eSAFETY GUIDE
Snapchat logo

Snapchat

16+
Minimum age for Australians (under Social Media Minimum Age laws)
16+ Minimum age for Australians (under Social Media Minimum Age laws)

What is Snapchat?

Snapchat is an app that lets you send images, videos and chat messages to friends. There are also ‘Discover’ and ‘Spotlight’ feeds where creators, brands and other accounts share videos that anyone with an account can watch. You can use Snapchat for free, or with a paid subscription called ‘Snapchat+’.

Snaps, chats and calls

Snapchat has several ways to communicate directly with friends, including photos and videos, chat messages, and voice and video calls.

Photos and videos sent on Snapchat are known as ‘Snaps’. You can take a ‘Snap’ using Snapchat’s camera, then choose the friend(s) you want to send it to. The Snap is sent directly to the people you choose, and the person receiving it can then open the Snap to view the photo or video.

When sending a Snap, you can choose how long the person receiving it can view it for (from 1 second to 10 seconds) or select ‘no limit’, so it stays on screen until they close it. After the person receiving the Snap has viewed it, they generally cannot see it again, although they have one opportunity to ‘replay’ it, which notifies the sender.

The sender of the Snap also cannot view it again after they send it, unless they first saved it to ‘Memories’. ‘Memories’ is a private storage area within your Snapchat account where you can keep Snaps and view them again later. The Memories section includes 5GB of free storage for users – additional storage costs money.

Snapchat also has ‘Snapstreaks’ which show the number of consecutive days that you and a friend have sent Snaps to each other. To keep a streak, you must both send a photo at least once every 24 hours – if 24 hours pass without an exchange, the streak disappears.

You can add drawings, text, filters and ‘lenses’ to your Snaps. Face lenses change or add effects to your face (such as a puppy filter), and world lenses change or add effects to the world around you (for example, if you point your camera at the floor, a world lens might make it look like a dancing cartoon character is standing there).

The app also has a chat feature where you can type and send messages to friends without sending a photo or video. By default, messages delete 24 hours after they have been opened. If a message is never opened, it is automatically deleted after 31 days. You can also press and hold down on a message and select ‘save in chat’ to stop it from automatically disappearing.

Snapchat has voice and video calling features – you can call one person or have a group call with up to 32 people at a time.

Photos and videos sent on Snapchat may not be as temporary as they appear. Even though the app tells you when someone takes a screenshot, there are unofficial ways to save chats or photos without the sender knowing. Adult and other sensitive content may also be exchanged in the app.

Stories, Discover and Spotlight

As well as directly communicating with friends, the app allows you to post photos and videos for your friends or a wider audience, and discover content shared by other accounts.

In the Stories tab, you can temporarily post photos and videos (rather than sending them directly to particular people). Your friends’ stories appear as a row of previews in the stories section of the app. You can select a friend’s story to view what they have posted. Stories last for 24 hours by default before they disappear.

The Stories tab also has a ‘Discover’ section where you can browse stories from creators and public accounts, such as influencer or brand accounts. It includes a mix of content from accounts you follow and content recommended by Snapchat.

Snapchat also has a ‘Spotlight’ tab, which is a feed of short videos you can scroll through, similar to TikTok or Instagram Reels. You can like, comment on, repost and share this content, and you can follow accounts to see more from them.

While Snapchat’s community guidelines prohibit sexual content, it is still possible for users to access content and messages that may not be age appropriate through the Stories and Discover feature.

Friends and location

Snapchat ‘Find Friends’ feature shows a list of suggested people you might want to add as friends. The list is based on things like your age, location, phone contacts, as well as your existing Snapchat friends and followers. It’s meant to help you find people you know in real life, but it can also show you to people you don’t know. This means the feature could be misused by people who may be harmful. You can turn off the ability to show up in Find Friends in the app settings.

Users can share their location on the Snap Map, as well as see the location of any of their friends who share their location. Location sharing is turned off by default, and users can hide their location (see Disable Snap Map Feature).

My AI

My AI is an AI (artificial intelligence) chatbot available in the app, which uses both Open AI’s ChatGPT and Google’s Gemini AI models. You can have conversations with My AI or use it ask questions and brainstorm. Snapchat recommends that you always independently check answers provided by My AI and not share confidential or sensitive information. It is also important to be aware that AI chatbots may say things that are inaccurate or harmful. For more information about the risks of AI chatbots and companions for children and young people, see our online safety advisory.

