’t cover your face. Tap the scissors icon again and you’re done!
How to switch colors with Tint Brush
The wacky, wild and often altered world of Snapchat permits you to switch everything from your voice to your face, so it’s only natural that they’d add a color adjustment option. After you shoot a photo in the app, tap on the scissors icon and select a color by dragging your finger up and down the slider. Then, trace around the object you want to adjust and, voila, you’ve switched only the object you want to.
How to add links to your snaps
One of the largest problems with the more playful social networks, such as Instagram and Snapchat, is the lack of clickable links in posts. Snapchat immovable that with a latest update that permits you to add links, which users swipe up to open.
To use this feature, tap the paperclip icon after taking a snap, type in a URL, hit come in and tap fasten at the bottom of the screen. Also, add a text note to your snap to let friends know that there’s a linked page.
How to use Snapchat Spectacles
Once you’ve mastered the basics of Snapchat, you’re ready for Spectacles, the sunglasses from Snap that feature a camera in the frames. You’ll need to charge the wearable very first before you pair them with your smartphone over Bluetooth (make sure it’s enabled on your phone). Next, open Snapchat, slide down the home screen to the SnapCode screen, tap the SnapCode and tap the button above the left hinge of the Spectacles. For more, read our stories on how to find Spectacles and our tutorial on how to use Spectacles.
Devices For Parents of Snapchat Users
Photo: Monkey Business Photos / Shutterstock
If you’re still confused by Snapchat, this fresh app that your kids all of a sudden can’t get enough of, we’ve got tips and tricks just for you. Tap the gear in the top right corner to open the settings menu, where you can set the privacy setting for Stories to Friends Only so strangers can’t stalk them. You can even restrict access to the app by using the Parental Controls menu found in settings. We’ve got more handy advice in our Snapchat Guide for Parents. Also, check out our instructions for how to report bullying and manhandle on Snapchat so you know what to do if other kids are using the app to target target your child.
How to Use Snapchat Like a Pro
How to Use Snapchat Like a Pro
Snapchat has evolved from being an app with a handful of visible nasty uses to a social media platform where you can both broadcast your life and see content from a broad range of sources. The messaging app’s capability to let you control the privacy of the pictures and movies you send was integral to its popularity.
Updates to the app permit users to edit their voices, exchange faces, share locations as well as place voice and movie calls. You can also eventually place web links within Snaps.
Snapchat has become so popular so swift that there are more than one hundred sixty six million active users watching ten billion movies per day. Brands like BuzzFeed, ESPN, National Geographic and People magazine have made their way to Snapchat, providing fans an inwards look at what’s going on behind the scenes. The service is so popular that NBC will be producing a daily news display to airs exclusively on Snapchat. Here’s how to sign up, get embarked snapping out photos and movies and become a Snapchat accomplished.
How to get commenced with Snapchat
1. Install the Snapchat app. Fire up the App Store or Google Play and install it. Kick your feet up while the app transfers over.
Since you can’t just use an existing Facebook/Google/Your Dearest Social Network account to log your way into the service, you’ll need fresh credentials. Tap Sign Up. You’ll be asked for your email address, password and your bday. Tap Sign Up.
Trio. Pick a username. Select a “unique identifier” for your account that cannot be switched once it’s set. Your friends can use this to find you on the service, and the username will show up underneath your real name in their Snapchat contact list.
Snapchat will ask you if it can tap into your phone’s contacts list. Unless you have a searing desire to add friends by hand, we recommend you grant Snapchat this permission so you can commence friend-adding. iOS users will also be asked to come in in their mobile numbers for lighter searching; fret not, Android fans, for you can add this information later — so long as the text-based verification goes sleekly for you.
Once Snapchat comes back with a list of your contacts that it has identified as users of the service, you can add them as friends by clicking the large person-with-a-plus button to the right of their names. If you want to liquidate contacts (or block them) later, just long-press on their names until the secondary menu pops up on your screen.’
How to send pictures or movie in Snapchat
1. Tap to shoot, hold to record movie.
Once you’re on Snapchat’s main screen, taking a picture is pretty effortless for those who have ever used their phones’ cameras before. If not, here’s a quick guide: Tap an area of the picture you want your phone to concentrate on. Tap the big round circle to take a picture. Hold the big round circle to take a movie.
Two. Save your own shots. The icon to the right of the timer, a downward-facing arrow, permits you to dump the shot you just took into your phone’s traditional gallery. It’s useful if you want to save your shot for future purposes, as there’s no other way to do so once you’ve sent the picture out.
Tap on the stopwatchlike icon in the lower left and you can set the specific time that you want your picture to be available for a friend to view. You can go all the way from a blink-and-you’ll-miss-it one 2nd to a maximum duration of ten seconds.
Four. Add a caption. Tap in the middle of the picture, and you can add text on top of your photo or movie. Tap on the T icon to switch the caption from a line to text to a larger brick of text. After you’ve written a caption for your snaps, you can stir, pinch and zoom that text to place it just where you want. Before you can pinch and zoom your caption, you’ll need to have set the text to the larger font, by tapping on the T icon.
If you’re feeling a little nostalgia for "Draw Something," you can also tap on the icon in the upper-right corner of the screen to draw directly onto your photo with varying colors of a virtual pen.
Click on the arrow icon in the lower right to get your shot ready to send. Up pops your friends list; select everyone that you want to receive your photo, take one final breath of confidence and click on the now-displayed arrow in the lower right-hand corner.
How to record without holding the shutter
iPhone owners don’t need to keep finger on the shutter button in order to record movies in Snapchat, as long as they know this secret trick. Open the Settings App, and select General. Then tap Accessibility, and select AssistiveTouch, which will make a white dot show up on your screen.
Then, toggle the switch next to AssistiveTouch to the On position and then tap Create Fresh Gesture. Then, tap and hold on the center of the screen in a very taut circular pattern until the recording bar is utter. Tap Save at the top right corner, name this gesture with a memorable tag such as SnapVideo and then tap Save. Now, in the Snapchat recording screen, tap on AssistiveTouch bubble. Select Custom-built and then select SnapVideo (or whatever you called it).
You’ll see a fresh circular icon. When you’re ready to record, haul and drop it onto the capture button, and you’re recording without palms. Since you’re drawing that pattern yourself, this process may require repeated effort, but it’s worth for lighter movie recording. There doesn’t seem to be a method for Android yet, but leave a comment below if you know of one.
