What Does the Yellow Heart 💛 Mean? A Guide to Snapchat Emojis

Snapstreaks, Snap Maps, and Snap stories…there are so many features on Snapchat to learn and use when snapping the day away with your best pals! In particular, you may be wondering about the various emojis that Snapchat uses to show who you’re snapping with the most and who your digital (or IRL) BFF is! Below, we’ll talk in-depth about the sunshiney yellow heart emoji and its meaning on Snap, as well as all the other fun emojis you can use to show off your #fire #Snapstreaks or #SnapBFFgoals 💛

Snapchat Yellow Heart Meaning

On Snapchat, the yellow heart emoji (💛) means that you have a “Best Friends” status with another user. Both you and the person who has the yellow heart next to their name are each other’s #1 best friend (aka, you send more snaps to each other than anyone else).

Section 1 of 8:

What does the yellow heart emoji mean on Snapchat?

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The yellow heart emoji (💛) means a contact is your Best Friend on Snapchat. If someone on your Snapchat friends list has a yellow heart emoji next to their name, it means that the two of you are mutual “Best Friends” on the app. You’ve achieved this status because you both send more snaps to each other than you do to any other contact. Basically, it’s a mutual status that showcases your active exchange of messages and photos on Snapchat!^{[1]
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- Other heart emojis, like the red heart (❤️) and pink hearts (💕) show that you’ve maintained this Best Friend status for a longer period of time.

Section 2 of 8:

How to Get a Yellow Heart on Snapchat

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If you want to get “Best Friend” status (or a yellow heart emoji) with a contact, the two of you must commit to messaging and snapping each other frequently. Send snaps to each other as much as possible (at least once a day, if not more), send a variety of message types (i.e., photos and videos as well as text messages), and lessen the number of snaps you send to other people if necessary. The snaps between the two of you must be greater than the number of snaps you send to and receive from any other contact.^{[2]
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Section 3 of 8:

How to Keep Your Yellow Heart on Snapchat

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To maintain the 💛 status between you and a Snapchat friend, make sure that you continuously interact with each other on the app. Send regular snaps to each other, making sure that you’re sending more snaps to this person than you are to anyone else. Exchange photos, videos, and texts as much as possible to keep your yellow heart emoji beating strong!^{[3]
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Section 4 of 8:

Why the Yellow Heart Changes or Goes Away

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The 💛 changes or disappears due to the number or duration of your Snaps. The yellow heart emoji is the initial status showing that you have a new BFF on Snapchat. If you keep up the best friend status, however, your yellow heart may change to a different color! Alternatively, if you don’t send Snaps as frequently, you may lose your yellow heart emoji. Here are a few of the ways that a 💛 may change, as well as the meaning behind the change:^{[4]
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- Yellow Heart (💛) to Red Heart (❤️): This change occurs if you and your Snapchat BFF maintain your mutual status for two consecutive weeks.
- Red Heart (❤️) to Pink Hearts (💕): This change occurs if you and your Snapchat BFF maintain your mutual status for two consecutive months.
- Loss of Yellow Heart (💛): This change occurs if you and your Snapchat BFF start interacting more frequently with other users, losing your mutual “Best Friend” status. Sometimes, this change occurs based on a change in Snapchat’s internal algorithm, so it may happen without you doing anything differently.

Section 5 of 8:

Why does the Snapchat yellow heart emoji matter?

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The 💛 on Snapchat shows the strength of your friendships. If you and a friend have achieved the yellow heart emoji on Snapchat, then it’s a clear sign that your friendship is mutually meaningful and important! Unlike other apps where followers simply like and comment on each other’s posts, earning a yellow heart emoji requires a mutual exchange of snaps and messages.^{[5]
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- In other words, both of you must be putting in equal effort to maintain and strengthen your friendship, which is a pretty beautiful thing!

Section 6 of 8:

