How Can You Follow Someone on Snapchat (Follow vs Add Friend)
You can only follow an account that has a Public Profile. Everyone else, you add as a friend, and that's a two-way deal with very different rules.
How can you follow someone on Snapchat? Only if they have a Public Profile. Open their profile and tap the follow button, or press and hold one of their Stories and tap Add. Following is one-way: you see their public Stories, no follow-back needed. Anyone without a Public Profile can only be added as a friend, which both sides accept.
That difference is the whole topic. A follow gives you their public content and, at most, a way to reply to their Stories. A friendship gives both of you private Snaps and Chats. Snapchat's own Support pages, as of October 2026, describe a friend as a two-way relationship and a follower as one-way.
Following someone on Snapchat means subscribing to the public side of their account, their Public Profile, without becoming their friend. Snapchat's Support site puts it in two sentences: a friend is a two-way relationship, and a follower is one-way. With a Public Profile, people can follow you, or you can follow them, without being friends.
That's why the button you see depends on the account. A friend, a classmate or anyone who hasn't set up a Public Profile shows an Add button, and adding them sends a friend request they have to accept. A creator, a business or anyone who uses their Public Profile can be followed straight away, with no approval and no request on their side. Snapchat's older help and business pages call the same action Subscribe, so you'll see both words.
From the creator's side, the people who follow are the audience: they're who sees a public Story first, and the follower count on the profile, when shown, is the number a stranger reads before deciding to follow too. That's the number Snapchat followers adds to on a Public Profile, from its public username. This guide is mostly about the follower's side: how to follow, what you get, and how to stop.
What is the difference between following and adding a friend on Snapchat?
Three things change between the two, and Snapchat's Support pages cover each of them:
- Direction. Adding a friend sends a request that has to be accepted, and the result is mutual. Following needs no approval and goes one way.
- What you see. Friends see the Stories a person shares with friends. Followers see what's posted publicly from the Public Profile.
- How you can reach them. Friends can send each other Snaps, Chats and calls. A follower can't start a private Chat, because Snapchat limits who can contact someone directly.
Who can contact whom
Snapchat's Who can contact me setting covers Snaps, Chats and calls. By default it's limited to people you've added as Friends and people in your phone contacts, and Snapchat says the option to accept contact from Everyone is no longer available except for creator and business accounts. Following a Public Profile doesn't put you inside that circle.
How do you follow someone on Snapchat, step by step?
There are two ways in, both for accounts with a Public Profile:
- From their profile: search for their name or username, open their Public Profile and tap the follow button near the top. Older versions label it Subscribe.
- From a Story: on the Stories screen, press and hold their Story and tap Add. Snapchat's Support page on following Stories says the account's Stories then appear in your feed, sometimes with suggestions of similar accounts.
- From Spotlight: open the creator's name on a Spotlight video to reach their profile, then follow from there. What is Snapchat Spotlight explains where those videos come from.
Can you follow someone without a public profile?
No. If an account has no Public Profile, there is nothing to follow, and the only option is Add Friend. Sending that request doesn't give you their Stories until they accept, and they may never see it if their settings limit who can find or add them.
Does Snapchat notify someone when you follow them?
Snapchat's Support pages don't describe a follow notification as part of the feature, and the follow doesn't need any approval, so it isn't announced to the person the way a friend request is. What the account owner can do is look: the Support page on followers and friends says a Public Profile owner can open Friends and Followers from their profile and switch between Friends, Following and Followers tabs.
So following isn't secret. Your name can appear on their followers list, which they can browse whenever they want. If you'd rather not appear on someone's list, the only way is not to follow them.
A related question comes up with Stories. Public Profile owners can see who viewed and replied to their public Story, a list covered in can you see who views your public profile on Snapchat.
Can followers send you snaps on Snapchat?
Not private Snaps or Chats, unless they're also your friend or in your contacts. What followers can send is a Story Reply. Snapchat's Support page on Public Story replies says that if you're 18 or older, you can view, open, quote and reply to replies from users who follow your content, even if you're not mutually accepted friends.