Family Centre

Snapchat has an in-app tool called Family Centre. It provides parents and carers with insight into who their teens (under 18) are interacting with and sharing their location with on Snapchat. Parents cannot access the content of their children’s interactions, but they can report accounts that concern them.

Parents and carers can send requests asking their teen to share their live location and set up travel notifications to see when family members arrive at designated locations. They can also turn off their teen’s ability to appear in the Find Friends feature, so that only people known to their teen can add them in the app.

Family Centre also includes a ‘Time Spent’ dashboard that lets parents view their teen’s daily average usage over the past seven days. The dashboard is broken down by features that have been accessed such as messaging, the camera, Spotlight, Stories and Snap Map. They can also restrict their teen’s access to My AI.

Website: snapchat.com
Apps: Android app, Apple iOS

How do people use Snapchat?

Learn more about the benefits and risks associated with how people use image sharing and chat services like Snapchat.

Snapchat is used for: location sharing, messaging/online chat, online relationships, photo/video sharing, screen capture, voice chat and video calling.

Social media age restrictions for under-16s

As of 10 December 2025, Australians under 16 should no longer be able to access their Snapchat accounts or create a new account. This change is in response to the Australian Government's social media age restrictions.

Users under 16 whose accounts are locked will have three years to download their data from the time their account is locked. These users are encouraged to cancel any subscriptions to Snapchat+ or Memories+. They can expect to receive this messaging from Snap through in-app messages as well as via SMS and notifications.

After an account is locked, it will be preserved in a locked state for three years. After that, it will become deactivated. However, users who turn 16 any time during the three-year period can use an age assurance process to confirm their age through ConnectID (bank-verified), or through photo ID or facial age estimation options provided by third-party service provider k-ID.

These links are provided by Snap:

How to report something on Snapchat

These links are provided by Snapchat:

How to remove or block someone on Snapchat

These links are provided by Snapchat:

How can you protect your personal information?

These links are provided by Snapchat:

Key safety links

These links are provided by Snapchat:

  • Tips for staying safe
    Provides a range of information for staying safe on Snapchat.
  • Family Centre
    Learn how parents and carers can report accounts of concern their teens are interacting with and share their live location on Snapchat.
  • Parent’s guide
    Provides a range of safety information for parents and carers, including the Family Center parental controls.
  • Safety centre
    Offers a range of general help, safety and security information.
  • Safety snapshots
    Snapchat's official Discover channel for safety and privacy tips.
  • My AI on Snapchat
    Provides information on Snapchat’s chatbot and how to delete data that is stored.
  • Community guidelines
    The basic rules for using Snapchat.
  • Terms of service
    The terms you agree to when you use Snapchat.
  • Privacy policy
    Outlines Snapchat's privacy policy including the information they collect and how they use your data.

Related eSafety links

Find out more about the social media age restrictions and access our social media 'ban' or delay FAQ for the facts.

You can also explore other resources to help keep you safe online: 

Other eSafety Guides:

About this Guide

This guide is provided by the eSafety Commissioner to help people stay safe online and better understand digital platforms.

Social media changes

From 10 December 2025, certain social media platforms are not allowed to let Australian children under 16 create or keep an account.

Find out more at eSafety’s social media age restrictions hub.

About The eSafety Guide

The eSafety Guide helps you find out how to protect your personal information and report harmful content on common social media, games, apps and sites. Entries are for information only and are not reviews, endorsements or assessments against any legislative definition by eSafety. Before choosing to use any online service or platform it’s best to:

  • do your own research to understand the risks and benefits
  • check the age rating and requirements
  • consider privacy
  • check the permissions and other settings
  • check the in-app reporting options.

If you are a parent or carer who is deciding whether a child should be allowed to use an online service or platform, you can also:

  • consider your child's readiness for the types of content and experiences they might encounter
  • help them understand what to do if they need help
  • provide ongoing support and monitoring, for example through regular check-ins with your child
  • agree to some rules about use of each service or platform.

To find out more, you can read the App checklist for parents, as well as information about parental controls in social media, games and apps and mental wellbeing resources for families.