Detect Movies on Snapchat
Tap on the icon in the lower right corner to stir to the stories screen. At the top of the screen, Snapchat has a row of pictures that preview flows of photos and movies from brands including ESPN, Comedy Central and CNN. You can swipe to the left to see more stories, and scroll down past your friends’ stories to see which brands are broadcasting live.
Swipe left to leap to the next snap, press and hold to send a snap to a friend and pull down to leave the stream. Tapping on the Globe icon in the upper right corner of the Stories screen permits you to check out more brands, such as Refinery29, Vice and Food Network.
How to view Snapchat messages
Credit: Jeremy Lips / Tom’s Guide
If you’ve received a Snapchat, or just want to check out the log of Snapchat pictures or movies you’ve sent out to your friends (just the log; not the media itself), tap the little cube icon on the lower-left of Snapchat’s main screen. If you have any to-be-viewed messages, the number will emerge over the cube itself.
Once you’re on the messages screen, you’ll see any fresh pictures or movies that your friends have sent you listed with a filled-in square or arrow icon and a “tap to view” message underneath them. Don’t do that unless you’re truly ready to view the photo or movie, because that starts the countdown timer for how long you’ll be able to view it. When the timer runs out, the message will transition over to a “double tap to reply” prompt — do just that to proceed your Snapchat “conversation.”
When you’re watching a story, you can tap to skip ahead, swipe left to advance to the next user you go after and pull down to exit.
How to send a text message in Snapchat
If you want to send texts without photos, tap on the voice bubble icon in the upper left corner in the Snapchat message log screen. Find a friend you’ve sent a photo to already, type your note and click Send. These messages will self destruct after they’ve been viewed, and if one of you takes a screenshot of the talk transcript, Snapchat will let the other person know.
How to save talk messages
If you’re using Snapchat for long (or significant) conversations, you might want to save messages to reread them. Fortunately, you can keep lines of your talks by holding your finger down on each individual message. A message is saved once it’s highlighted in grey and gets a SAVED! message to its left.
How to use Snapchat Groups
You can commence a group talk to snap with a select number of friends at the same time, by opening the Talk screen, tapping the fresh messages button in the top left corner, selecting numerous friends and tapping Talk. Groups work just like regular messages, as you can send snaps, texts, movie notes, audio notes and stickers. And of course, if a message isn’t opened in the twenty four hours after it’s sent, it will vanish from the group.
To talk privately with one person from a Group, tap their name in the row above the keyboard. Swipe right when you’re done to to come back to the Group.
How to send a movie note in Snapchat
You can record brief, looping GIF-like movies by holding down on the camera icon for up to ten seconds. Snapchat will record from your front camera, and the movie will be sent when you release your finger from the screen. If you don’t like the movie, you can haul your finger to the X in the middle of the screen. Your recipient can tap on the movie to hear the clip’s audio.
How to send an audio note in Snapchat
To record a brief audio message to send to a friend, hold down on the phone handset icon and speak. You can send the sound byte to your friend by removing your finger from the screen. If you don’t like the message you recorded, haul your finger to the X icon in the middle of the screen.
How to make a movie call in Snapchat
You can also have movie talks with your friends, and all you need to do is tap the Camera icon in the message screen. Snapchat will then attempt to set up a movie conference call inbetween you and your friend. Your friend will take up the majority of the screen, and you’ll be able to see yourself in a bubble on the bottom of your phone. If you need to switch to an audio-only call, tap the phone icon.
How to make an audio call in Snapchat
If you want to have a phone call with one of your Snapchat friends you’ve been exchanging messages with, tap the phone icon above the keyboard. If your friend has Snapchat notifications turned on, they will receive an alert that you’re attempting to call. This way you can call someone and stay inwards of the app, and you don’t need to give someone your phone number. To add movie to the call, tap the camera icon.
How to send photos in Snapchat
To send a photo from your camera roll, tap the picture icon above the keyboard and select photos. To annotate one of these pics, tap Edit to access Snapchat’s doodles, emoji stickers and text implements. You can share numerous photos by tapping on extra pictures before you click the arrow icon in the lower right corner to send. Photos can also be collective during audio or movie calls.
How to send stickers in Snapchat
Tap on the smiley icon above the keyboard to bring up a list of stickers that include doughnuts, gold starlets and a cat suggesting a rose. Select a sticker to send it.
How to edit Snapchat settings
Tap the ghost icon at the top of the screen, and then tap the gear icon in the window’s upper right corner. You can confirm your mobile number by tapping the associated field if you skipped this part when very first setting up Snapchat. You can also open up your Snapchat for messages from anyone on the service — not just your friends — by switching that setting (but make sure you want to do that).
The Android version of Snapchat also gives you the chance to lower the quality of the movies the app takes, as well as Snapchat’s default camera orientation. You’ll find both of these settings buried within the “Video Settings” section.
How to add a profile photo
Tap on the Ghost icon at the top of the main screen, and then tap on the Snapchat icon in the upper middle part of the screen. Press the shutter button at the bottom of the screen. Snapchat will take a series of photos of you using the front-facing camera on your device. Tap the activity button at the upper right corner of the screen to share this online so that your friends on Twitter, Facebook and other services can add you on Snapchat. If you want to take a fresh profile photo, click the retry button in the upper left corner.
How to add filters
After you’ve shot your snap, swipe to the left or right to add a visual filter that adjusts the photo quality — switching it to sepia or saturated — or one with a text overlay that shows the temperature in your area, the speed you’re moving at or the neighborhood you’re snapping from. You can add two filters by holding your finger down on the edge of the screen after you found the very first filter you want to use, and then swiping again with your free forearm.
With the On Request Geofilters feature, you can create your own location-specific filter and layer it on top of your snaps. Make sure your design meets Snapchat’s guidelines, upload it through the web portal, specify what location it’s meant for, wait for approval and voila! You can display off your Snapchat-approved artwork, and people who visit your location can also use it.
How to add an animated filter
When you’re snapping a selfie — tap the icon in the upper right corner to switch to front-facing mode if you haven’t already — tap on the part of the screen where your face is. After a wire-frame design emerges on your face, a series of Snapchat filter options will emerge.
