Snapchat is hands down one of the most entertaining social media applications present on the market today. Snapchat was launched back in 2011 and has since then doing amazingly on the market. But few know the story behind Snapchat and what actually went down before the application was launched and the drama that lead up to the launch and all the drama which ensued.
Believe it or not when Snapchat was launched it was not its first launch the app had been launched previously with the name Picaboo, however this venture was not successful and soon was pulled out from the market. But a few months after Picaboo came and went without being on anyone’s radar, Snapchat made an appearance on the market. So what really happened? Why were there two launches for the same app under two different names? Well keep reading but let us warn you that the story gets a little messy.
Two students at Stanford University, Evan Spiegel and Reggie Brown came up with the idea of an application which would send images to people which would subsequently disappear after a given amount of time and that there would be no way to save these images. But a few sources claim that it was in fact Reggie who came up with the idea and approached Spiegel with it who loved it as well. However both boys realized they did not have the expertise or skills to develop an application thus they approached Bobby Murphy who had experience in coding. Bobby immediately got on board and helped design the application. Reggie meanwhile came up with the branding and came up with what is now Snapchat’s infamous logo of a ghost.
So the trio initially launched Picaboo but for reasons unknown as soon as they launched Picaboo, they took it off the market. The reasons are still murky and unclear to people. But what is known is that Spiegel and Murphy partnered together and agreed that they would leave Brown out of the equation. The two went on to work on the same concept of an application and released Snapchat a few months after the Picaboo venture. The logo they used was the one designed by Reggie but everything else was according to them solely theirs and theirs alone. But as it usually goes with ventures like these, Reggie Brown filed a law suit against the two claiming that they had left him out of an idea he had originally coined. After an extensive legal battle where it was seen the Evan and Bobby had truly frozen out Reggie even though he had contributed greatly to the idea, Reggie was given a very big monetary settlement and was named as one of the original creators of Snapchat. The case never reached court and was settled out of court.
But even with all of this negative press and light on Snapchat, the application still was doing very well. There will millions of downloads of the application in the first week alone. In fact if you asked random people about whether they had Snapchat in their phone you would see how most of them said yes. Snapchat is incredibly popular especially in the millennial generation since this is an application most of the people in this generation have grown up with.
As the years have gone by Snapchat has developed and turned into something extraordinary. Initially Snapchat just let users take picture and maybe draw on them but now there are so many things you can do with Snapchat; from adding stickers, to making your own stickers, to making videos, adding filters and so much more. Snapchat has truly transformed into something else and has always kept in mind user experience as its top priority. This is what has lead to Snapchat being so insanely popular. According to the last official statistics given by Snapchat, they have about 166 million daily active users on their application. This is an insane amount of people; to this into perspective, some countries have a smaller population number than Snapchat has daily active users.
Snapchat is incredibly quirky and has some features which users totally love. Initially Snapchat would show everyone each others best friends on the application. These were people users had interacted with the most and sent most of their snaps too in private. Snapchat discontinued this feature and instead came up with some emojis which they place with everyone’s names. A lot of people still do not know what these Snapchat emojis mean so if you see emojis next to your friends’ names in your Snapchat friends list and do not know what they mean do not worry since you are not the only one in the unknown. So keep reading this article to know what these Snapchat emojis mean so you can finally make sense of Snapchat!
It can be very confusing and even down right frustrating to see emojis next to everyone’s names and have no idea what they mean. This is why we have come up with the list explaining what Snapchat emojis mean.
We must warn you however, this might make things awkward. Knowing what these Snapchat emojis mean will make you very cautious and careful. So read at your own risk but then again knowledge is power!
Basic Snapchat Emojis
- Baby – this is for people who you have just added on Snapchat and have not interacted much with.
- Smiling – this person is in your best friend list because you interact with them quite a bit on Snapchat.
- Sunglasses – this is for when you have a best friend in common with someone.
- Grimace – you and this person have the same best friend in common and not only that but you interact with this person the most on Snapchat as well.
- Smirk – this emoji appears with those people who have you in their best friends but you do not have them in your best friends list. .
Top Best Friend Emojis
- Yellow heart – this appears next to your number 1 best friend who you send the most snaps to.
- Red heart – this appears next to the person who has been your Snap best friend for a minimum of 2 weeks!
- Double pink hearts – these pink hearts appear with the user who has been your best friend for two months straight.
Snapstreak Emojis
- Fire – this usually appears next to a number and thus represents you Snap streak which basically is the number of days you and the other person have exchanged snaps with one another.
- 100 – if you are legend and have kept up your snapstreak for a 100 days this emoji appears with your snapstreak.
- Hourglass – This is usually a panic inducing emoji which warns you to quickly send a snap before the snap streak expires.
Other Emojis
- Birthday cake – this appears with usernames when it’s their birthday
- Star – this is for people who are quite popular on Snapchat since their snaps have been shared in the past 24 hours!
- Sparkles – this appears next to usernames who are in the same Snapchat group with you.
A lot of times people do not know what Snapchat emojis mean and are happy to live their lives oblivious to what each of these mean but you should have the basic knowledge. Make sure you keep up your snapstreaks for a 100 days so you can see all the emojis. Basically if you use Snapchat regularly this is when you need to know what Snapchat emojis mean so that you can make sense of all the different ones you see on the application.
We hope this helps you enjoy Snapchat even more than you did before. Now that you know all there is to know about what Snapchat emojis mean you can go on using Snapchat with your new found knowledge and even tell your friends what these mean!
Oh before we forget, while you now know what these Snapchat emojis mean you should also know that you can change these emojis and what they personally mean to you. Meaning that you can change what each emoji represents. It is very easy to change what Snapchat emojis mean for you personally.
Go to your Snapchat account and click on the settings options so you can change them. Now click on the option which says manage and click on the further option of ‘additional services’. Now you will see an option which says ‘friend emojis’ now you can click on every emoji you want to change it and add the emoji you want instead.
Now you can add whatever emoji you want for whatever you want to denote. If you want a banana to denote the best friend emoji you can do that too! It is totally your call. This is an amazing feature on Snapchat especially if you have trouble remembered what Snapchat emojis mean you can have your own which will make it much easier for you to remember what they mean.
So go forth and have fun on Snapchat without the fear of not knowing something about the application everyone else knows.
Cybil 
Emma 
Saira