What Does Opened Mean on Snapchat? Every Status Explained

Opened on Snapchat means your friend has opened the Snap or Chat you sent. The detail people mix up: Delivered comes first and means it reached them but hasn't been opened yet, while Pending usually means they haven't accepted your friend request.

That one little word under a friend's name on the Chat screen causes more overthinking than almost anything else on Snapchat. Opened, and no reply. Delivered, and nothing for hours. I've had friends and clients ask me what it really means, so I went through Snapchat's own help articles to pin it down.

The short version: these labels tell you where your Snap or Chat is in its journey, not how the other person feels about it. Here's what each status means, what Snapchat says happens to the message next, and what you can still do about it.

What Opened means under a name on Snapchat

Opened means your friend has opened what you sent. Snapchat's guide to Chat screen icons lists three Opened states:

Opened Snap without audio: a friend opened a Snap you sent that had no sound.
Opened Snap with audio: a friend opened a Snap you sent that included sound.
Opened Chat: a friend opened a text Chat you sent.

You'll see the status next to the friend's name on the Chat screen, beside the icon for the type of message. It only tells you they opened it. It doesn't say whether they watched the whole thing, read it closely or plan to answer.

What Delivered means on Snapchat

Delivered is the step before Opened. Snapchat's help article on deleting a Snap in Chat lists Delivered and Opened as two separate states a Snap can be in. In plain terms, Delivered means your Snap has gone through and reached your friend, but they haven't opened it yet.

A Snap can sit on Delivered for all sorts of ordinary reasons. Your friend may be busy, may have notifications turned off, or may not have opened the app since you sent it. Snapchat's help also says that unopened one-on-one Snaps are deleted automatically after 31 days, so a Snap won't wait forever.

Pending, Sent and the other Snapchat chat statuses

Opened and Delivered aren't the only labels. Snapchat's icon guide groups the rest like this:

Status	What Snapchat's help says it means
Sent	You sent a Snap with or without audio, or a Chat
Pending	A gray pending icon may appear, depending on privacy settings, when someone hasn't accepted your friend request
Opened	A friend opened your Snap or Chat
Screenshot	Someone took a screenshot of your Snap or Chat
Replayed	Your Snap was replayed
Received	You have an unopened Snap or an unread Chat waiting

Pending is the one people mistake for Delivered. If you see it, the likeliest reason is that the person hasn't added you back, so your Snap can't reach them yet. Snapchat also lists a pending or expired state for a Snap or Chat that may have expired.

If you're seeing a symbol rather than a word, such as a timer, my explainer on what the hourglass means on Snapchat covers that one.

What happens to a Snap after it's Opened on Snapchat

This is where Snapchat is different from most messaging apps. According to Snapchat's help, its servers are designed to automatically delete one-on-one and Group Chat Snaps once they've been viewed by all recipients. Chats work a little differently. By default, Snapchat deletes them 24 hours after everyone in the conversation has viewed them, or 31 days after they were sent, whichever comes first, and you can change that per conversation in Chat settings.

So once your Snap shows Opened, it's usually on its way out, unless your friend replays it or takes a screenshot, in which case you'll see the Replayed or Screenshot status instead.

Group Chats follow the same idea. Snapchat's delete article talks about Snaps opened by one or all members of the conversation, so in a group you may see Opened once some people have looked, even if others haven't caught up yet. Don't take silence from one member as a sign the whole group has ignored you; it may simply be that only a few have opened it so far.

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Deleting a Snap that shows Delivered or Opened on Snapchat

Sent something by mistake? Snapchat lets you delete a Snap in Chat while it's Delivered or Opened, whether it's been opened by one or all members of the conversation.

Open the Chat with that friend.
Press and hold the Snap.
Tap Delete.

Two things to know. Your friend can see that a Snap was deleted in the Chat, so it isn't invisible. And Snapchat says the deletion may not work straight away if someone has a poor connection or an old version of the app, in which case the Snap may still appear briefly.

Reading Snapchat statuses on your own side

The statuses work both ways. When a friend sends you something, Snapchat's help says a red or purple square on the Friends screen means a Snap is waiting, and you tap it to view. Once you do, they'll see Opened on their side. There's no setting in Snapchat's help articles to hide Opened from people you've added as friends, so if you're not ready to reply, leave it unopened until you've got a moment.

Snapchat Opened status for creators and small businesses

If you use Snapchat to talk to customers, these labels are a handy, low-effort signal. Delivered tells you a message has arrived. Opened tells you it was seen, which is useful when you've shared something time-sensitive, like a booking slot. I wouldn't read more into it than that, and I'd never chase someone just because a message shows Opened. A friendly follow-up a day or two later works better than a string of Snaps. For more on building a following you can reach this way, see my tips to grow your Snapchat followers.

Related reading: does snapchat restore streaks on its own.

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