Swipe inbetween the options to switch from a thirsty dog’d hipster, a moustachioed viking , an ice god and more. Go after the prompts — like ‘Raise Your Eyebrows.’ — that show up, and tap the capture button to take a Snap, or press and hold on the capture button to record a movie.
How to interchange faces
If you want to create a portrait that will both shock and confuse others, Snapchat’s Face-Swap feature puts another person’s face on your head. Tap the icon in the upper right corner to switch to front-facing mode, and then press and hold on the part of the screen where your face is. After the wire-frame design emerges on your face, slide the series of lenses to the left until you see the yellow and purple face interchange options.
If the person you want to interchange faces with is there with you, select the yellow icon. If you want to exchange faces with someone whose photo you’ve previously taken, select the purple icon and tap a face from the pop-up menu. Once Snapchat previews this bizarre switch, tap the capture button to take a photo, or press and hold on the capture button to record a movie.
How to post to your public Story
If you want to share a photo or movie you’ve shot with all of your followers, tap on the Square and Plus button on the lower left corner after shooting a snap. Tapping on the arrow in the bottom right corner will make your snap visible to all of your Snapchat friends for twenty four hours. You can also select your area’s Local Story to share your moment with your community. You can view the Story flows that your friends have published by tapping on the icon in the bottom right corner of the main screen.
How to make infinite snaps
Snaps typically vanish after their 10-second timer expires, but a fresh infinite option lets recipients look at a photo until they tap to advance. Just tap the timer icon and scroll down to the no limit option, and then send.
How to loop movie snaps
Once Instagram’s GIF-like Boomerang clips took off, it was only a matter of time before Snapchat added a similar feature. Just tap the repeat icon on the right after shooting a movie, and then your friends will get a movie they need to tap to pass, rather than one that simply completes.
How to snap better at night
When you’re taking photos in dark areas, a moon icon will emerge in the upper left corner, next to the flash icon. Tap on this icon for brighter photos and movies, so it will be lighter for your audience to see what’s going on.
How to add emojis and stickers to your snaps
Click on the sticker icon at the top of your photo or movie when you’re editing it to bring up the emoji sticker sheet. You can add as many emoji as you and, as well as pinch and zoom them to your heart’s content.
How to delete stickers from your snaps
So now that you’ve place some stickers, you might have realized one doesn’t work and you want to liquidate it. Rather than commence over from square one, tap and hold on the sticker and haul it up to the trash can icon. Once the trash can gets slightly larger, release your finger to delete the sticker.
How to share your location and use the Snap Map
Snapchat can be your portal to the world, and its fresh Snap Map view lets you share your location and see what’s happening in specific regions. From the camera view pinch the screen to expose a See The World screen.
Then, tap Next and select your privacy setting: Only Me (Ghost Mode), My Friends or Select Friends. After tapping Finish, you’ll see a map view of your city, which you can pinch and pull to zoom out and in from. This way you can see what people are doing in the next town over, or get a peek at your next vacation destination. You might want to use Ghost Mode, tho’, if you don’t want Snapchat to be permanently sharing your location.
How to add voice filters
Very first introduced as a part of animated face filters, Snapchat’s voice filters can now be added on their own. This way you can modify the way you and your friends sound in movies. Current options include chipmunk (our dearest), robot, alien and bear (which sounds super creepy). Just record a movie snap and tap the speaker icon to preview your options.
How to use Snapchat’s backdrops
If you don’t have wallpaper that you like, Snapchat has you covered with its fresh backdrops. Just take a snap, tap the scissors icon, tap the diagonal lines icon, select a background by tapping on the vertical list and then haul your finger over yourself to erase the design so it doesn’t cover your face. Tap the scissors icon again and you’re done!
How to switch colors with Tint Brush
The wacky, wild and often altered world of Snapchat permits you to switch everything from your voice to your face, so it’s only natural that they’d add a color adjustment option. After you shoot a photo in the app, tap on the scissors icon and select a color by dragging your finger up and down the slider. Then, trace around the object you want to adjust and, voila, you’ve switched only the object you want to.
How to add links to your snaps
One of the largest problems with the more playful social networks, such as Instagram and Snapchat, is the lack of clickable links in posts. Snapchat immobile that with a latest update that permits you to add links, which users swipe up to open.
To use this feature, tap the paperclip icon after taking a snap, type in a URL, hit come in and tap link at the bottom of the screen. Also, add a text note to your snap to let friends know that there’s a linked page.
How to use Snapchat Spectacles
Once you’ve mastered the basics of Snapchat, you’re ready for Spectacles, the sunglasses from Snap that feature a camera in the frames. You’ll need to charge the wearable very first before you pair them with your smartphone over Bluetooth (make sure it’s enabled on your phone). Next, open Snapchat, slide down the home screen to the SnapCode screen, tap the SnapCode and tap the button above the left hinge of the Spectacles. For more, read our stories on how to find Spectacles and our tutorial on how to use Spectacles.
Implements For Parents of Snapchat Users
Photo: Monkey Business Pics / Shutterstock
If you’re still confused by Snapchat, this fresh app that your kids all of a sudden can’t get enough of, we’ve got tips and tricks just for you. Tap the gear in the top right corner to open the settings menu, where you can set the privacy setting for Stories to Friends Only so strangers can’t stalk them. You can even restrict access to the app by using the Parental Controls menu found in settings. We’ve got more handy advice in our Snapchat Guide for Parents. Also, check out our instructions for how to report bullying and manhandle on Snapchat so you know what to do if other kids are using the app to target target your child.
How to Use Snapchat Like a Pro
How to Use Snapchat Like a Pro
Snapchat has evolved from being an app with a handful of visible nasty uses to a social media platform where you can both broadcast your life and witness content from a broad range of sources. The messaging app’s capability to let you control the privacy of the pictures and movies you send was integral to its popularity.
Updates to the app permit users to edit their voices, interchange faces, share locations as well as place voice and movie calls. You can also ultimately place web links within Snaps.
Snapchat has become so popular so quick that there are more than one hundred sixty six million active users watching ten billion movies per day. Brands like BuzzFeed, ESPN, National Geographic and People magazine have made their way to Snapchat, providing fans an inwards look at what’s going on behind the scenes. The service is so popular that NBC will be producing a daily news display to airs exclusively on Snapchat. Here’s how to sign up, get commenced snapping out photos and movies and become a Snapchat experienced.
