It starts with a feeling. You are scrolling through your Stories feed. You see the usual suspects: the friend who posts their gym workout, the friend who posts their lunch, and the friend who posts blurry videos of a concert. But then you realize someone is missing. Your best friend (or the person you thought was your best friend) hasn’t appeared in the feed for two days. You know they are active. You saw them on Instagram. You saw their Snap Score go up. But their circle is gone.
The anxiety hits. Did they block me? Did they hide the story from just me? Or did they just… stop posting? Snapchat is notoriously vague about this. Unlike Facebook or Instagram, which make it pretty obvious when you are cut off, Snapchat prefers to keep you in a state of confused paranoia. If you are currently staring at a blank feed in New York, London, or Sydney, trying to figure out if your social life is over, here is the detective guide to finding out the truth.
1. The “Snap Score” Test (The Gold Standard)
Before you spiral into a panic, you need to check the data. The single most reliable way to tell if you have been Unfriended or Blocked is the Snap Score.
The Test:
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Go to the Chat screen.
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Tap on their Bitmoji or hold down on their name to open their Profile.
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Look under their name.
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Scenario A: You see a number (e.g., 54,302).
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Scenario B: You see… nothing. Just their username.
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The Verdict: If you can see the number, you are still friends. Snapchat only displays the Snap Score to people who are mutual friends. If the number is visible, they have not blocked you, and they have not removed you. If the number is gone? I have bad news. They likely hit “Remove Friend.” You are now a stranger to them, and strangers can’t see “Friends Only” stories.
2. The “Private Story” Lockout
So, you passed the Snap Score test. You can see the number. You are still friends. But you still can’t see their story, and your mutual friend “Sarah” is talking about a funny video they posted an hour ago.
Welcome to the “Private Story” club. Or rather, welcome to not being in the club. Snapchat allows users to create “Private Stories” (indicated by a padlock icon) or “Shared Stories” where they manually select who gets to see it. In the US and Australia, this is standard high school/college drama. People make a “Main” story for everyone and a “Private” story for the inner circle. If “Sarah” can see it and you can’t, it doesn’t mean you are blocked. It just means you didn’t make the cut for that specific story. It stings, but it’s not a full delete.
3. The “Custom” Privacy Setting (The Silent Killer)
This is the sneakiest feature on the app. A user can go to Settings > Privacy Controls > View My Story and change it from “My Friends” to “Custom.” In “Custom,” they can literally go down the list and tick a box next to your specific name to block you from seeing their stories.
How to catch this: It is incredibly hard to prove.
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You are still friends.
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You can still Chat and Snap them.
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You can see their Snap Score.
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But you never, ever see a purple ring. If you suspect this, the only way to confirm it is to ask a mutual friend to show you their phone. If the story is there for them but not for you (and it’s not a Private Story with a lock icon), you have been “Soft Blocked.”
4. The “Grey Arrow” Check
If you suspect you might have been deleted entirely, check your recent chats. Send a generic snap (a black screen or a streak snap). Look at the delivery icon.
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Red/Purple Arrow: Delivered. (You are good).
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Grey Arrow: “Pending.”
A Grey Arrow means you are no longer on their friend list. Depending on their privacy settings, they might never see your snap, and you will definitely never see their “Friends Only” stories. If you see the Grey Arrow, stop waiting for the story. It’s not coming.
5. Maybe It’s Actually a Glitch (The “Clear Cache” Fix)
Before you ruin a friendship by accusing someone of blocking you, blame the technology. Snapchat is a heavy app. It caches hundreds of megabytes of video data. Sometimes, the “Story Feed” just breaks. I have seen this happen frequently on older iPhones and Androids in Europe where data plans can be throttled.
The Fix:
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Go to your Profile > Settings (Gear Icon).
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Scroll all the way down to “Account Actions.”
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Tap “Clear Cache.”
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Tap “Clear.” (This won’t delete your memories or chats; it just deletes the junk temporary files).
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Close the app and reopen it. If their story suddenly pops up, congratulations. It wasn’t drama; it was just a full hard drive.
6. The 24-Hour Reality
This sounds obvious, but we often forget it. Did they post it yesterday? If they posted a story at 2:00 PM on Tuesday, and you check at 2:01 PM on Wednesday, it is gone. Snapchat does not archive stories for friends to see later (unless they save it to their Profile Highlights). If you are a casual user who only checks the app once a day, you might just be missing the window.
If you can see the Snap Score, you are safe. If you can’t see the Snap Score, you are out. And if you are still friends but never see their stories… maybe they just live a boring life and haven’t posted anything in a week. Don’t let the paranoia win. If you really want to know what they are up to, do something radical: Send them a message and ask.