Other Snapchat Emojis & Meanings

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Heart Emojis The yellow heart emoji isn’t the only heart emoji on Snapchat! The Snapchat app also uses the red heart emoji (❤️) and the pink hearts emoji (💕) to denote a friendship status between two users.^{[6]
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- The 💛 (yellow heart emoji) means that you and a friend are each other’s number one best friend (or most contacted user).
- The ❤️ (red heart emoji) means that you and a friend have been each other’s number-one best friend for two consecutive weeks.
- The 💕 (two hearts emoji) means that you and a friend have been each other’s number one best friend for a whole two months without any interruption!
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Face Emojis Sometimes, you’ll see a certain face emoji next to a contact's name on Snapchat (instead of a heart or simply the absence of an emoji). Similar to the yellow heart (💛) and other heart emojis, the various face emojis used on Snap showcase the relationship between two contacts:^{[7]
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- Smiling Face Emoji (😊): The 😊 on Snapchat means that you’re best friends with someone. You’re not necessarily #1 best friends or mutual best friends (like with the yellow heart), but this contact is one of your most frequently contacted users.
- Sunglasses Face Emoji (😎): The 😎 on Snapchat means that you’re mutual best friends with someone. You’re not necessarily #1 best friends, which would be signified with a heart emoji, but you both occupy a space on each other’s Snap best friends list.
- Grimacing Face Emoji (😬): The 😬 on Snapchat means you have an “awkward best friends” status with someone. In other words, your #1 best friend is also the #1 best friend of this person. Yikes!
- Smirking Face Emoji (😏): The 😏 on Snapchat means that you are one of this person’s closest friends, but they aren’t one of yours. In other words, they message you a lot more than you message them.
- Baby Face Emoji (️‍👶): The 👶 on Snapchat means that this friend is a very new Snapchat contact that you’ve only had for a few days or less.
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Other Emojis on Snap Aside from the heart and face emojis, Snapchat uses a number of other emoji symbols to denote friendship and interaction between users. For example, you can keep track of the infamous Snapchat streak based on the emojis next to a contact’s name. Here are all of the Snapchat emojis you need to understand in order to decode your Snap status with all of your friends:^{[8]
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- Fire Emoji (️‍🔥): The 🔥 on Snapchat means you have a Snapstreak with this contact—aka, you and this person have snapped each other at least once a day for at least three consecutive days.
- 100 Emoji (💯): The 💯 on Snapchat means that you and your friend have snapped each other for 100 days in a row (or maintained a 100-day Snap streak, in other words).
- Hourglass Emoji (⌛): The ⌛ on Snapchat means that you’re in danger of losing your Snapchat streak with someone and you need to send them a snap soon to keep your streak.
- Birthday Cake Emoji (️‍🎂): The 🎂 next to a person’s name on Snapchat means that it’s this user’s birthday. Send them a sweet birthday message!
- Purple Zodiac Emojis (e.g., ♍♋♒): If a Snapchat contact has purple emoji with a zodiac symbol inside it next to their name, this symbol signifies their zodiac sign.
- Glowing Star Emoji (🌟): The 🌟 on Snapchat means that someone has replayed this person’s snaps in the last 24 hours.

Section 7 of 8:

How to Customize Your Friend Emojis

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You can customize the meaning of emojis through your profile settings. If you want to see different emojis than the yellow heart (and other symbols) on your Snapchat, you can customize different friend emojis in the app. For example, you can choose for your best friend to be displayed with a cowboy hat emoji (🤠), cartwheel emoji (🤸), or whatever you’d like—rather than with the standard 💛. Follow these steps to customize your Snapchat status emojis:^{[9]
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- On Android:
  - Open your Snapchat app and go to My Profile.
  - Click on the gear icon (“Settings”) in the top right corner.
  - Select Customize Emojis.
  - Change your friend emojis as desired.
- On iPhone:
  - Open your Snapchat app and go to My Profile.
  - Click on the gear icon (“Settings”) in the top right corner.
  - Select Additional Services and click Manage.
  - Choose Friend Emojis and adjust as desired.

Section 8 of 8:

Frequently Asked Questions About Snapchat Emojis

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Yes, since the yellow heart emoji signifies that two users are mutual best friends, both people in the Snap friendship will see the yellow heart next to the other person’s name.^{[10]
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While neither emoji is necessarily better or worse, the red heart emoji (❤️) shows a longer maintenance of Snapchat friendship. The yellow heart emoji (💛) shows that you’re mutual #1 best friends, while the ❤️ means you’ve kept that status for a whole two weeks without pause!^{[11]
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The purple heart emoji (💜) isn’t very common on Snapchat, but it can have a few different meanings. It used to be used to symbolize a user’s birthday, but the birthday cake emoji (️‍🎂) is now used instead. Now, the 💜 can signify fandom for the K-pop band BTS.^{[12]
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Snapchat introduced the emoji functions in April 2015. Prior to that time, the app displayed a list of your top three best friends, and this list was public to all of your profile viewers. Later on, Snapchat both introduced the emoji statuses and made the relationship statuses fully private.^{[13]
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Snapchat likely has so many emoji meanings because they want to motivate users to continue using the platform. Users must frequently snap each other to achieve Snapstreaks and best friend statuses, so Snapchat benefits from the continuous use of their app and messaging systems.^{[14]
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The status emojis on Snapchat represent your connection with a user from your perspective. So, if you’re someone’s number one best friend but they’re not yours (or vice versa), you may see different emojis on your individual accounts.