How to get embarked with Snapchat
1. Install the Snapchat app. Fire up the App Store or Google Play and install it. Kick your feet up while the app transfers over.
Since you can’t just use an existing Facebook/Google/Your Beloved Social Network account to log your way into the service, you’ll need fresh credentials. Tap Sign Up. You’ll be asked for your email address, password and your bday. Tap Sign Up.
Trio. Pick a username. Select a “unique identifier” for your account that cannot be switched once it’s set. Your friends can use this to find you on the service, and the username will emerge underneath your real name in their Snapchat contact list.
Snapchat will ask you if it can tap into your phone’s contacts list. Unless you have a searing desire to add friends by hand, we recommend you grant Snapchat this permission so you can commence friend-adding. iOS users will also be asked to come in in their mobile numbers for lighter searching; fret not, Android fans, for you can add this information later — so long as the text-based verification goes sleekly for you.
Once Snapchat comes back with a list of your contacts that it has identified as users of the service, you can add them as friends by clicking the large person-with-a-plus button to the right of their names. If you want to liquidate contacts (or block them) later, just long-press on their names until the secondary menu pops up on your screen.’
How to send pictures or movie in Snapchat
1. Tap to shoot, hold to record movie.
Once you’re on Snapchat’s main screen, taking a picture is pretty effortless for those who have ever used their phones’ cameras before. If not, here’s a quick guide: Tap an area of the picture you want your phone to concentrate on. Tap the big round circle to take a picture. Hold the big round circle to take a movie.
Two. Save your own shots. The icon to the right of the timer, a downward-facing arrow, permits you to dump the shot you just took into your phone’s traditional gallery. It’s useful if you want to save your shot for future purposes, as there’s no other way to do so once you’ve sent the picture out.
Tap on the stopwatchlike icon in the lower left and you can set the specific time that you want your picture to be available for a friend to view. You can go all the way from a blink-and-you’ll-miss-it one 2nd to a maximum duration of ten seconds.
Four. Add a caption. Tap in the middle of the picture, and you can add text on top of your photo or movie. Tap on the T icon to switch the caption from a line to text to a larger brick of text. After you’ve written a caption for your snaps, you can budge, pinch and zoom that text to place it just where you want. Before you can pinch and zoom your caption, you’ll need to have set the text to the larger font, by tapping on the T icon.
If you’re feeling a little nostalgia for "Draw Something," you can also tap on the icon in the upper-right corner of the screen to draw directly onto your photo with varying colors of a virtual pen.
Click on the arrow icon in the lower right to get your shot ready to send. Up pops your friends list; select everyone that you want to receive your pic, take one final breath of confidence and click on the now-displayed arrow in the lower right-hand corner.
How to record without holding the shutter
iPhone owners don’t need to keep finger on the shutter button in order to record movies in Snapchat, as long as they know this secret trick. Open the Settings App, and select General. Then tap Accessibility, and select AssistiveTouch, which will make a white dot emerge on your screen.
Then, toggle the switch next to AssistiveTouch to the On position and then tap Create Fresh Gesture. Then, tap and hold on the center of the screen in a very taut circular pattern until the recording bar is total. Tap Save at the top right corner, name this gesture with a memorable tag such as SnapVideo and then tap Save. Now, in the Snapchat recording screen, tap on AssistiveTouch bubble. Select Custom-made and then select SnapVideo (or whatever you called it).
You’ll see a fresh circular icon. When you’re ready to record, haul and drop it onto the capture button, and you’re recording without mitts. Since you’re drawing that pattern yourself, this process may require repeated effort, but it’s worth for lighter movie recording. There doesn’t seem to be a method for Android yet, but leave a comment below if you know of one.
Detect Movies on Snapchat
Tap on the icon in the lower right corner to stir to the stories screen. At the top of the screen, Snapchat has a row of photos that preview flows of photos and movies from brands including ESPN, Comedy Central and CNN. You can swipe to the left to see more stories, and scroll down past your friends’ stories to see which brands are broadcasting live.
Swipe left to leap to the next snap, press and hold to send a snap to a friend and pull down to leave the stream. Tapping on the Globe icon in the upper right corner of the Stories screen permits you to check out more brands, such as Refinery29, Vice and Food Network.
How to view Snapchat messages
Credit: Jeremy Lips / Tom’s Guide
If you’ve received a Snapchat, or just want to check out the log of Snapchat pictures or movies you’ve sent out to your friends (just the log; not the media itself), tap the little cube icon on the lower-left of Snapchat’s main screen. If you have any to-be-viewed messages, the number will show up over the cube itself.
Once you’re on the messages screen, you’ll see any fresh pictures or movies that your friends have sent you listed with a filled-in square or arrow icon and a “tap to view” message underneath them. Don’t do that unless you’re indeed ready to view the picture or movie, because that starts the countdown timer for how long you’ll be able to view it. When the timer runs out, the message will transition over to a “double tap to reply” prompt — do just that to proceed your Snapchat “conversation.”
When you’re watching a story, you can tap to skip ahead, swipe left to advance to the next user you go after and pull down to exit.
How to send a text message in Snapchat
If you want to send texts without photos, tap on the voice bubble icon in the upper left corner in the Snapchat message log screen. Find a friend you’ve sent a photo to already, type your note and click Send. These messages will self destruct after they’ve been viewed, and if one of you takes a screenshot of the talk transcript, Snapchat will let the other person know.
How to save talk messages
If you’re using Snapchat for long (or significant) conversations, you might want to save messages to reread them. Fortunately, you can keep lines of your talks by holding your finger down on each individual message. A message is saved once it’s highlighted in grey and gets a SAVED! message to its left.
How to use Snapchat Groups
You can begin a group talk to snap with a select number of friends at the same time, by opening the Talk screen, tapping the fresh messages button in the top left corner, selecting numerous friends and tapping Talk. Groups work just like regular messages, as you can send snaps, texts, movie notes, audio notes and stickers. And of course, if a message isn’t opened in the twenty four hours after it’s sent, it will vanish from the group.
To talk privately with one person from a Group, tap their name in the row above the keyboard. Swipe right when you’re done to to come back to the Group.
