Snapchat communicates almost everything through small icons, and most of them are never explained inside the app. This guide is a complete reference: the sending and receiving arrows, the friend emojis next to names, and status symbols like the hourglass that warns a streak is ending.
Sending and receiving arrows
The colour and fill of the arrow or square next to a chat tells you exactly what state your message is in. Colour also tells you the type: red = a snap without audio, purple = a snap with audio, blue = a chat message.
| Icon | Meaning |
|---|---|
| Solid filled arrow (red/purple/blue) | Sent and delivered, not opened yet |
| Hollow/unfilled arrow | Sent but not yet delivered (often a pending friend request or they removed you) |
| Solid filled square | Opened - red/purple square means your snap was viewed; blue means your chat was read |
| Hollow square | The opened snap has expired/been cleared |
| Arrows pointing at you | Received: filled = unopened, hollow = you have viewed/it expired |
Friend emojis (next to names)
These emojis describe your relationship dynamic with each friend. You can customise them in Settings, but these are the defaults:
| Emoji | Meaning |
|---|---|
| Gold star | Someone replayed this person's snaps in the last 24 hours |
| Yellow heart | You are #1 best friends - you send each other the most snaps |
| Red heart | You have been #1 best friends for two weeks straight |
| Pink/two hearts | You have been #1 best friends for two months |
| Grimacing face | Your #1 best friend is their #1 best friend too (you share a best friend) |
| Smiling face | One of your best friends, but not #1 |
| Sunglasses face | You share a close mutual best friend |
| Baby face | You just became friends |
Streaks: the fire and the hourglass
A fire emoji with a number means a Snapstreak: you and a friend have snapped each other within 24 hours for that many consecutive days. The hourglass is the warning that a streak is about to break - it appears in roughly the last few hours of the 24-hour window. Send a snap (not a chat - it must be a photo or video snap) to keep it alive.
| Symbol | Meaning |
|---|---|
| Fire + number | Active Snapstreak and its day count |
| Hourglass | Streak ending soon - snap now to save it |
| 100 emoji | A streak hit 100 days |
| Birthday cake | It is that friend's birthday today |
Quick reference and related reading
Once you know the system, Snapchat's interface becomes far easier to read: arrows = message state, friend emojis = relationship, fire/hourglass = streaks. For the Snapchat+ layer that ranks your friends as planets, see Snapchat Planets explained, and for the real-time "online now" signal see what the green dot means. If you want to watch or save public stories without appearing on anyone's viewer list, start with watching stories anonymously.