One of the truly fascinating things about social media is that it grows, evolves and changes according to the needs of users. When the popular social media chat app Snapchat launched in 2011, it had very basic features. Since then, the service has piled feature upon feature in a (mostly successful) attempt to gain and maintain market share among the talkative classes. In 2018, Snapchat introduced the opportunity to “mute” someone’s story.
This has been very helpful for many users; We all have a friend or group of friends that we really want to follow and read about, but also post so often that our notifications become an uninterrupted flood of alerts about them. We want to be able to go back and review what you wrote, but we don’t want to be constantly beeped.
Social media apps like Snapchat can be a minefield. Being able to mute stories on Snapchat is definitely a good thing because it lets you keep your own medium without disturbing others.
What about the other side of the picture? If you’re a Snapchat regular and someone mutes you, is there a way to tell it’s happening? In this article, I’ll give you some tips to help you detect if you’ve been muted.
What Are the Ways to Mute Someone on Snapchat?
In terms of detecting directly, the answer is no, and this is by design. Most seasoned social networkers know that overposting is worse, sometimes even worse, than not sharing at all. But if you unfriend or block them, they will get hurt as if it was you who did it wrong. Unless you’re creative, there are several ways to limit your interaction with others on Snapchat without hurting their feelings. We’ll look at what’s next. But first, here are ways to limit contact with others on Snapchat.
Muting a story on Snapchat is simple and means you don’t need to be notified every time a story is updated.
- Start on the camera screen and swipe right to go to the Friends screen
- Tap on your friend’s Bitmoji or the icon of the Group you want to mute
- Tap the Snapchat kebab icon at the top of the screen.
- Tap ‘Close Story’
Remember: The mute option is only available for your friends’ Stories, Group Stories, and Popular Stories you’ve subscribed to.
You can also directly turn off notifications to get an alert on only what you want to see. By doing this:
- Tap the gear icon on the Profile screen to open Settings.
- Tap on ‘Notifications’.
- Tap a notification setting to turn it on or off.
You’ll still be able to see and interact with people whose notifications you’ve turned off, but you won’t be notified every time they update. The oversharer (or oversharer) won’t be notified and won’t know you muted them, which should get rid of any awkwardness.
Removing a friend sounds permanent, but it’s not necessarily that drastic. This will limit them from seeing private stories or charms, but they will still be able to see any public posts you make. You can also adjust your privacy settings to make sure you still hear from them (which seems counterintuitive, so we’ll look into this a bit more).
To remove a friend:
- Swipe right from your Profile to go to the Friends screen
- Tap and hold the name of the friend who is bothering you
- Tap on ‘Other’
- Tap ‘Remove Friend’
Blocking a friend is pretty much the last resort, but the great news is you can unblock someone if you manage to fix things. Blocking your friends means they can’t see your story or charms and send you snaps or chats. Unlike other options, it will be very obvious to your friends that they are completely blocked.
To block a friend, swipe right for the Friends screen. Tap and hold this friend’s name, then tap ‘More’ and ‘Block’. The transaction is now done.
To unblock them after using them, go to Settings, tap ‘Blocked’, then tap the X next to their name to bring them back to your good graces.
Snapchat Privacy Settings
While you update these many options, make sure your privacy settings reflect what you really want from your Snapchat experience. The default setting on Snapchat is “Friends” for people who can contact you directly or view your story, but you can change this at any time.
Start by tapping the Gear icon to go to Settings. Then search “Who Can” to find out more.
Tap each option to see what it can see about your story, cameos, sending notifications, and more. In each option, you can select “Everyone”, “My Friends”, “Only Me” or create a custom contact list. After making your edits, tap the back button to save your selections.
Note that even if you lock your settings to “My Friends”, this will not block strangers from Group Chats. You can always double-check who is in a Group by tapping and holding the group’s name on the Chat screen.
But Can I Still Learn?
Whatever the application officially Are there ways to tell if you’ve been muted, removed, or blocked? Yeah.
There are some common sense ways to tell if someone has muted you. One approach is to send a Snap, wait a bit, and ask if they like it. Depending on the response, you can learn more about whether you’ve been muted.
However, the most direct way is to meet the real-world person for something and send him a Snap while hanging out with them. If their phone buzzes, beeps, or beeps, you’re not on mute. If the phone goes silent then you are definitely on silent. (Still, try not to falter in public. Remember that being silenced is a compliment; they want to hear from you, just not instantly.)
What’s the Difference Between Block, Do Not Disturb, and Mute?
Blocking on Snapchat is different from muting. It is more permanent and prevents you from fully interacting with the person. It will also be more visible to the blocked party if they know what to look for. Snapchat also offers a Do Not Disturb feature; this means your messages and Snaps will pass, the recipient will not receive a notification.
While it’s more difficult to tell if you’ve been muted or turned on Do Not Disturb mode, you can easily tell if you’ve been blocked.
Here’s how you can tell if someone has blocked you on Snapchat:
- Open Snapchat and look at your friends list. If someone disappeared from the list, they may have blocked you.
- Search for the username in the search box. If they are not visible to you, they may have blocked you.
- Check the Snapchat app of someone else who is also friends with the person. If they appear in their friend list, they have blocked you. If they show up in the search, they blocked you.
Of course you cannot be blocked. The person may have deleted Snapchat or no longer use their account. With more and more people withdrawing from social media, this is entirely possible. If you are real friends and not just Snapchat friends, call them and talk about it.
Can You Tell If Someone Has Blocked You On Snapchat?
As mentioned, blocking a friend is usually a last resort. The person won’t mute you or remove you, but will completely unfriend you within the app. You won’t be notified if someone deleted you on Snapchat, but there are signs.
The main sign is that the contact remains in your friends list, but any message you send them remains in the gray Pending status. Of course, this may be because they are not currently using Snapchat. This can be purely technical and mechanical and has absolutely no emotional consequences, so research before you react. If you’re usually close and compatible, sending them a message in another form of social media might be worth it.
You can also check usernames by searching within Snapchat. If you can still see their Snapscore, you are still friends. If you can no longer see their Snapscore, you are not friends.
Reject on Snapchat
The great thing about social media is that you can instantly share your thoughts and feelings with others. The worst thing about social media is that sometimes you don’t immediately share your best thoughts and feelings with others. If you notice that you have been blocked or deleted on Snapchat, stop and think before you react. Sit back and think about the reasons as objectively as possible. Then check your facts. The person may have closed their Snapchat account. It could be busy, on vacation or something else. It may not even be about you.
If it’s just you and you think the friendship is worth saving, talk to them reasonably. Find out what it is and why they do what. You may indeed have done something that they interpret sporadically and you can quickly repair the relationship. Some friends are disposable and that’s okay. Others are worth keeping around. It’s up to you to choose which is which.