How to send a movie note in Snapchat
You can record brief, looping GIF-like movies by holding down on the camera icon for up to ten seconds. Snapchat will record from your front camera, and the movie will be sent when you release your finger from the screen. If you don’t like the movie, you can haul your finger to the X in the middle of the screen. Your recipient can tap on the movie to hear the clip’s audio.
How to send an audio note in Snapchat
To record a brief audio message to send to a friend, hold down on the phone handset icon and speak. You can send the sound byte to your friend by removing your finger from the screen. If you don’t like the message you recorded, haul your finger to the X icon in the middle of the screen.
How to make a movie call in Snapchat
You can also have movie talks with your friends, and all you need to do is tap the Camera icon in the message screen. Snapchat will then attempt to set up a movie conference call inbetween you and your friend. Your friend will take up the majority of the screen, and you’ll be able to see yourself in a bubble on the bottom of your phone. If you need to switch to an audio-only call, tap the phone icon.
How to make an audio call in Snapchat
If you want to have a phone call with one of your Snapchat friends you’ve been exchanging messages with, tap the phone icon above the keyboard. If your friend has Snapchat notifications turned on, they will receive an alert that you’re attempting to call. This way you can call someone and stay inwards of the app, and you don’t need to give someone your phone number. To add movie to the call, tap the camera icon.
How to send photos in Snapchat
To send a photo from your camera roll, tap the picture icon above the keyboard and select pics. To annotate one of these photos, tap Edit to access Snapchat’s doodles, emoji stickers and text implements. You can share numerous photos by tapping on extra photos before you click the arrow icon in the lower right corner to send. Photos can also be collective during audio or movie calls.
How to send stickers in Snapchat
Tap on the smiley icon above the keyboard to bring up a list of stickers that include doughnuts, gold starlets and a cat suggesting a rose. Select a sticker to send it.
How to edit Snapchat settings
Tap the ghost icon at the top of the screen, and then tap the gear icon in the window’s upper right corner. You can confirm your mobile number by tapping the associated field if you skipped this part when very first setting up Snapchat. You can also open up your Snapchat for messages from anyone on the service — not just your friends — by switching that setting (but make sure you want to do that).
The Android version of Snapchat also gives you the chance to lower the quality of the movies the app takes, as well as Snapchat’s default camera orientation. You’ll find both of these settings buried within the “Video Settings” section.
How to add a profile photo
Tap on the Ghost icon at the top of the main screen, and then tap on the Snapchat icon in the upper middle part of the screen. Press the shutter button at the bottom of the screen. Snapchat will take a series of photos of you using the front-facing camera on your device. Tap the act button at the upper right corner of the screen to share this online so that your friends on Twitter, Facebook and other services can add you on Snapchat. If you want to take a fresh profile photo, click the retry button in the upper left corner.
How to add filters
After you’ve shot your snap, swipe to the left or right to add a visual filter that adjusts the photo quality — switching it to sepia or saturated — or one with a text overlay that shows the temperature in your area, the speed you’re moving at or the neighborhood you’re snapping from. You can add two filters by holding your finger down on the edge of the screen after you found the very first filter you want to use, and then swiping again with your free arm.
With the On Request Geofilters feature, you can create your own location-specific filter and layer it on top of your snaps. Make sure your design meets Snapchat’s guidelines, upload it through the web portal, specify what location it’s meant for, wait for approval and voila! You can demonstrate off your Snapchat-approved artwork, and people who visit your location can also use it.
How to add an animated filter
When you’re snapping a selfie — tap the icon in the upper right corner to switch to front-facing mode if you haven’t already — tap on the part of the screen where your face is. After a wire-frame design shows up on your face, a series of Snapchat filter options will emerge.
Swipe inbetween the options to switch from a thirsty dog’d hipster, a moustachioed viking , an ice god and more. Go after the prompts — like ‘Raise Your Eyebrows.’ — that emerge, and tap the capture button to take a Snap, or press and hold on the capture button to record a movie.
How to exchange faces
If you want to create a portrait that will both shock and confuse others, Snapchat’s Face-Swap feature puts another person’s face on your head. Tap the icon in the upper right corner to switch to front-facing mode, and then press and hold on the part of the screen where your face is. After the wire-frame design shows up on your face, slide the series of lenses to the left until you see the yellow and purple face exchange options.
If the person you want to interchange faces with is there with you, select the yellow icon. If you want to exchange faces with someone whose photo you’ve previously taken, select the purple icon and tap a face from the pop-up menu. Once Snapchat previews this bizarre switch, tap the capture button to take a photo, or press and hold on the capture button to record a movie.
How to post to your public Story
If you want to share a photo or movie you’ve shot with all of your followers, tap on the Square and Plus button on the lower left corner after shooting a snap. Tapping on the arrow in the bottom right corner will make your snap visible to all of your Snapchat friends for twenty four hours. You can also select your area’s Local Story to share your moment with your community. You can view the Story flows that your friends have published by tapping on the icon in the bottom right corner of the main screen.
How to make infinite snaps
Snaps typically vanish after their 10-second timer expires, but a fresh infinite option lets recipients look at a photo until they tap to advance. Just tap the timer icon and scroll down to the no limit option, and then send.
How to loop movie snaps
Once Instagram’s GIF-like Boomerang clips took off, it was only a matter of time before Snapchat added a similar feature. Just tap the repeat icon on the right after shooting a movie, and then your friends will get a movie they need to tap to pass, rather than one that simply finishes.
How to snap better at night
When you’re taking photos in dark areas, a moon icon will show up in the upper left corner, next to the flash icon. Tap on this icon for brighter photos and movies, so it will be lighter for your audience to see what’s going on.
How to add emojis and stickers to your snaps
Click on the sticker icon at the top of your photo or movie when you’re editing it to bring up the emoji sticker sheet. You can add as many emoji as you and, as well as pinch and zoom them to your heart’s content.
How to delete stickers from your snaps
So now that you’ve place some stickers, you might have realized one doesn’t work and you want to liquidate it. Rather than commence over from square one, tap and hold on the sticker and haul it up to the trash can icon. Once the trash can gets slightly larger, release your finger to delete the sticker.
How to share your location and use the Snap Map
Snapchat can be your portal to the world, and its fresh Snap Map view lets you share your location and see what’s happening in specific regions. From the camera view pinch the screen to expose a See The World screen.
