What Does the Eyes on Snapchat Mean?
When you’re chatting with your Snapchat Planet Friends and you see little eyes on the icons next to messages you’ve sent, this means the other person has viewed your snap. The eyes will start off gray, and then turn blue once the other user has seen the snap or message. The eyes help you know that the other person has opened and read what you sent.
The eyes on Snapchat only show up on messages and snaps sent directly to another person. In one-on-one chats, they let you know the other person is paying attention to the conversation. It’s a signal that they’ve seen and understood what you sent.
What Do the Eyes Mean on a Snapchat Story?
The eyes on Snapchat stories have a bit of a different meaning than in one-on-one chats. Here’s a quick explanation:
For stories, the eyes don’t mean that a specific person has looked at a snap. Simply viewing a story won’t make the eyes change color.
Instead, the eyes on stories show how many people have viewed your story overall. The more eyes that are filled in, the more views your story has received.
As more people view your story, the eyes will gradually fill up. It isn’t tracking who watched individually, just showing a total count.
If you tap on the eyes icon in your story, you’ll be able to see a list of friends who viewed it in the last 24 hours, but it doesn’t track repeat views.
Even if friends just quickly tapped through your story without really watching, they’ll still be listed as viewers.
Your friends cannot see the eyes on your story – it’s only visible to you as the story creator to show how many people have seen it.
In summary, eyes on Snapchat stories give an idea of total views, not individual details like in one-on-one chats. It lets story creators see their reach without giving specific information about each viewer. The viewer list gives you some idea of who engaged, though.
What Does “Peek a Peek” on Snapchat Mean?
A related feature to the viewing eyes is called “Peek a Peek.” This feature lets Snapchat users quickly preview snaps and stories without telling the sender they’ve viewed them. When Peek a Peek is turned on in your Snapchat settings, you can tap on someone’s story or chat and see a short preview without changing the eyes icon color for the sender.
This way, you can take a quick look to decide if you want to fully open the snap. It’s useful for scrolling through several stories quickly without letting others know you watched. But keep in mind that if you have story views turned on, your friends will still see that you looked at their story.
How to Turn On Peek a Peek in Snapchat?
To turn on Peek a Peek mode in Snapchat, follow these easy steps:
- Open the Snapchat app and tap your profile icon in the top left.
- Go to Settings by tapping the gear icon.
- Choose “Spectacles” from the options.
- Under the “Peek a Peek” section, toggle the slider to on. This will turn on the peek preview feature.
Now, if you briefly tap on snaps, messages, or stories, viewers won’t know you looked until you fully open the snap by holding your finger down on the screen.
How to Turn Off Peek a Peek in Snapchat?
If you decide you don’t want the Peek a Peek preview feature on Snapchat anymore, turning it off is easy. Go to your Snapchat Settings by tapping your profile > gear icon.
- Choose “Spectacles” from the options.
- Under the “Peek a Peek” section, toggle the slider to off.
Now, very briefly tapping on snaps or messages in chats will immediately mark them as viewed for the sender. This turns off the preview feature, and the eyes will change color right when you tap, rather than waiting for a full view. Remember, this setting only controls whether you can peek at others’ snaps – it won’t affect whether they can peek at yours.
How to See Who Watched Your Snapchat Story?
Besides one-on-one chats, Snapchat also lets users post stories that many friends can view. There’s a way to see who from your Snapchat friends list have watched the snaps in your story.
After posting a story, look for the viewer list icon at the top right of the story screen – it looks like a small person icon. Tap this to open your story’s viewer list, where you can see the avatars of everyone who swiped through your snaps.
If a friend watches your story again, their avatar will show the number of times they watched. This feature helps show who is most engaged with your story. Some friends may choose not to show story views, so keep that in mind.
What Is the Rewatch Indicator?
The rewatch indicator is another feature in Snapchat stories. It lets story creators know which snaps or story parts were replayed by viewers.
A circular arrow icon will appear on specific snaps in your story if someone rewatched that snap instead of just swiping through. This arrow shows that the snap was replayed rather than just viewed once in the regular story flow.
This helps show which content really interested someone enough to watch it again. Creators can use this information to understand what types of snaps or stories get the most attention. Only the story creator sees the rewatch icon – viewers won’t see it on others’ stories.
How to Turn On or Off the Rewatch Indicator Feature?
By default, the rewatch indicator is on in Snapchat. However, you can choose to turn it off if you’d rather not show which snaps were rewatched. Here’s how to change this setting:
- Open Snapchat and tap your profile picture.
- Select “Settings,” then scroll down and tap “Story Settings.”
- Under “Story Controls,” you’ll see an option for “Rewatch Indicators.”
- Toggle it on to keep the rewatch icons visible, or toggle it off to hide which snaps were rewatched.
The change will apply to all new stories you post going forward but won’t affect previous ones.
Whether you leave this on or off is up to you – it might make viewers feel more comfortable rewatching if they know it won’t be tracked. But the option is there to see repeated views of your content.
The Bottom Line
The eyes on Snapchat icons and other view indicators help explain user privacy and engagement. The eyes show senders when a message was seen, while Peek a Peek and rewatch features add more details on viewing behavior. Understanding what these indicators mean helps users better control their Snapchat experience and connection with others. All these view tools provide a balance between privacy and visibility on the app.
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