How to use Snapchat – Beginner Guide

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I am so sure that you must have seen that doggy face licking your screen. You always wondered How to use Snapchat. Then you install Snapchat on your phone. But what to do is the Question that first strikes in mind. When I installed Snapchat for the first time, I uninstalled that within 8-10 minutes of installing it. Because nothing was cooperating with me. Everything is new, no menu, no settings, Just a selfie camera showing my nostrils. That was a bad day.

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Then I made a serious attempt and installed that once again. Guess what, now I am a master of Snapchat. I know almost all the features of Snapchat. There are hidden features in Snapchat and they are so interesting to use. Once you got working of Snapchat, you would love it.

Today, I am going to tell you everything that a beginner wants to learn about Snapchat and how to use Snapchat. It’s Fun, super duper easy. I am sure, after going through this post today, you would love Snapchat. Let’s begin

Download Snapchat and Set it up

Let’s download Snapchat once again ( if you already make 2-3 attempts to understand). This time for the final time. Snapchat is available for both Android & iOS. If you are an iPhone user, then I want to tell you that, Snapchat works much better on iPhone as compared to Android, but the reasons are still a mystery. So, download it then open it.

Sign up for Snapchat. Fill in all the columns of Name, Birthday, email, password, username, and mobile number. Then come to the Home screen where the camera opens up. So you are officially on Snapchat. But what to do next? Read on

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Friends on Snapchat

You are the Home screen of Snapchat. It’s so alone there. No fun without friends. On the top, you would see a Ghost Icon, tap on that or swipe the screen down. You would see a Yellow QR code picture having the Ghost logo on that. That is your Snapcode. Below that code, there would be your name, then your username. Share the Snapcode with your friends so that they can add you in their Snapchat. You can make your custom Snapcode by tapping on the Snapcode and capturing your photo on the Snapcode(mine is black). You can also share your username with friends.

You can add friends on Snapchat by Swipe Down the Home Screen > Add Friends > Here you have to select How you wanted to add friends. If you have a username then enter the username, and you can scan contacts to add people. You can scan the Snapcode of your friend to add them as your friends. Below that, there is a Quick add where Snapchat suggests the people from your contacts.

In my friends (drop down the screen) you can see a list of your Friends on your list. Swipe right and it would show you the list of people with your contacts that are on Snapchat. If someone adds you, the ghost icon on Home screen would turn yellow. Tap and open that to see who add you up. That’s how you can make your network on Snapchat.

How to use Snapchat lenses and funky features

Snapchat is full of lenses and editing features. Lenses keep on changing as per the festivals, events, Places etc. Snapchat uses algorithms that read facial features like eyebrows, eyes, lips, and forehead. When you want to add any lens, first select the front camera or selfie camera then tap on your face on the screen, it would show different lenses on your face. Pick any of them and tap on the blue arrow to send it.

You can add text, and stickers on your snap and you can also draw on your snap. In the next screen after clicking the snap, there is a bundle of features you can add to your story.

To add text, click the snap and tap on the captures snap. You can change the format of text like Bold, italic, size by tapping on the T icon on the top. Tap and hold the text to add formatting. Pinch in or out to change the size. Tap and hold on the text to position the text in a snapchat video.

To add stickers, tap on the box icon. There are a lot of stickers in there, Similarly, if you want to draw, tap on the pencil icon and choose the color scheme. Snapchat is full of features. More you would explore, the more would you learn.

Moreover, you can create a bitmoji which is basically an animated character of yourself.

UPDATE

You can also make your own sticker. Creating your custom sticker is super easy. You can do this in the filter screen. Here is How:

1. Take a Photo that you wanted to add to your story.
2. Tap on the scissor icon above.
3. Make a boundary around the object you wanted to make a sticker.
4. Place it on the required place.

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How to Send Snapchat Stories

Now, this is a Snapchat thing. There are 2 things. One is a Snap that is a single picture you want to send. Second is a story. If you send multiple snaps, it becomes a story. the good thing about Snapchat is that all the snaps and stories automatically get removed after 24 hours of posting.

So, let’s post the first snap. This is as simple as capturing a photo with the Camera. Take an awesome snap by tapping on the circular button in the middle. If you want to make a video, hold the circular button. On the next screen, You can add stickers, text, Drawings, and filters on your snap. Then, It would ask where to send the snap. Select My Story. If you want to send a snap to a particular person, tap on his/her name. Tap on the Blue arrow. DONE. Your first Story is LIVE now.