Then, tap Next and select your privacy setting: Only Me (Ghost Mode), My Friends or Select Friends. After tapping Finish, you’ll see a map view of your city, which you can pinch and pull to zoom out and in from. This way you can see what people are doing in the next town over, or get a peek at your next vacation destination. You might want to use Ghost Mode, tho’, if you don’t want Snapchat to be permanently sharing your location.
How to add voice filters
Very first introduced as a part of animated face filters, Snapchat’s voice filters can now be added on their own. This way you can modify the way you and your friends sound in movies. Current options include chipmunk (our dearest), robot, alien and bear (which sounds super creepy). Just record a movie snap and tap the speaker icon to preview your options.
How to use Snapchat’s backdrops
If you don’t have wallpaper that you like, Snapchat has you covered with its fresh backdrops. Just take a snap, tap the scissors icon, tap the diagonal lines icon, select a background by tapping on the vertical list and then haul your finger over yourself to erase the design so it doesn’t cover your face. Tap the scissors icon again and you’re done!
How to switch colors with Tint Brush
The wacky, wild and often altered world of Snapchat permits you to switch everything from your voice to your face, so it’s only natural that they’d add a color adjustment option. After you shoot a photo in the app, tap on the scissors icon and select a color by dragging your finger up and down the slider. Then, trace around the object you want to adjust and, voila, you’ve switched only the object you want to.
How to add links to your snaps
One of the largest problems with the more playful social networks, such as Instagram and Snapchat, is the lack of clickable links in posts. Snapchat motionless that with a latest update that permits you to add links, which users swipe up to open.
To use this feature, tap the paperclip icon after taking a snap, type in a URL, hit come in and tap link at the bottom of the screen. Also, add a text note to your snap to let friends know that there’s a linked page.
How to use Snapchat Spectacles
Once you’ve mastered the basics of Snapchat, you’re ready for Spectacles, the sunglasses from Snap that feature a camera in the frames. You’ll need to charge the wearable very first before you pair them with your smartphone over Bluetooth (make sure it’s enabled on your phone). Next, open Snapchat, slide down the home screen to the SnapCode screen, tap the SnapCode and tap the button above the left hinge of the Spectacles. For more, read our stories on how to find Spectacles and our tutorial on how to use Spectacles.
Implements For Parents of Snapchat Users
Picture: Monkey Business Pictures / Shutterstock
If you’re still confused by Snapchat, this fresh app that your kids all of a sudden can’t get enough of, we’ve got tips and tricks just for you. Tap the gear in the top right corner to open the settings menu, where you can set the privacy setting for Stories to Friends Only so strangers can’t stalk them. You can even restrict access to the app by using the Parental Controls menu found in settings. We’ve got more handy advice in our Snapchat Guide for Parents. Also, check out our instructions for how to report bullying and manhandle on Snapchat so you know what to do if other kids are using the app to target target your child.
How to Use Snapchat Like a Pro
How to Use Snapchat Like a Pro
Snapchat has evolved from being an app with a handful of evident crazy uses to a social media platform where you can both broadcast your life and witness content from a broad range of sources. The messaging app’s capability to let you control the privacy of the pictures and movies you send was integral to its popularity.
Updates to the app permit users to edit their voices, interchange faces, share locations as well as place voice and movie calls. You can also eventually place web links within Snaps.
Snapchat has become so popular so rapid that there are more than one hundred sixty six million active users watching ten billion movies per day. Brands like BuzzFeed, ESPN, National Geographic and People magazine have made their way to Snapchat, providing fans an inwards look at what’s going on behind the scenes. The service is so popular that NBC will be producing a daily news demonstrate to airs exclusively on Snapchat. Here’s how to sign up, get commenced snapping out photos and movies and become a Snapchat accomplished.
How to get began with Snapchat
1. Install the Snapchat app. Fire up the App Store or Google Play and install it. Kick your feet up while the app transfers over.
Since you can’t just use an existing Facebook/Google/Your Beloved Social Network account to log your way into the service, you’ll need fresh credentials. Tap Sign Up. You’ll be asked for your email address, password and your bday. Tap Sign Up.
Trio. Pick a username. Select a “unique identifier” for your account that cannot be switched once it’s set. Your friends can use this to find you on the service, and the username will emerge underneath your real name in their Snapchat contact list.
Snapchat will ask you if it can tap into your phone’s contacts list. Unless you have a searing desire to add friends by hand, we recommend you grant Snapchat this permission so you can commence friend-adding. iOS users will also be asked to come in in their mobile numbers for lighter searching; fret not, Android fans, for you can add this information later — so long as the text-based verification goes slickly for you.
Once Snapchat comes back with a list of your contacts that it has identified as users of the service, you can add them as friends by clicking the large person-with-a-plus button to the right of their names. If you want to eliminate contacts (or block them) later, just long-press on their names until the secondary menu pops up on your screen.’
How to send pictures or movie in Snapchat
1. Tap to shoot, hold to record movie.
Once you’re on Snapchat’s main screen, taking a picture is pretty effortless for those who have ever used their phones’ cameras before. If not, here’s a quick guide: Tap an area of the picture you want your phone to concentrate on. Tap the big round circle to take a picture. Hold the big round circle to take a movie.
Two. Save your own shots. The icon to the right of the timer, a downward-facing arrow, permits you to dump the shot you just took into your phone’s traditional gallery. It’s useful if you want to save your shot for future purposes, as there’s no other way to do so once you’ve sent the picture out.
Tap on the stopwatchlike icon in the lower left and you can set the specific time that you want your picture to be available for a friend to view. You can go all the way from a blink-and-you’ll-miss-it one 2nd to a maximum duration of ten seconds.
Four. Add a caption. Tap in the middle of the picture, and you can add text on top of your photo or movie. Tap on the T icon to switch the caption from a line to text to a larger brick of text. After you’ve written a caption for your snaps, you can stir, pinch and zoom that text to place it just where you want. Before you can pinch and zoom your caption, you’ll need to have set the text to the larger font, by tapping on the T icon.
If you’re feeling a little nostalgia for "Draw Something," you can also tap on the icon in the upper-right corner of the screen to draw directly onto your picture with varying colors of a virtual pen.
Click on the arrow icon in the lower right to get your shot ready to send. Up pops your friends list; select everyone that you want to receive your pic, take one final breath of confidence and click on the now-displayed arrow in the lower right-hand corner.