Snapchat's business help adds that Story Replies are text only. Replies from followers land in a separate place, the Story management screen and the notifications on your Public Profile, not in your Chats, even if your Contact Me setting is limited to friends.
All users can turn replies off with the Show Story Replies setting in Public Profile settings. For a creator, that's the main tool for managing what followers can say directly.
Can you see who follows you on Snapchat?
Only if you have a Public Profile. Ordinary Snapchat accounts have friends and no followers at all, so there's nothing to list. What are followers on Snapchat explains why the number doesn't exist until the Public Profile does.
With a Public Profile, tap your Bitmoji or Story icon, then View All under Friends and Followers, and switch to the Followers tab.
The follower count is a separate setting. Snapchat's Support page says you can choose whether your follower count is visible on your Public Profile: open your Public Profile, tap the pencil icon and toggle Show Follower Count. Creators who hide it usually do so while the number is small. Setting up the profile in the first place, including the age rules, is covered in how to make a public profile on Snapchat.
How do you unfollow someone on Snapchat?
The reverse of following, from the same places:
- From a Story: press and hold the account's Story and tap Added. Snapchat's Support page on following Stories describes this as the way to unfollow.
- From the list of accounts you follow: on the Stories screen, open the three-dot menu, choose Manage Accounts I Follow, tap Edit and remove the accounts you no longer want. The bell icon on the same screen controls notifications for each account without unfollowing.
- For a friend rather than a follow, open their profile and remove them as a friend instead. That ends the two-way relationship, which a simple unfollow doesn't touch.
If a follow disappears on its own
If an account you followed is no longer in your list, the owner may have deleted or cleared their Public Profile, or blocked you. How to know if someone blocked you on Snapchat has the checks that tell those cases apart.
Why do follower counts matter to the accounts you follow?
Because for a Public Profile, followers are the audience. They're the people whose Stories feed shows the creator's public Stories, and a larger count makes a profile look established to someone deciding whether to tap follow themselves.
Creators grow that count with Spotlight, public Stories and cross-posting their Snapchat username elsewhere. Free Snapchat followers goes through what works without paying and which apps to avoid. For a creator who wants the visible number to move, buy Snapchat followers works from the Public Profile's username or link, paid with PayPal or crypto, and never asks for a Snapchat password. It changes the count a visitor reads, not who watches the Stories. Everything else for the network is on the Snapchat page.
Questions people ask about following on Snapchat
How do you follow someone on Snapchat?
Open their Public Profile and tap the follow button, or press and hold their Story and tap Add. You can only follow accounts that have a Public Profile.
Is following the same as adding a friend on Snapchat?
No. Snapchat describes a friend as a two-way relationship that both sides accept and a follower as one-way. Friends can send each other Snaps and Chats; followers can't.
Can I follow someone on Snapchat without them knowing?
A follow needs no approval, but it isn't hidden: a Public Profile owner can open a Followers tab and see who follows them.
Can people who follow me send me Snaps?
Not private Snaps or Chats unless they're your friends or contacts. Followers can send text Story Replies to your public Stories, which you can turn off in Public Profile settings.
How do I see my followers on Snapchat?
With a Public Profile, tap your Bitmoji or Story icon, tap View All under Friends and Followers, and switch to the Followers tab.
How do I unfollow someone on Snapchat?
Press and hold their Story and tap Added, or open Manage Accounts I Follow from the three-dot menu on the Stories screen, tap Edit and remove them.
Keep reading
- Snapchat followers — For a Public Profile, Snapchat followers adds to the visible count from the public username, never a password.
- What are followers on Snapchat? — Why ordinary accounts have friends and no follower count.
- How to make a public profile on Snapchat — Setting up the profile people follow, and its age rules.
- Can you see who views your public profile on Snapchat? — Which viewer lists Snapchat shows and which it doesn't.