12 Top Snapchat Hacks & Features for Every User

Snapchat has become one of the most popular social media platforms, known for its disappearing photos and videos. While many users may be familiar with the basic features of Snapchat, there are numerous hacks and hidden features that can enhance the user experience.

From creative filters and lenses to secret messaging and storytelling capabilities, these Snapchat hacks can take your social media game to the next level.

12 Snapchat Features You Need to Know

Whether you’re a casual user or a Snapchat aficionado, this article will provide you with the top 12 Snapchat hacks and features that every user should know.

Get ready to impress your friends with your Snapchat skills with these hacks.

1. New Stories formats

Most social media platforms aim to build connections with other people. And some of the new Snapchat features do just that. The app recently released new formats for Stories: Friendship Flashbacks, After Dark, and Communities.

Friendship Flashbacks: These are old snaps or ‘throwbacks’ between you and a friend that will show up like memories a year after the Snap was made.
After Dark: From its name, After Dark are stories only posted in the evening from 8 PM to 5 AM on Thursdays, Fridays, and Saturdays. You can only view After Dark stories starting at 5 AM, so it’s like a reminder of what you and your friends posted the night before.
Communities: There are high school and college communities on Snapchat to make new friends and share Snaps with other people in the community. You also get a special badge on your profile when you’re a part of a community.
Snap Map: This is a kind of location sharing that makes it easier for friends to meet up with

Snapchat’s revenue share program basically lets creators or influencers earn from posting Snaps with ads between their public stories. Just like in other content creator programs of different social media platforms, Snapchat also follows a criteria of eligibility for its creators:

Have at least 50,000 subscribers on the Public Profile with more than 25 million views or 12,000 hours of view time over the past 28 days.
Consistently post at least 20 Snaps per day over the past 28 days and in the Public Story for 10 days.
Be at least 18 years old or 21 in some countries.
Live in an eligible country.
Comply with Snapchat’s Creator Stories Terms, Community Guidelines & Content Guidelines for Recommendation Eligibility.

Creators can also manage their payouts in the app and be able to cash out a minimum of $100 daily.

3. AR Shopping Suite by ARES (AR Enterprise Services)

Snapchat’s Shopping Suite lets its users try out products of businesses using augmented reality. Its business unit, AR Enterprise Services (ARES), has tools or features that enable users to try on clothes, shoes, jewelry, and more from different brands without leaving home.

It has five different features:

AR Try-On: Users can virtually try on clothing, footwear, and accessories in real time. It also allows users to upload a photo of themselves and see how the product looks on them.
3D Viewer: An interactive feature where users can look at products from every angle and see every detail.
Fit Finder: An AI-powered feature that gives users accurate fit and size recommendations according to their body shape and fit preferences.
Enterprise Manager: A dashboard to manage all of your AR assets with performance analytics.
Hands-on Integration Services: An in-house team to help businesses be a part of Snapchat’s Shopping Suite.

4. AI and AR-Generated Lenses

Snapchat has both AI and AR-generated lenses that turn users into stylized images of themselves. Users can look like anime, turn their background into dreamscapes, or turn cosmic with the Cosmic Lens.

5. My AI chatbot

My AI is a Snapchat chatbot powered by ChatGPT technology that can answer trivia questions, offer advice, give suggestions, and more.

6. Use multiple filters at once

Snapchat is known for its filters, and sometimes one isn’t enough. To apply more than one filter, here’s how:

Take a photo from the Snapchat camera.
Swipe and choose the first filter you want to apply first and long-press on the screen to secure that filter.
Swipe and choose another filter, and do the same thing as step 2.

7. Use “Travel Mode” to save data and battery life

One of the most useful Snapchat hacks is the ‘Travel Mode’, perfect for those who are always on the go. Travel Mode saves your data and battery life by only loading the Snaps and Stories that you tap as opposed to Stories downloading automatically.

8. Create your own filter and lens

Snapchat has thousands of filters and lenses, but it lets you create your own too. One of the most common is the Community Filter, a location-based visual effect that users can add to snaps taken in the app. It’s a filter that’s only for a specific city, university, or local landmark.

It’s a fun effect to use because this type of filter is only available in a certain area over a certain time, so not everyone can use the same Community Filter at the same time.

If you’re looking for an easy-to-use tool where you can create graphic designs for your filters and lenses, use Simplified graphic design editor. It’s an AI-powered graphic design tool complete with templates, fonts, a Brand Kit, and premium elements. Once you have your design, simply upload the design to Snapchat Create Studio and you’re good to go.

The Snapcode is like the QR code of Snapchat that links to your profile. Each profile has one and if you want to increase your brand’s visibility, you can share your unique Snapcode to your other social media platforms.

Source: Pickpik

The photo above is an example of a Snapcode. You can save it as an image and add it to your other profiles. But remember that your followers won’t double overnight! You have to regularly share your Snapcode and constantly work on it for other users to see.

10. Add links to your stories

Similar to Instagram stories where you can add links and the users will swipe up or click on it, Snapchat has the same feature.

Follow these steps to do it:

Step 1: Take a snap.
Step 2: Tap on the paperclip icon on the righthand screen and paste or insert your link.
Step 3: Click on ‘Attach to Snap’ and post your snap! The users will then just swipe up to view the link through Snapchat’s internal browser.

11. Play with text fonts

Just like filters, fonts in Snapchat also make a huge difference in snaps. Any user can put in any text in snaps, and the fun part is being able to change up the fonts. The app offers 13 different fonts from elegant ones, a glow-in-the-dark, bold, italicized, and more.

To change fonts, you only need to tap on the ‘T’ symbol in the upper right corner of the screen. You can also change the text color with the color palette and change the size by using two fingers.

12. Try Snapchat lenses

Snapchat lenses use augmented reality to make snaps look more appealing. As a business owner, Snapchat AR lenses can make your products look unique! You can add a gift box of your products or have users virtually try them on too.

simplified snapchat features — Source: Wikimedia Commons

You can also turn your AR effect into an ad, all you need is a visible logo or brand name. Then Snapchat will add a ‘SPONSORED’ tag for 2 seconds and that’s it.

Snapchat Features For All

In summary, these 12 top Snapchat hacks and features are sure to enhance your Snapchat experience and take your snaps to the next level. From hidden filters to creative tricks, there is something for every user to explore.

More than these Snapchat hacks, there’s also a tool that can come in handy when creating Snaps and it’s called Simplified. Simplified is an all-in-one AI-powered platform equipped with various tools for graphic design, writing, video editing, social media planning and posting, analytics, and team collaborations.

simplified snapchat — Source: Simplified

If you’re planning to collaborate with other influencers or brands on Snapchat, you can use Simplified to streamline your workflow effectively (without needing to switch from multiple tabs) with real-time comments and edits, roles, and Teamspaces. Also, creating content that’s not just limited to Snapchat is possible with Simplified. There are thousands of different templates, logos, and design types available with custom dimensions, an AI assistant, fonts, premium stock media, export options, and even more.

So, don’t miss out on these amazing features – sign up today and unlock the full potential of Snapchat!