How to record without holding the shutter
iPhone owners don’t need to keep finger on the shutter button in order to record movies in Snapchat, as long as they know this secret trick. Open the Settings App, and select General. Then tap Accessibility, and select AssistiveTouch, which will make a white dot show up on your screen.
Then, toggle the switch next to AssistiveTouch to the On position and then tap Create Fresh Gesture. Then, tap and hold on the center of the screen in a very taut circular pattern until the recording bar is total. Tap Save at the top right corner, name this gesture with a memorable tag such as SnapVideo and then tap Save. Now, in the Snapchat recording screen, tap on AssistiveTouch bubble. Select Custom-made and then select SnapVideo (or whatever you called it).
You’ll see a fresh circular icon. When you’re ready to record, haul and drop it onto the capture button, and you’re recording without forearms. Since you’re drawing that pattern yourself, this process may require repeated effort, but it’s worth for lighter movie recording. There doesn’t seem to be a method for Android yet, but leave a comment below if you know of one.
Detect Movies on Snapchat
Tap on the icon in the lower right corner to budge to the stories screen. At the top of the screen, Snapchat has a row of pics that preview rivulets of photos and movies from brands including ESPN, Comedy Central and CNN. You can swipe to the left to see more stories, and scroll down past your friends’ stories to see which brands are broadcasting live.
Swipe left to hop to the next snap, press and hold to send a snap to a friend and pull down to leave the stream. Tapping on the Globe icon in the upper right corner of the Stories screen permits you to check out more brands, such as Refinery29, Vice and Food Network.
How to view Snapchat messages
Credit: Jeremy Lips / Tom’s Guide
If you’ve received a Snapchat, or just want to check out the log of Snapchat pictures or movies you’ve sent out to your friends (just the log; not the media itself), tap the little cube icon on the lower-left of Snapchat’s main screen. If you have any to-be-viewed messages, the number will show up over the cube itself.
Once you’re on the messages screen, you’ll see any fresh pictures or movies that your friends have sent you listed with a filled-in square or arrow icon and a “tap to view” message underneath them. Don’t do that unless you’re indeed ready to view the picture or movie, because that starts the countdown timer for how long you’ll be able to view it. When the timer runs out, the message will transition over to a “double tap to reply” prompt — do just that to proceed your Snapchat “conversation.”
When you’re watching a story, you can tap to skip ahead, swipe left to advance to the next user you go after and pull down to exit.
How to send a text message in Snapchat
If you want to send texts without photos, tap on the voice bubble icon in the upper left corner in the Snapchat message log screen. Find a friend you’ve sent a photo to already, type your note and click Send. These messages will self destruct after they’ve been viewed, and if one of you takes a screenshot of the talk transcript, Snapchat will let the other person know.
How to save talk messages
If you’re using Snapchat for long (or significant) conversations, you might want to save messages to reread them. Fortunately, you can keep lines of your talks by holding your finger down on each individual message. A message is saved once it’s highlighted in grey and gets a SAVED! message to its left.
How to use Snapchat Groups
You can commence a group talk to snap with a select number of friends at the same time, by opening the Talk screen, tapping the fresh messages button in the top left corner, selecting numerous friends and tapping Talk. Groups work just like regular messages, as you can send snaps, texts, movie notes, audio notes and stickers. And of course, if a message isn’t opened in the twenty four hours after it’s sent, it will vanish from the group.
To talk privately with one person from a Group, tap their name in the row above the keyboard. Swipe right when you’re done to to comeback to the Group.
How to send a movie note in Snapchat
You can record brief, looping GIF-like movies by holding down on the camera icon for up to ten seconds. Snapchat will record from your front camera, and the movie will be sent when you release your finger from the screen. If you don’t like the movie, you can haul your finger to the X in the middle of the screen. Your recipient can tap on the movie to hear the clip’s audio.
How to send an audio note in Snapchat
To record a brief audio message to send to a friend, hold down on the phone handset icon and speak. You can send the sound byte to your friend by removing your finger from the screen. If you don’t like the message you recorded, haul your finger to the X icon in the middle of the screen.
How to make a movie call in Snapchat
You can also have movie talks with your friends, and all you need to do is tap the Camera icon in the message screen. Snapchat will then attempt to set up a movie conference call inbetween you and your friend. Your friend will take up the majority of the screen, and you’ll be able to see yourself in a bubble on the bottom of your phone. If you need to switch to an audio-only call, tap the phone icon.
How to make an audio call in Snapchat
If you want to have a phone call with one of your Snapchat friends you’ve been exchanging messages with, tap the phone icon above the keyboard. If your friend has Snapchat notifications turned on, they will receive an alert that you’re attempting to call. This way you can call someone and stay inwards of the app, and you don’t need to give someone your phone number. To add movie to the call, tap the camera icon.
How to send photos in Snapchat
To send a photo from your camera roll, tap the picture icon above the keyboard and select pics. To annotate one of these pics, tap Edit to access Snapchat’s doodles, emoji stickers and text devices. You can share numerous photos by tapping on extra pics before you click the arrow icon in the lower right corner to send. Photos can also be collective during audio or movie calls.
How to send stickers in Snapchat
Tap on the smiley icon above the keyboard to bring up a list of stickers that include doughnuts, gold starlets and a cat suggesting a rose. Select a sticker to send it.
How to edit Snapchat settings
Tap the ghost icon at the top of the screen, and then tap the gear icon in the window’s upper right corner. You can confirm your mobile number by tapping the associated field if you skipped this part when very first setting up Snapchat. You can also open up your Snapchat for messages from anyone on the service — not just your friends — by switching that setting (but make sure you want to do that).
The Android version of Snapchat also gives you the chance to lower the quality of the movies the app takes, as well as Snapchat’s default camera orientation. You’ll find both of these settings buried within the “Video Settings” section.
How to add a profile photo
Tap on the Ghost icon at the top of the main screen, and then tap on the Snapchat icon in the upper middle part of the screen. Press the shutter button at the bottom of the screen. Snapchat will take a series of photos of you using the front-facing camera on your device. Tap the act button at the upper right corner of the screen to share this online so that your friends on Twitter, Facebook and other services can add you on Snapchat. If you want to take a fresh profile photo, click the retry button in the upper left corner.