If you want to make a story, do it again and again and add it to My Story. At the end of the day, you would see your all the snaps in Your Story in chronological order. That’s how you send the Snapchat story.

Chat on Snapchat

Snapchat is not meant for chatting and stuff. We already have WhatsApp and Facebook messenger for that. But I would give you an idea of that. Okay, on the home screen. Swipe right or tap on the chat icon on the left bottom. As you are new on Snapchat, the list would be blank. On the top, there is a new chat option having a + sign. Tap on that and select the person you want to chat. In the latest update, you can also chat in the group. You can also send stories to a group. Tap and hold on to the contact and add more people to make a group on Snapchat.

See received Chat on Snapchat

Whenever someone sends you a chat, the bottom left icon would turn blue. Tap to open the chat list. Now, you would see the name of the person at the top who sent you the last chat. Open the chat and reply to the chat (if you want).

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Who is Seeing your Snapchat Story

After posting the Snapchat story, you can see who is watching your story. On the home screen, Swipe left or tap on the story icon at the right bottom. Tap on the dotted menu in front of My Story, you would see the number of the person who watched your story. Open your story by Tapping on the story. Now, while your story is on the screen, Tap on the little Eye icon at the left bottom. You would see the name of the person who already had watch your story. If someone takes a screenshot of your story, there would be a green arrow in front of the person who has taken the screenshot. Full control of privacy.

See friend’s Stories on Snapchat

Whenever you open Snapchat. You would see a purple icon on the right bottom, which means someone posted a new story. Tap on the purple icon and you would see a list of new stories. Tap on any story you wanted to see. If you want to ask anything or want to chat over that story, swipe up on that story to send a chat to the friend. Don’t take a screenshot of your crush’s story, she would block you.

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Find any Song using Shazam on the Snapchat

If you never heard about the Shazam (not cool though) let me tell you, it is an app that became so popular in short period of time because it can recognize any song you play. Now Shazam is integrated into Snapchat too. So, if you want to recognize any song whether on TV or on your friend’s phone, just tap and hold the home screen of Snapchat while music is playing. You would get the song name. I told you Snapchat is a bundle of features.

Use AR Stickers

After iPhone X and Google Pixel XL launch, there is a new thing we all are hearing and that is Augmented Reality. Basically, it is a virtual world that interacts with the real world. It may sound weird but it is really hard to explain AR without using technical jargon. But hey, we don’t need to learn it, all we need is to enjoy the AR Stickers on Snapchat.

Here is how you can use AR Stickers on Snapchat. To use AR stickers, first, make sure you have your Bitmoji ready for really great stickers. For using AR stickers, turn on the Rear camera, now tap anywhere on the screen. You will see the filters. Just try them and you will find some AR Stickers in between those filters. Select the stickers to start recording or take a photo like you do.

AR Stickers do well in smartphones having Gyro Sensor. If your smartphone doesn’t have the gyro sensor, you can still use it but it would not give you a complete AR sticker experience.

Create yourself using Bitmoji

Another great thing you can do on Snapchat is Bitmoji. Bitmoji is an independent app that allows you to create your own avatar and you can use it for sending and revealing your emotions on Snapchat. It is really fun to use bitmoji as you can choose different nose, hairstyles, face cut, lips, eyes, eyebrows, physiques, shoes, clothes and whatnot.

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To use bitmoji on Snapchat. Open Snapchat and swipe down the menu. In the top left, you would see an option called Create Bitmoji. Tap on that and it will open the PlayStore (If Bitmoji App is not installed).  Install & open the bitmoji app on your phone and start creating an avatar. After creating the avatar, you can use it from the Sticker options on Snapchat. You can edit or change anything from your avatar by using the Bitmoji app or Snapchat option. Make sure you have the Bitmoji app installed before editing.

You can edit or change anything from your avatar by using the Bitmoji app or Snapchat option. Make sure you have the Bitmoji app installed before editing.

That’s all for now. Now you don’t have any reason to uninstall Snapchat from your phone. I told you almost everything which a beginner is required to know. There are a lot of other features in Snapchat. Explore yourself.

If you find some special features, do let me know in the comment section. Do share it with your non-Snapchat buddies and invite them on Snapchat. Have a happy Story.