How to add filters
After you’ve shot your snap, swipe to the left or right to add a visual filter that adjusts the photo quality — switching it to sepia or saturated — or one with a text overlay that shows the temperature in your area, the speed you’re moving at or the neighborhood you’re snapping from. You can add two filters by holding your finger down on the edge of the screen after you found the very first filter you want to use, and then swiping again with your free mitt.
With the On Request Geofilters feature, you can create your own location-specific filter and layer it on top of your snaps. Make sure your design meets Snapchat’s guidelines, upload it through the web portal, specify what location it’s meant for, wait for approval and voila! You can demonstrate off your Snapchat-approved artwork, and people who visit your location can also use it.
How to add an animated filter
When you’re snapping a selfie — tap the icon in the upper right corner to switch to front-facing mode if you haven’t already — tap on the part of the screen where your face is. After a wire-frame design emerges on your face, a series of Snapchat filter options will emerge.
Swipe inbetween the options to switch from a thirsty dog’d hipster, a moustachioed viking , an ice god and more. Go after the prompts — like ‘Raise Your Eyebrows.’ — that show up, and tap the capture button to take a Snap, or press and hold on the capture button to record a movie.
How to interchange faces
If you want to create a portrait that will both shock and confuse others, Snapchat’s Face-Swap feature puts another person’s face on your head. Tap the icon in the upper right corner to switch to front-facing mode, and then press and hold on the part of the screen where your face is. After the wire-frame design emerges on your face, slide the series of lenses to the left until you see the yellow and purple face interchange options.
If the person you want to exchange faces with is there with you, select the yellow icon. If you want to interchange faces with someone whose photo you’ve previously taken, select the purple icon and tap a face from the pop-up menu. Once Snapchat previews this bizarre switch, tap the capture button to take a photo, or press and hold on the capture button to record a movie.
How to post to your public Story
If you want to share a photo or movie you’ve shot with all of your followers, tap on the Square and Plus button on the lower left corner after shooting a snap. Tapping on the arrow in the bottom right corner will make your snap visible to all of your Snapchat friends for twenty four hours. You can also select your area’s Local Story to share your moment with your community. You can view the Story flows that your friends have published by tapping on the icon in the bottom right corner of the main screen.
How to make infinite snaps
Snaps typically vanish after their 10-second timer expires, but a fresh infinite option lets recipients look at a photo until they tap to advance. Just tap the timer icon and scroll down to the no limit option, and then send.
How to loop movie snaps
Once Instagram’s GIF-like Boomerang clips took off, it was only a matter of time before Snapchat added a similar feature. Just tap the repeat icon on the right after shooting a movie, and then your friends will get a movie they need to tap to pass, rather than one that simply finishes.
How to snap better at night
When you’re taking photos in dark areas, a moon icon will emerge in the upper left corner, next to the flash icon. Tap on this icon for brighter photos and movies, so it will be lighter for your audience to see what’s going on.
How to add emojis and stickers to your snaps
Click on the sticker icon at the top of your photo or movie when you’re editing it to bring up the emoji sticker sheet. You can add as many emoji as you and, as well as pinch and zoom them to your heart’s content.
How to delete stickers from your snaps
So now that you’ve place some stickers, you might have realized one doesn’t work and you want to eliminate it. Rather than embark over from square one, tap and hold on the sticker and haul it up to the trash can icon. Once the trash can gets slightly larger, release your finger to delete the sticker.
How to share your location and use the Snap Map
Snapchat can be your portal to the world, and its fresh Snap Map view lets you share your location and see what’s happening in specific regions. From the camera view pinch the screen to expose a See The World screen.
Then, tap Next and select your privacy setting: Only Me (Ghost Mode), My Friends or Select Friends. After tapping Finish, you’ll see a map view of your city, which you can pinch and pull to zoom out and in from. This way you can see what people are doing in the next town over, or get a peek at your next vacation destination. You might want to use Ghost Mode, tho’, if you don’t want Snapchat to be permanently sharing your location.
How to add voice filters
Very first introduced as a part of animated face filters, Snapchat’s voice filters can now be added on their own. This way you can modify the way you and your friends sound in movies. Current options include chipmunk (our beloved), robot, alien and bear (which sounds super creepy). Just record a movie snap and tap the speaker icon to preview your options.
How to use Snapchat’s backdrops
If you don’t have wallpaper that you like, Snapchat has you covered with its fresh backdrops. Just take a snap, tap the scissors icon, tap the diagonal lines icon, select a background by tapping on the vertical list and then haul your finger over yourself to erase the design so it doesn’t cover your face. Tap the scissors icon again and you’re done!
How to switch colors with Tint Brush
The wacky, wild and often altered world of Snapchat permits you to switch everything from your voice to your face, so it’s only natural that they’d add a color adjustment option. After you shoot a photo in the app, tap on the scissors icon and select a color by dragging your finger up and down the slider. Then, trace around the object you want to adjust and, voila, you’ve switched only the object you want to.
How to add links to your snaps
One of the thickest problems with the more playful social networks, such as Instagram and Snapchat, is the lack of clickable links in posts. Snapchat stationary that with a latest update that permits you to add links, which users swipe up to open.
To use this feature, tap the paperclip icon after taking a snap, type in a URL, hit inject and tap fasten at the bottom of the screen. Also, add a text note to your snap to let friends know that there’s a linked page.
How to use Snapchat Spectacles
Once you’ve mastered the basics of Snapchat, you’re ready for Spectacles, the sunglasses from Snap that feature a camera in the frames. You’ll need to charge the wearable very first before you pair them with your smartphone over Bluetooth (make sure it’s enabled on your phone). Next, open Snapchat, slide down the home screen to the SnapCode screen, tap the SnapCode and tap the button above the left hinge of the Spectacles. For more, read our stories on how to find Spectacles and our tutorial on how to use Spectacles.
Contraptions For Parents of Snapchat Users
Pic: Monkey Business Photos / Shutterstock
If you’re still confused by Snapchat, this fresh app that your kids all of a sudden can’t get enough of, we’ve got tips and tricks just for you. Tap the gear in the top right corner to open the settings menu, where you can set the privacy setting for Stories to Friends Only so strangers can’t stalk them. You can even restrict access to the app by using the Parental Controls menu found in settings. We’ve got more handy advice in our Snapchat Guide for Parents. Also, check out our instructions for how to report bullying and manhandle on Snapchat so you know what to do if other kids are using the app to target target your child.
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